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Government GIS

India to launch National GIS Portal

By Clarice Africa | 20 September 2011

In the last decade, India has made considerable progress in laying out the foundation for a sound knowledge-base and a strong user-base for GIS activities in the country.

The public and private sectors, in particular, have been working hand in hand in developing GIS-based planning solutions, urban management solutions, power distributions solutions, location-based services and applications which have contributed to increase in internal capacity and capability of GIS in India.

Mukund Rao, Expert Consultant on the National GIS for the Planning Commission and Member-Secretary of the Interim Core Group on National GIS, told Future Gov during the Esri International User Conference that GIS-based initiatives such as the Natural Resource Information System, the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI), the Bhuvan Image Portal, the Delhi State Spatial Data Infrastructure and many others have all helped in the growth of GIS in India.

“In addition, GIS activities have also enabled cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Kanpur, Kolkata, and many others to have an established GIS capability for increased efficiency in their respective urban planning and management activities,” he said.

“In 2001,the expertise and experiences at that time helped us to conceptualise the NSDI – which was really a “cooperative framework” for data sharing across a common platform and was mainly driven by data generating agencies.”

However, although GIS has been widely used, Mukund said that the benefit of GIS has not yet reached where it is ultimately required – particularly in aspects of governance, decision making, and citizen engagement.

“The GIS initiatives we have done for the past years have certainly been successful to prove the potential of using GIS to address various development objectives, but GIS is yet to get assimilated and become a part of the process of governance, planning and nation-building in entirety,” he said.

“We have still not moved to a level by which all geospatial data can be made seamlessly accessible in an efficient and easily available GIS Data service using web-based solution and also positioning easy-to use GIS Applications (as a web-service) that decision-makers can use and undertake efficient decisions/actions. As a response to this, the Planning Commission is currently working on the National GIS – a GIS Platform that would provide GIS-based Decision Support System applications service for governance, enterprises and citizens using a seamless GIS Asset of the country.

The idea now is that based on all the experiences and expertise we’ve acquired in past few years, we need to enable easy access to GIS applications and GIS data in a seamless manner for the whole country, build a series of applications for governance, enterprises, and citizens so all these three should benefit from these data that covers the whole country. “

Mukund added that in the next few-months, the Planning Commission will take the steps that will initiate the National GIS – which will roll-out in 2 versions, the first in about a year’s time and the final version in about 3 years time.

“We have realised that if there has to be transparency in governance, citizen’s participation and efficiency in decisions, GIS is one of the best means to make that happen because it shows you the facts of the ground and allows you to simulate and make what-if analysis very easy – thus helping bring to fore-front not just a series of options but the best options that suits,” he said.

“Another benefit of establishing the National GIS is to bring equity. Once you have seamless data for the whole country and citizens can add their own “aspirations” or “needs”, everyone can see their region very openly so any inequality in data and development can be easily noticed. Thus, the decisions would have to be just and equitable to demand in best proportions.“

Mukund also stressed that citizens would be able to participate in the National GIS-based initiatives.

“They should be able to question, give feedback, demand what their needs are. That sort of citizen participation is very important in the National GIS,” he said.

“The National GIS design right now is basically justified from a future governance point of view with the concept of transparency, equity, and citizen participation embedded in the core - that is the thrust India is taking now.”

The full article on the National GIS will be featured in the next issue of FutureGov India Magazine.

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