The Survey of India is all set to take up a Rs. 1,800 crore project for a more detailed mapping of the entire country, which is GIS (geographic information system) compatible for all users, Surveyor-General of India Swarna Subba Rao informed on Thursday.
“The present mapping is on the 1:50,000 scale and the new mapping would be on 1:10,000 scale. Basic details will be available in the map about a village, road or a bridge and those logging on the map can add more details concerning their departments. Hard copies of the area required can also be made”, Dr. Subba Rao informed The Hindu.
Survey of India is using the GIS which is the best technology for planning. One year of planning was done for the project, which is most likely to start from the next financial year and would take three years to complete, said Dr. Subba Rao, who is in the city to participate in the ongoing ISG-ISRS National symposium on remote sensing and GIS for environment being organised by Andhra University College of Engineering.
As part of this project, the Survey of India would establish its data centres at its headquarters in Dehradun, and at Delhi and in Hyderabad which act as distant recovery centres.
Pilot schemeAnother major project of the Survey of India, which will be completing 250 years in 2017, is the Virtual Reference System (VRS) to bring the entire length and breadth of the country under global positioning system (GPS).
A pilot scheme was initiated in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Odisha at a cost of Rs. 30 crore.
“Correct position of a land can be get instantly with VRS. Every inch will be covered”, he said about the project which will cost Rs. 300 crore to Rs. 400 crore when taken up in all States and Union Territories.
High-end systems will be used in the project. The pilot project would commence in a month’s time and would in place in three to four months.
GPS stations will be established at elevated places like hills and they continuously transmit signals received from the satellites. Any receiver used for land measurement can be connected to the signals from the nearest GPS station to get accurate position, Dr. Subba Rao explained about the VRS.
Another project the Survey of India is doing is mapping all the coalmines of Coal India’s Centre for Mine Planning and Design Institute at Ranchi.
This is a Rs. 200 crore project. It has completed first phase of a project for the Union Ministry of Urban Development covering 154 small cities and towns to help in the town planning programmes. Second phase would cover 400 towns and a nod from the Ministry is awaited.
Talking about his organisation, Dr. Subba Rao said technically it was very good and having the state-of-the-art equipment.
“Survey of India is known for its accuracy. It has prepared 1.50 lakh maps. Ours is a large country with an area of 34 lakh square kilometres, having all types of terrains, from snow clad hills to Thar desert and doing survey of such a country gives us a unique opportunity”, he said.
