By Anusuya Datta, GeoSpatila World March April 2019
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April 11, 2018
https://www.geospatialworld.net/article/why-india-needs-a-geospatial-strategy/
Review Note by GS Kumar, Director, Survey of India (Retd.)
We got independence about 70 years back. British legacies continue. In judiciary judge can never be wrong. If not satisfied with judgement , one can go on appeal. Judgement may get reversed. But judge, whose decision is reversed is not penalised.
Civil engineering students complete, Irrigation, Road, Mining and Town planning engineering subjects without refering to a topographical map. There is an impression that maps are secret.
Survey of India came out with a policy for the first time in 2005 -National Map Policy - 2005
http://www.surveyofindia.gov.in/files/nmp/NationalMapPolicy.pdf
Now we have Two Series of Maps - Defence Series Maps (DSMs) and Open Series Maps (OSMs).
High resolution satellite imagery of India is generated and marketed by American private compnies also. According the policy n India, one has to procure HRSI through NRSC, ISRO. It is ridiculous that the government assumes power on imagery of India acquired by foreign private agencies for use in India
We have several serous issues on the policies:
Restriction on digitisation of maps
Digital maps/data still need clearance
Restrictions on Aerial Photography & HRS Imagery
Every value addition needs clearance
Permission needed for sharing data
Restrictions on planimetric and height control data
Absence of proper Geospatial Data policy
Lack of adequate mechanisms to facilitate inter-agency sharing of information, leading to costly duplication of data collection and storage efforts. Central Organisations like NRSC, SoI, NATMO and State govt organisations related to Land Records, Municipalities, Town Planning, Mining, Forest, Irrigation, . Soils, Telcom, Electricity are engaged in generating spatial data leading to duplication and wasted efforts.
The article under review is timely and well covered. Some extracts:
Even though heavy infrastructure push from the government has opened up great opportunities for the geospatial industry in India, the country can’t optimally leverage the benefits of this cutting-edge technology unless there is a studied, concentrated effort to collaborate — and not compete — open up data and stop obsessing about policies.
According to McKinsey Global Institute’s report, effective use of geospatial and digital technologies in India’s land records management has the potential to unlock $34.45 billion. This is almost equal to the FDI equity inflows into the country between April and December 2017, making India one of top foreign investment destinations in the world.
However, the Indian geospatial sector ecosystem, despite its long history of survey agencies and globally visible accomplishments in Space and ICT domains, stands “below-par” and “under delivering to national growth and development objectives”, as per the Countries Geospatial Readiness Index (CGRI) 2018 brought out by Geospatial Media & Communications.
“Geospatial data plays a vital role in the decision-making process across a range of industries. Therefore, accessing, sharing and using the geospatial data forms the essence of the geospatial infrastructure,” says Sujeet Kumar, Vice President & Head Asia Pacific – Utilities & Geospatial, Cyient. If a country doesn’t hold a framework, naturally the growth of the geospatial industry will suffer, eventually hurting national interests.
According to Anup Jindal, CEO and Joint Managing Director, RMSI
In the United States base data is maintained centrally by the government and updated regularly. The information related to monsoon, acreage etc. is regularly shared with farmers and private sector. Similarly, in India, the private geospatial players are consumers to a lot of information/data generated by the government. There is a pressing need for all of this data to be unlocked and made accessible to the private sector, as this data forms the core for their innovation.
The biggest role that the government can play is in the implementation of a National GI Policy. Over the years, various aspects and components of GI policy frameworks have been put forward with a piecemeal approach. We have come across national policies of Remote Sensing, Maps, Data Sharing Principles, Security Classification… that too are dated now. It is time to examine these silos and harmonize these discrete policy elements into a comprehensive framework,” adds Jindal.
Dr Bhoop Singh, Head of NRDMS, Department of Science and Technology, is optimistic of the National Geosptial Policy — which is currently being examined by various departments — taking shape within the next four to five months, it is easily quite some time before it sees the light of the day.
Another issue is each organization generating data also wants to regulate it. The result is a plethora of policies working at cross purposes. A typical example is the Remote Sensing Data Policy and National Map Policy, the former dealing with satellite data from ISRO, while the latter deals with maps produced by Survey of India — two critical data-generating organizations that rarely interact.
“Forget about cross-department data sharing. Many a times departments/organizations don’t know what they themselves possess,” says an irate source in the government. He gives the example of how the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), which had already initiated the 1:2,000-scale mapping for some cities under the National Urban Information System (NUIS) in 2006, approached Survey of India again recently to create the same data for another project.
Absence of a single window clearance delays projects. This again is majorly owing to the varied number of the departments controlling permission, and the knee-jerk tendency in the Indian government corridors to be restrictive the moment geospatial data is mentioned. Involvement of so many different departments make decision-making slow, and by the time the clearances are issued, changes in landscape are observed and the imagery data many a times loses relevance, adversely affecting project implementation, points out ; Manosi Lahiri, Founder, ML Infomap.
Unshackle Survey of India
The biggest issue of all is that Survey of India, has consistently failed to upgrade its maps, which are dated and available at 1:50,000 scale. This, despite it announcing plans for mapping the country at 1:10,000 scale as one of its primary focus areas back in 2012.
Today, digital maps at 1:50,000 scale are available from SoI, but not on the NSDI portal. While old paper route was the only way to place orders for digital data till 2016, it was only last year SoI launched its digital platform — Nakshe Portal — where it has made the provision of Open Series Maps at 1:50,000 free for download. However, the maps are available only in PDF format. One can always convert the pdf map into a GIS-usable map by using on-screen digitization, but that will result in hundreds of ‘digital’ maps of the same mapsheet, which was sought to be avoided with the National Map Policy 2005 that promised digital OSM maps.
A major issue for the national mapping agency has been its lack of autonomy.
“Our national mapping agency is still a subordinate office of the Government of India even after 250 years of its existence,” Dr Swarna Subba Rao, then Surveyor General of India, had publicly lamented last year.
The government should get rid of this fear that data will go into wrong hands if private industry is involved. There are many Indian companies who are working for so many sensitive projects for countries like US, UK etc. sitting here in India, so why can’t they do the same for Indian government?” asks an industry person requesting anonymity.
We end this extract based article with the earnest hope that the policies under preparation will allow Indian community to freely access and use RS and map digital data to move towards the dream of Digital India.