The Chennai Corporation on Tuesday started a project for mapping of utilities and private properties using drones, developing a Geographical Information System (GIS) based on the drone mapping. A few years ago, former Mayor Saidai Duraisamy announced the project at the Chennai Corporation Council.
“The project will be used for planning of development work on a priority basis. We will make major policy decisions based on the results of the survey. We will complete the work in 120 days,” said S.P. Velumani, Minister for Municipal Administration.
“Chennai is the fourth largest local body in India. It has an area of 426 sq. km. and 75 lakh people. The World Bank has funded the project estimated at ₹6.43 crore. Two unmanned aerial vehicles will be used to map the city,” said Mr. Velumani.
The civic body has obtained clearances from various agencies such as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and district administrations of Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur apart from the Home Ministry.
The mapping is expected to be a tool to identify gaps in civic amenities. The project, proposed years ago, failed to take off because of the challenges in implementing modifications to the Ministry of Defence guidelines on digital map data handling. For the past few years, local bodies such as Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad have been appealing to the NIC on removal of restrictions, pointing to the several restrictions pertaining to key aspects of geo-reference maps, such as collecting and disseminating information on strategic areas.
Chennai Corporation officials said that removal of restrictions in many parts of the city is likely to be challenging, on account of strategic reasons. A more detailed digital mapping and a GIS based on the mapping would help plan the development of civic amenities.
“Each of the images will be screened by the defence authorities concerned and used only after clearance,” said an official.
