In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Survey of India (SoI), historically the custodian of India’s maps, has signed an agreement with a Mumbai-based private company, Genesys International, to prepare three-dimensional maps of several cities and towns. Called ‘Digital Twins,’ these maps are three-dimensional representations of cities and when coupled with high-resolution images, can be used in a variety of planning applications.
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Genesys is a mapping company that uses aerial as well as ground-mapping methods to create digital maps. The SoI, apart from being a historical repository of maps and the arbiter of national and State boundaries, also maintains an all-India network of transmitters and receivers called CORS (Continuously Operating Reference Stations) that are interconnected via satellites and provide accurate estimates of position. The collaboration will allow Genesys to generate ‘three-dimensional digital twins’ for ‘major Indian cities and towns, develop an ‘urban 3-D data model,’ and allow it to “licence” geospatial data products to buyers in a ‘content-as-a-service’ model, according to company officials.
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So far, the company has built digital twins of Ayodhya, the Dharavi slum cluster in Mumbai, Kochi and Kanpur among other applications. “We tend to think of digital maps, as only that which lets you get from one point to the other. But that’s only a small part. We can make maps that can help with traffic planning, real estate development, and ecological planning. Much like an angiogram can map blockages [in the heart] we can use these datasets to help city and town planners make decisions,” said Sajid Malik, Managing Director, Genesys International. “We can create flood maps of Kochi, map the solar energy potential of Mumbai buildings and the environmental challenges in Mahabaleshwar.”
Opening up data sets to the private sector follows from the government’s 2022 National Geospatial Policy that was cleared by the Union Cabinet last December. One of its stated goals is to bring out a high-resolution topographical map of “every inch” of India by 2030 and make digital twins of India’s major cities and towns by 2035. Hitesh Makwana, Surveyor General of India and SoI head said that the organisation was open to collaborating with private companies to unlock new applications from its datasets. “The integration of our CORS technology with Genesys’ mapping will elevate the accuracy and reliability of geospatial data, unlocking new possibilities for India’s development,” he said.