Survey of India (SoI) will carry out its high-resolution cartographic exercise, this is first update in 16 years.
By the end of June, six states, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttarakhand will have 100 times more sophisticated and detailed maps than existing ones, and they the end of year SoI aims to conclude maps for three more states, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Operations to survey have already begun, about 23,000 villages have been covered, this project will eventually cover all states, but timelines have been hard to predict due to COVID induced gaps, operations, Surveyor General of India Lt Gen Girish Kumar (retired), person in-charge of project said, ToI reported.
Last topographical exercise was conducted in 2005, bit old data is used by all organisations, NHAI, defence, Archaeological survey of India and Census of India, and the new update on topography is important, it will help address inter-state issues, rural property rights, urban planning, flood forecasting, public asset and natural resource management, an SoI official said.
This will mean high resolution map will show everything from houses to office buildings, and small landmark in remote villages, an SoI official said, which can be used in legal land disputes, unlike google maps which cannot be used in case of legal disputes, and positional accuracy cannot be guaranteed by digital maps, ToI reported.
“The Focus will be on dispute resolution and generating land record databases under programme Swamitva, Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary of Depart of Science and Technology said.
These maps will also used by police, paramilitary agencies, strategic and border security agencies.