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The Centre for Earth Science Studies has been entrusted with the task of developing a detailed base map in 1:4000 scale (1 cm on the map representing 40 m on the ground) for the city. Satellite imagery and overlay urban land use features will be generated for marking out existing urban infrastructure facilities and planning new and additional facilities, according to officials of the Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project (KSUDP).

The KSUDP has been functioning as the nodal agency for the Asian Development Bank-aided projects in municipal corporations of the State and also the schemes that are implemented with the support of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram.

At present, no municipal corporation in the State possesses a city base map with geographical and land use features depicting urban sprawl and various facilities required for infrastructure planning.

The project is to create a city base map using the Global Information System (GIS). GIS can be an important tool for all organisations dealing with assets, people, or operations that are spread over some area. This includes local, district, State and Union administrations, as well as utility companies and corporations, according to the concept note prepared by the authorities.

The city base map generated using GIS will find a wide range of applications, including property tax mapping, planning and land use, re-limiting of ward boundaries, engineering and public works and emergency response.

GIS can be used to store property tax points and link them to the assessment register containing tax details. The property identification number makes this linkage possible, even though the data may be in different computer systems.

Government employees and citizens will have faster and more convenient access to property tax maps. Periodic tax reassessments can be done more quickly and at less expense using the power of GIS map display. When a municipal corporation contracts for revaluation, each property tax assessment map has to be prepared.

Digital property tax maps that are based in a GIS platform can easily and quickly be updated for this purpose, explains the concept note prepared by the KSUDP authorities.

Kochi is pinning its hope on increasing the revenue from property tax after completing the GIS mapping of the city.

Though the Government had suggested that a plinth area-based tax assessment system should be implemented in the cities, it can only be effectively implemented only after completing the base mapping of the city, according to civic administrators.

Incidentally, the civic authorities are not happy with the outcome of the trial analysis of the plinth area-based tax assessment they conducted in the city.

They fear that there will be a drastic fall in the revenue from the property tax once the assessment is completed.

Ever wondered how your dwelling space would look like from the sky? People already have had a taste of this technology by using products such as Google Earth and sites such as Wikimapia. Once the detailed satellite mapping of the city is completed, netizens will have the opportunity to view their dwelling space as seen from the skies, say KSUDP officials.

More than that, all details of property tax and related information will be available at the click of a mouse.

The digital mapping of the city and an information back-up on city details have become essential for any city as several national and international agencies are demanding such data as a prerequisite for providing assistance to cities.

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