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or any country desiring to be a global maritime power, having a state-of-the art, up-to-date marine map for the country’s welfare and sovereignty is a must.

However, the world’s largest archipelagic nation still relies heavily on an outdated sea map from the Dutch colonial era, nearly 72 years after claiming its independence. More than half of the country’s own map is yet to be updated, head of the Indonesian Navy’s hydrography and oceanography center Rear Admiral Harjo Susmoro said.

“Some 60 percent of Indonesia’s maritime map is from the Dutch colonial administration,” he said when visiting Bitung, North Sulawesi, on Wednesday.

As part of the effort to update the maritime map and include it in President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s ambitious One-Map Policy, the Navy is currently gathering required information, starting from collecting data on Indonesia’s sea points and potential natural resources buried deep under the ocean.

Improving the map is vital for the country’s maritime defense and investment, especially considering Indonesia’s strategic location between the Indian and Pacific Ocean.

“In terms of defense, an upgraded maritime map will help us prevent our enemies from entering our territory,” Harjo said.

The Navy has deployed eight survey groups, including one in Bitung, comprising 15 to 20 personnel each, that have worked on compiling the data for the past two months. It was not an easy task, Harjo said, adding that teams had to work with the limitation of restricted funds from the state budget, which has slowed down data collection.

The One-Map Policy aims to produce a single, integrated, nationwide database of various political and economic information by 2019.

The policy was initiated by former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2010 following overlapping geospatial information among local administrations and government institutions. However, no significant progress was made before the end of his term. Jokowi then continued the policy, signing a presidential decree last year to accelerate its implementation, which is overseen by the Geospatial Information Agency (BIG).

Eleven government agencies, including the Indonesian Military (TNI), are tasked with managing the data that will be integrated to support the creation of the single map.

BIG deputy for thematic geospatial information Nurwadjedi said spatial conflict in Indonesia was mainly caused by the poor quality of its land map, which is used as a basis for spatial planning from the national down to the regional level. The agency has also put updating maritime data as a priority.

Nurwadjedi said the BIG was currently drafting a long-term plan to refine the One Map Policy, which includes assigning the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) to manage data for the maritime-themed map.