India: I Speak GIS

India: I Speak GIS

S.Raghavendran
GIS Analyst
PIXEL INFOTEK PVT LTD
#194, Sankey Rd., Sadashiva Nagar
Bangalore-560 080, India
Tel: +91-80-3619351/2/3, Fax: + 91-80-3619354
Email: srg_gis@yahoo.com, raghavendran@pixelinfotek.com

Geography or GIS for that matter has never been so closer to our lives. Citizens and Planners of our country have never had so much insight into the lives of the people: Where they live, How they live and What they do? Thanks to GIS for having opened their eyes to this new era of Geospatial Democracy. “Maps speak subtle and surprising truth”. But surprisingly in a country like India, the world’s largest democracy, maps have always been confined to geographers and planners. The hoi polloi, who constitute the basic tenets of democracy, have always been silently and safely ignored in most of our planning processes and kept away from accessing the geospatial data. Among the greatest shortcomings of Indian democracy is the citizens being denied the information they need to make meaningful choices.

With the enactment of Freedom of Information Act, 2002: An Act to provide for freedom to every citizen to secure access to information under the control of public authorities, consistent with public interest, in order to promote openness, transparency and accountability in administration and in relation to matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

The people of our country now therefore have a right to their own views, to promote them in informed discussions, demand transparency in government, and to offer criticism without fear. The courts have repeatedly affirmed these, but the quest to realize them is far from over. The position pretty much clearly established in law, there is little doubt that information is not as free as scientists or other common citizens would like it to be. With reference to GIS, there are mounds of information to which the general public are still denied access. Maps of numerous areas are restricted beyond a particular scale. Given this situation, how do we expect the basic tenets of our democracy to put forward their views in the absence of GIS literacy and lack of geospatial democracy? Most government sector agencies do not understand the value of their data, and either do not release it or do not know how to price the data.

The objective of this paper is:

To create awareness on the need to integrate GIS into our daily planning activity at various levels.
To show how GIS can effectively analyze different demographic and development indicators of India at state level and arrive at conclusions.
To show that “GIS holds the key to unlocking a nations potential” and Geospatial Democracy is the need of the hour.

Urban planning & GIS – an overview
Planning is a future-oriented activity that links "scientific and technical knowledge to actions in the public domain. It happens through a public discourse between all groups and individuals interested in and/or affected by urban development and management activities pursued by the public or private sector. Planning-related decisions are made daily through a complex, often politically charged process involving plurality of interests. Moreover, the implementation of those decisions makes a long-term imprint on the urban structure, functionality, and quality of life in urban environments. While most of urban and regional planning happens at the local level, national and state policies and legislation often influence planning activities.

Page 1 of 5
| Next |

Indian | International | Geographic Information Infrastructure

Applications | Technology | Right to Information

Comments : Info@GISdevelopment.net