Getting smarter with smart maps
Dr. P. Nag
Director, National Atlas & Thematic Mapping
Organisation
Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India.
How could municipalities use the local expertise of research organisation to help themselves? Calcutta shows the way
Calcutta, in comparison to other urban centres in India, is fairly of recent origin. In 1990 it has completed its tercentenary . Within this period of slightly over three hundred years, this settlement has grown as one of the biggest cities of the world. Nevertheless, due to the teeming population, on one hand, it has its own quota of problems and on the other hand, the demand of the available space is alarming. The urban holdings are being sub-divided and new ‘built-up’ areas are being added every day. For any rational planning and development exercise, a realistic picture is required which has to be continuously updated. Such information is also required for municipal tax administration, extension of utility
services. The basis for all these activities depends heavily on the spatial
information in the form of maps. Such detailed maps with attached data base
should be updated regularly.
NATMO’s Attempts to Map Calcutta
The origin of modern cartography in India lies in the city of Calcutta. The two major cartographic institutions of the country, viz. Survey of India and the National Atlas & Thematic Mapping Organisation (NATMO),were
established in this city. However, it did not receive much attention of
cartographers. The earlier attempts are as follows:
- Plan of Calcutta, 1784/85
by Lt. Col. Mark Wood
- Map of Calcutta and its
Environs, 1792/ 3 by A. Upjohn
- Maps of the Suburbs of
Calcutta, 1817 by Steepleton
- Plan of the city of
Calcutta and its Environs, 1828-32 by I. P. Schalch and Capt. T. Princep
(Lottery Committee.
- Portion of Topographical
Survey of River Hooghly from Bandel to Garden Reach, 1841 by Charles
Joseph
- The City and Environs of
Calcutta, 1852-58 by P.W. Simmis
- Maps of Calcutta showing
the latest Im provements, 1856 by W. Heysham
- Calcutta,1931 in Imperial
Gazetteer of India
- Environs of Calcutta, 1931
in Imperial Gazetteer of India
- Smart Maps, 1903-10 in 856 sheets.
In addition to above,
relatively recent maps have been prepared by Survey of India and NATMO. The
Survey of India map is at 1:40,000 scale showing broad features of Calcutta and
Haora. NATMO included following two plates in the Rational Atlas of
India:
- Urban Land Use, Calcutta
Metropolitan District, 1982
- Urban Land Use, Calcutta City, 1984.
Since the above two maps are
very popular publications, they are being revised. Nevertheless, it has been
felt that these maps do not always meet the requirements of all types of users.
Hence, several other attempts are being made to map Calcutta. In 1990, at the
time of tercentenary, NATMO brought out an Atlas of the City of Calcutta and its
Environs. The second edition has come out in 1996. It contains old maps
mentioned above. Further, in order to meet the requirements of tourists, a
Tourist Map of Calcutta is under preparation. Furthermore, as a part of mega
project on District Planning Maps, a district map of Calcutta is being prepared
as well. In addition, a detailed Calcutta City Atlas in collaboration with the
Calcutta Municipal Corporation has also been mooted. Fieldwork is underway. A
map on Urban Land Use of Haora is being prepared separately.
Digitization and Updation of Smart Maps
During early 1996, NATMO was
approached by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) to update their old maps.
These maps were prepared during the period 1903-1910 showing certain physical
details as was prevailing at that time. Till now these maps are being used for
planning, development, record, sanctioning of the building plans and tax
administration. These maps are also accepted as valid documents in the courts of
law.
All the new alignments,
sub-divisions of properties, municipal services like water and sewerage are
plotted on these maps. They are at 1:600 scale or 1"=50' and are popularly known
as Smart’s maps. Considering the great applicability of these maps it became
essential to update the information.
Objectives
The project on "Digitization
of Old Smarts’ Maps of Calcutta" has following objectives:
- To scan the old Smart maps without making any changes
- To keep film positive/negative of the original maps as backup
- To incorporate the latest changes on a separate file
- To attach data base required for record and tax
administration
Since the Smart maps are
considered as legal instrument, it became necessary to keep the scan image on a
raster file (TIFF). Such scanned maps can be used to recall the information or
hard copy. Further, in order to have a non-digital backup, it was also
considered to have a film negative/positive of the maps at a reduced scale.
These films can also be used for producing hard copies, and with the latest
technology, can be scanned for having raster file.The latest changes are to be
incorporated in a separate vector file using the available revised maps of any
part of the concerned area or the CMC records. In some places field checks may
also be necessary. In addition, all the new property will be having a data base
attached for better record. However, in all the reports prepared by different
development agencies little has been said specifically about the digital mapping
requirements.
The digitised information
will also be helpful for following activities:
- Property records
- Development and Planning initiatives
- Revenue collection
- Development of GlS
- Decentralization of development and taxation
process.
The objective is, not to
develop GIS per se as the information is not exactly framed in the forms of
layers. But, such a base will help in developing GIS for Calcutta if required at
a later date.
The project is likely to support the basic objectives of the Calcutta Metropolitan Planning Organisation’s (CMPO) Development Plan for Calcutta
Metropolitan District (1966) which identifies three tasks:
- to arrest deterioration,
- to make better use of the
existing capacity, and
- to make provision for massive new growth.