5 minute read
Agendra Kumar
LEADERS' OUTLOOK
ANNUAL EDITION / JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2022
GIS Empowering a Stronger India
BY AGENDRA KUMAR
Managing Director, Esri India
In recent years, the Indian Government has exhibited increased commitment towards making geospatial mainstream. The new geospatial data guidelines that foster open and easy access to geospatial information are probably the biggest testimony to the changing mindset. Geospatial technologies are now being considered the nation’s ‘digitalcurrency’, as it is evident they have a high impact on key sectors of the economy, such as, infrastructure, land, utilities, water, transportation, health, and agriculture.
Interestingly, digital transformation, which is the story of the New India, is triggering an explosion of data, and businesses are challenged to make the best use of this data for exceptional outcomes. Most of the data that exists today has an element of location in it and this increases its value enormously. To gain a competitive advantage, businesses are progressively taking cognizance of location intelligent insights and consumers’ craving for location-rich personalized experiences.
Consequently, as statedby the Geospatial ‘Artha’ Report, India’s geospatial economy is expected to grow to Rs 63,100 crores (USD 8.5 billion) by 2025 with a CAGR of 12.8 percent. As a leader in the domain, Esri India aspires to continue playing the role of a significant contributor to the growth story, helping the country achieve numerous milestones through innovative GIS-based solutions.
India — growth drivers The liberalization of geospatial data under the new guidelines is going to be a game-changer for the Indian economy. Additionally, the willingness of government departments and key private players to work together and adopt common parameters and standardized frameworks for different types of data will make the discrepancies and differences go away, thereby enabling broader collaboration and higher innovation.
The Government of India is in the process of using geospatial technologies and drones to map over six lakh villages through the Svamitva scheme. This, and other schemes under the Gati Shakti program, will generate large amounts of geospatial data. Further, the provision of Rs 60,000 crores (USD 600 billion) for providing tap water to 3.8 crore (38 million) households in 2022/23 will be very critical for improving the living conditions in smaller towns and rural areas. Geographic Information System (GIS) based water distribution network planning, execution and
LEADERS' OUTLOOK
operations will go a long way towards managing water utilities efficiently. With the introduction of ‘Indo ArcGIS’, which provides bundled solution products for numerous Indian applications and workflows, and commonly required Indian geospatial data, Esri India has taken a major step towards boosting the use of GIS in effectively addressing the important day-to-day challenges of such sectors.
In addition, with a Cloud-based drone data processing system — ‘ArcGIS for Site Scan’ hosted on a government-approved Cloud in India — Esri India has made it easier for the government and private organizations to use geospatial data, technologies and drones for survey and data collection activities. The use of these advanced technologies will create better opportunities for growth and sustainable development.
Esri India has been incessantly working with some of the biggest users of GIS in the country: organizations like National Mapping Agencies, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), National Informatics Centre (NIC), the census department, and other government agencies. A major focus has been to assist government departments at both central and state levels to make a stronger impact on the lives of the citizens using GIS. With such associations, Esri India intends to create massive public awareness about GIS that could foster cooperation and multi-level engagement. The support paradigm Digital transformation is gaining pace and the innovative start-up ecosystem is becoming prominent in India. Currently, out of about 60,000 start-ups in the country, around 10,000 are technology-led start-ups. Aided by GIS technology and geospatial data, start-ups have the potential to develop innovative solutions that can solve critical problems.With the intent of providing the required support, Esri India has curated the ‘GeoInnovation’ program. The focus of the program is to aid start-ups in becoming spatially intelligent.
Esri India has supported about 75 start-ups with its software and knowledge access, and the help of dedicated teams. The ‘ArcGIS Platform’ makes it easy for budding digital entrepreneurs to integrate location services in apps, business systems or products they want to create. There are many other features like geo-coding services, routing services and several open APIs (Application Programming Interface) that the ‘ArcGIS Platform’ offers. We see more and more developers using this platform as it enables location access, which is of paramount importance today for almost every app.
Lack of skilled manpower has always been a hindrance to the growth of GIS adoption in India. Through collaboration with various educational institutes and NGOs, Esri India is making efforts to build a stronger geospatial workforce that the country can benefit from. The future of GIS With the emergence of web and Cloud-based systems, the investment required in building geospatial infrastructures is reducing. A new wave of customized geospatial tools that can be rapidly deployed by users themselves is emerging to address business challenges. With mobile devices already harnessing geoinformation anywhere, anytime, business applications will soon be powered by ‘Virtual GIS Engines’, replacing high-end laptops and desktops.
GIS is becoming mainstream and integrates well with other business, social and engineering systems. GIS systems integrate with systems such as ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) for creating additional value through the location component attached with most of the organizational data. The integration of GIS with BIM in the form of ‘GeoBIM’ is supporting better ‘Geo-designs’ and improved resource utilization and gaining higher construction efficiency.
As the economic value of geospatial data gets unearthed and consumers increasingly demand location-rich experiences, the concept of ‘geo-data monetization’ will gain momentum. It will be important to set up a network of geo-portals for sharing the data generated by both government and private sectors, to unleash the value of geospatial data and to create multi-organizational engagements.
ANNUAL EDITION / JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2022
