One-stop website launched with data on all govt services

Operated by the Information and Communication Technology Ministry and its underling, the Electronic Government Agency (EGA), GovChannel links information from four other government websites. 

info.go.th contains databases and services for individuals who need to do business with government agencies as addressed in the Licensing Facilitation Act, such as tax collection services. It also contains content of handbooks that allows people to contact government agencies with ease. info.go.th has almost 687,000 databases.

data.go.th contains government databases. The government allows the databases to be freely distributed and used as sources for quotes, with the conditions of their use provided by the agencies that publish the material. The website has 436 databases.

apps.go.th was designed as a 

platform for the Governmental Application Centre. It provides mobile applications designed to 

give people access to government services. For example, Egat Water, 

an application developed by the Electricity Generating Authority 

of Thailand, shows water levels of the country’s dams.

The Rubber Thai application, developed by Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry’s Department of Agriculture, provides daily updates on rubber prices in markets and a daily analysis on prices. The website contains 108 databases.

egov.go.th acts as a portal to governmental electronic services. The website contains 2,574 databases.

Perhaps to tone down government formality, the pastel-coloured GovChannel webpage has a rather minimalist design. Unlike most other government websites, its simplicity equals user-friendliness.

To test the website, The Nation typed “national identity card” in Thai in the search box. After around 20 seconds, the result showed there are six databases related to the term and all are at egov.go.th.

The databases content includes information on EGA’s campaign to get people’s opinion on what information should be on the Thai ID card and a brief law related to the card that Thai citizens should know.

They also contained details of the improved issuance of the card at Bangkok’s Bang Phlat district office and EGA’s campaign to encourage people to submit opinions on how the cards should look.

But when “alien” was added in the search box in the hope of accessing information about how aliens should manage their identification while in Thailand, nothing appeared. This suggests that the website may currently work efficiently under only one search term.

Along with this more integrated online database channel, EGA has delivered a non-Internet information portal in the hope to connecting with people in remote areas. Government Kiosk has been developed much like an automated teller machine, allowing people to check their government-based personal information such as their right to medical care and to social security and details of their credit bureau accounts.

To access the information, a person need only slide their ID card into a machine and the information appears on the screen.

But currently a password is not used with the card, meaning if someone else had access to the card they could view the cardholder’s personal information.

Government Kiosk machines are currently located in only five points and all are in Bangkok, including two at EGA offices. 

The EGA has also produced an EGA Smart Box, a digital television box set providing governmental information via a TV. Working much like the government’s mobile application centre, the box provides users with access to long-distance lectures facilitated via an education cloud-computing system. It has been done in collaboration with the Telephone Organisation of Thailand.

Also designed to help people with limited access to the Internet, the EGA Smart Box is currently only located at major educational centres and local administrative offices.