Survey of India Workshop Charts Geospatial Economy Plan

Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, delivered the keynote address at a workshop on Government and Industry Synergy for Geospatial Transformation: Co-Creating the Geospatial Economy for Viksit Bharat 2047 in New Delhi. The Survey of India, which works under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), organised it. He said geospatial capability would be a key determinant of the country's future economic growth.

From map-making to a national asset

The Minister said geospatial information had grown from a technical aid for mapping and surveying into a strategic national asset for the economy. Far-reaching geospatial reforms had been carried out over the past 12 to 13 years, and putting them in place had taken courage and conviction. He described how the Survey of India had shifted from labour-intensive field surveying to satellite-based mapping, drones and computer-based methods, work that now needs young professionals trained in technology and computing. Recalling a visit to its Dehradun campus, he said its old working arrangements still showed how physically demanding surveying once was.

Enable, invest and adopt

Dr. Singh set out three words as the way forward for the sector: enable, to build confidence; invest, to develop capability; and adopt, so that geospatial solutions generate economic growth. He called for stronger public-private partnerships to widen markets, build workable business models and back startups and MSMEs, and said the National Geospatial Policy 2022 was an open framework able to take in new technologies, including geospatial artificial intelligence. He asked government departments to find areas in which they could work with the Survey of India, and asked the Surveyor General to hold virtual meetings so departments learn what the organisation can do.

What officials said

• Prof. Umesh V. Waghmare, Secretary, DST: geospatial infrastructure can organise information on national resources and support their best use, including during the energy transition; the policy of 2022 names DST the nodal agency for the domain.
• S. K. Sinha, Surveyor General of India: the policy laid the foundation of an open, innovation-driven ecosystem, and the Survey of India is supplying foundational geospatial data and positioning infrastructure for flagship programmes.
• Srikant Sastri, Chairman, Geospatial Data Promotion and Development Committee, also attended.

At a roundtable with officials and industry leaders, the Minister said the government was simplifying procedures, removing needless regulation and encouraging innovation, and pointed to space and biotechnology as sectors where such partnership models had already worked and could be copied.