VIRTUAL EARTH: Vice-President of Microsoft Research Rick Rashid (second from left) greeting Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Ocean Development Kapil Sibal at the unveiling of a digital map in Bangalore on Thursday. Microsoft Ind ia Chairman Ravi Venkatesan (left) and Microsoft Research Corporate Vice-President Dan Ling are seen. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

Bangalore: A partnership between academic institutions, government and corporates is needed to transform the education system and bring out the best in human resource, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Ocean Development Kapil Sibal said here on Thursday.

Unveiling the multilingual interactive digital map developed by Microsoft Research, he said universities should be given complete autonomy and government intervention minimised. The Government should use technology to address issues, he added.

The interactive digital maps, which are to be hosted on the Web in a couple of days, will be available on the website www.local.live.com in English, Kannada and Tamil. Efforts are on to include other regional languages in the map, which will have information about Bangalore, including roads in the city. Microsoft's "virtual earth" technology has been used to create the map, and users do not need to download software to be able to use it. The site enables community participation and it is possible to edit and add information. However, official information is protected. Information about polling stations is available as per data provided by the Election Commission.

Mr. Sibal said the Tourism Department lacks information, such as the number of five star hotels located in a city and the location of places and routes. Such information can be got from the digital map, he added.

On Microsoft products and their availability in the country, he said corporates should analyse the market and sell their products at affordable prices.

He said the software sector, with six lakh professionals, accounts for 20 per cent of exports and the figure is expected to increase to 33 per cent by 2008. If higher education is made more accessible, there is an immense potential to harness young talent, he added

Speaking about the digital map, Vice-President of Microsoft Research Rick Rashid said the technology used to develop the map aims at disseminating geographic data among the public.

The map provides for community participation, he added.

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