Liberalised Guidelines for Geospatial Data

In News: Department of Science and Technology has issued new guidelines to provide free access to geospatial data and liberalised the usage policy.

Geospatial Data

• Geospatial data is data having location tags about objects, events or phenomenon.
• The location may be static (eg Earthquake Locations) or dynamic (eg. Movement Tracker in GPS) aps
  • Food delivery tracking on apps
  • Indian Post and Courier tracking
  • Remote Sensing Surveys like Drought monitoring by the Government of India

New Changes Introduced

• Free access to geospatial data: The Geospatial data will be made available in the open public domain by the Department of Science and technology.
• Self Certification: Startups don’t need pre and post-approval certificate for adherence to guidelines. A self-declaration will work.
• Promotion to New Technologies: The government will promote the latest map-making technologies.

Need/ Benefits of the New Changes

• Reduce Red Tapism: From creation to the dissemination of maps, Indian companies are required to seek licenses, follow a cumbersome system of pre-approvals and permissions.
• Promote Innovations: Freely available maps and other spatial data will help the entrepreneurs to solve the present-day problem more efficiently.
• India’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and the goal of 5 trillion-dollar economy: The new innovations will aid in achieving self-reliance.
  • The new industry of Geo-Mapping and Surveying is estimated to be worth Rs 1 lakh crore.
• Global Practice: As highlighted by PM what is available globally needs not to be restricted in India.
• Empower Small Businesses and Farmers: The new policies will empower the small businesses and farmers with cost-effective solutions from Competitive Private Sector.

Scope for Indian Industries/ Application in Various Sectors

• Agriculture
  • Landsat and Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) imagery can be used to identify fertile land and monitor crop growth.
  • Pest management can be done more effectively by tracking the locust movement and studying canopy colour.
  • Insurance Claims can be quickly settled with fewer frauds.
  • Better Nutrient Management of plants by a device Green Seeker developed by Trimble.
• Disaster Management
  • Developing mitigation strategies after identification of patterns of Forest Fire.
  • GIS-based Fire management, Earthquake and Flood management plans can be developed for immediate response.
  • Flood inundation modelling was done in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh using UAV.
  • GIS and GPS based automatic response system are a necessary part of Smart cities.
• Homeland Security
  • Integrated Web GIS-based Crime Investigation System for Railway Passenger Safety was utilised for making journeys safer.
  • It helped in the identification of vulnerable areas, hotspots of criminal activities and hideouts.
• Infrastructure
  • Geospatial Data Modelling for Creation of Web-Portal Services for Industrial and Infrastructure Development under GOiPLUS in Odisha was used for effective land allocation and management.
  • eLoc, India’s First National Digital Address System, was introduced by y MapmyIndia to reduce inconsistencies in conventional address systems.
• Natural Resources
  • Use GIS-based mapping service to effectively implement Sujal Scheme for Water Management by Maharastra Government.
• Railways
  • Indian Railways is effectively utilising mapping services to keep track of its resources.

Source: Livemint