A first-of-its-kind project to map an Indian metropolis using drones began on November 21, 2017. With it, Greater Chennai Municipal Corporation (GCMC) Commissioner D. Karthikeyan set in motion a State government initiative that had waited for years for security clearances from, among other entities, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation.
“We are the first municipal corporation to conduct such a survey with proper clearances from the Union government,” says R. Lalitha, Deputy Commissioner, Revenue and Finance, GCMC, who spearheads the operations. The project has received ₹6 crore in World Bank funding.
Covering about 7 sq. km. in a day, six drones have collected images from 79 wards in six zones with a resolution of up to 5 cm. Even potholes, signboards and small encroachments of footpaths can be seen, and trees counted without visits from officials.
The exercise may throw light on encroachment of government land, officials say. The project will also enable authorities to levy property tax on owners who have illegally lowered the dues from their buildings, and help them plan for disaster management.
03-04-2018, Chennai,Tamil Nadu. Chennai Corporation Uses drone camera to have an areal mapping(drone mapping) in chennai city and suburbs. Photo: K. Pichumani
So far, 309 sq. km. of the 426 sq. km. in the Greater Chennai region has been mapped. The first batch of images, covering 151 sq. km., has been sent to the Defence Ministry to mask strategic installations such as the Tambaram Air Force Station and the Chennai Port. Another batch of images, covering 158 sq. km., will be handed over next month.
“At least 36,000 digital images can be captured per day with the manpower available. But we have restricted operations to just 1,500 images for reasons of national security,” says the project’s head of operations, Sridharan Aravind.
The project has entered a challenging phase that has slowed it down as it runs into air safety issues — four ‘funnel areas’ in the 87.85 sq. km. of the controlled airspace around Anna International Airport correspond to the approach paths of landing aircraft. “We suspend operations frequently for reasons of air safety,” says Raja Sekhar, who heads the team of drone operators.
On one such day, a hexacopter drone returned to the top of a four-storey building from which it had been launched within minutes of taking off. The Air Traffic Control had called up because a helicopter with a VIP on board was leaving for Tirupati.
