BHUBANESWAR: The State Government is mulling geographical mapping of Wards and gram panchayats across Odisha using high resolution spatial data.Spatial data, also known as geo-spatial data, represents the location, size and shape of an object such as a piece of land, building, lake, mountain or even town and village. The Odisha Space Applications Centre (ORSAC) with help of Ministry of Science and Technology will implement the project under National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) and State Special Data Infrastructure (SSDI).
ORSAC officials said initially, the project will be launched on a pilot basis in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) area and Hemgir block in Sundargarh district. The spatial data will be collected through satellite images and photographs captured by aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
ORSAC scientists said the data, which will be linked to locations with their latitude and longitude, will help identify land assets, proper land use planning and implement Government schemes and programmes more effectively, especially in the field of housing, maintenance of land records, agriculture and irrigation.
ORSAC scientist PK Parida said the project will immensely help in ensuring transparency in implementation of housing schemes where funds are sanctioned by the Government. It will help in getting information on houses being constructed, their size and location with help of National Foundation Spatial Data portal where the data will be uploaded. The Government can also monitor implementation of irrigation and check dam projects, he explained.
Parida said ORSAC is awaiting funds from the Centre to implement the project. Around `7 to `8 crore will be required for implementing the project, he said and added that a target has been set to complete the project in Bhubaneswar and Himgiri within two years.
ORSAC scientists said they have also planned to launch a mobile application to allow people to have access to the geo-spatial data. The app will also enable people to upload photos of their house, plot or location to be included in the data.
To ensure better coordination among various departments for proper implementation of the project, a workshop on ‘coordinated preparation of high resolution National Foundation Spatial Data for gram panchayat and ward level mapping’ is being held in the City. The event will continue till December 22.