Natural resources data management system (NRDMS): a suite of web-accessible geo-spatial data processing tools for e-Governance in India

The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) of India aims at making all government services accessible to the citizens through common service delivery outlets. It also seeks to ensure efficiency, transparency, and reliability of such services at affordable costs. A huge nationwide ICT infrastructure comprising of more than one lakh Common Service Centres (CSCs) for approximately six lakh villages, Statewide Area Networks (SWAN) for network connectivity to the lowest administrative levels, and State Data Centres (SDCs) for hosting state level e-Governance applications and data are thus being set up. Government departments, like, Land Records, Police, Property Registration, Agriculture, Employment, Watershed Management, Disaster Management, and local level elected bodies like Panchayats (village clusters) and Municipalities etc. involving geographic information, geo-spatial data and processing tools assume significance.

Taking note of this requirement, the Natural Resources Data Management System (NRDMS) programme of Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India aims at setting up Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) and developing a suite of web-accessible geo-spatial data processing tools. The SDIs and the tools are expected to provide information support to the efficient delivery of e-services under the NeGP. Research & Development (R & D) in the emerging areas of Geo Information Science and Technology are promoted to continually upgrade the tools and techniques. Some of the thrust areas for R & D include Geo-spatial Cloud Computing, Geo-Service Chaining, Geo-visualisation and Computer Cartography, Geo-Semantic Web, Spatio-temporal Data Modelling, Uncertainty in Geo-Spatial Data, Analytical/Process Modelling and Spatial Data Handling (SDI) etc. Specialized research and training centres are being set up in different parts of the country to facilitate capacity building.

Sharing of spatial data by data providing agencies in the framework of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) is an essential requirement in e-services delivery. District and state geo-portal prototypes have been developed using OGC/ISO specifications and their utility demonstrated to end user agencies. Specific studies have been completed in areas like Cartographic Generalization, Enterprise GIS, and Sensor Web Enablement etc. in order to demonstrate the utility of web-based geo-spatial data processing tools in e-Governance service delivery. In a typical district or a state, different line departments and agencies acquire and process spatial data sets for field/local level applications. Some of these data sets relate to watersheds, plots, weather, irrigation, health, education etc. Inadequate access to these data sets inhibits their use and integration with other relevant layers. The geo-portals are being upgraded with metadata from the line departments to facilitate discovery of geo-spatial data by using catalogue service on web (CSW). The geo-portals have been made accessible through the single window access mechanism of the India Geo Portal of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI).

In order to provide map service on the web for a city area primarily consisting of features like buildings and roads, there is a need for generalizing features by removing unnecessary details. Cartographic generalization plays an important role in overcoming these effects and preserves the required legibility considering the need for communicating (maps) geographical data to mobile devices in support of delivery of e-services.

In the coming years, NRDMS will gear itself towards covering application sectors like 'Sustainable Agriculture' and 'Disaster Management', and engaging stakeholders attention in the development and utilization of geo-spatial data processing tools and technologies in different real-life applications.