In the background of the recent Bengaluru ‘area flooding’, maps can be of great use to forecast flash flood vulnerability in our cities.
Maps can be of great assistance for identifying extent of land and allied properties like forests and water bodies. They play a vital role in city planning. This vital tool was given a go-by for many years without being up-dated or digitalised. Some old maps, however, received sort of criticality in the demolition drives initiated by the BBMP in many areas of Bengaluru city recently.
Web Mapping
Maps based on GIS ( Geographical Information System ) technology are widely used in the digital era. A recent ad by an online property agency has offered mapping service to clients, with full details like the neighbourhood - schools, malls, hospitals, parks, walking areas etc. The agency also has offered customer engagement and lead management tools for builders and brokers. The mapping technology in this case is reported to be WoNoBo (World with No Boundaries) platform.
Need for forecasting and managing natural calamities like flooding due to climate changes is also assuming increased importance.
An example is the reported attempt by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre ( KSNDMC ) to develop high resolution contour maps to identify flood-prone areas in Bengaluru and other vulnerable centres, to support the urban flood forecasting system of “ Varun Mitra”.
