Context

The Union Science Minister has reiterated the projection of the Geospatial "Artha" Report 2021. It projects India’s geospatial technology industry to cross Rs 63,100 crores by 2025 at a growth rate of 12.8 %.

About

What is Geospatial technology?

• Geospatial technologies is a term used to describe the range of modern tools contributing to the geographic mapping and analysis of the Earth and human societies. 
• It enables to acquire data that is referenced to the earth and use it for analysis, modeling, simulations and visualization.
• Geospatial technologies include
• Geographic Information System (GIS)/Spatial Analytics
• Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) & Positioning
• Earth Observation
• Scanning
• These tools capture spatial information about objects, events, and phenomena (indexed to their geographical location on earth, geotag). The location data may be Static or Dynamic.

India’s Geospatial Sector:

• India has a robust ecosystem in geospatial, with the Survey of India (SoI), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Remote Sensing Application Centres (RSACs), and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in particular, and all ministries and departments, in general, using geospatial technology.
• In 2021, the geospatial market was dominated by defense and intelligence (14.05 %), urban development (12.93 %), and utilities (11 %) segments, cumulatively accounting for 37.98% of the total geospatial market.
• In 2021, the Ministry of Science and Technology released new guidelines for the Geo-Spatial Sector in India, which deregulates existing protocols and liberalizes the sector into a more competitive field.
• Last year, in the Geospatial "Artha" Report, it was highlighted that India's geospatial economy is currently valued at Rs 38,972 crore and has the potential to grow to Rs 63,100 crore at 12.8 per cent by 2025.

Liberalization of the Geospatial Sector:

• The Ministry of Science and Technology, in February 2021, released new guidelines for the Geo-Spatial Sector in India, which deregulated the previous protocol and liberalized the sector to a more competitive field.
• The policy granted open access to the geospatial data and services, including maps, for all Indian entities, with the exception of sensitive defense or security-related data.
• Indian corporations and innovators are no longer subject to restrictions nor do they require prior approvals before generating or updating digital geospatial data and maps within the territory of India.
• There is also no requirement for security clearance, license, or any other restrictions.

Progress so far:

• Rural Development Ministry had mapped over 45 lakh kilometers of rural roads by using 21 data layers of a digital map of India.
• This will be helpful to create digitized information regarding water bodies, green areas, plots, and other structures essential for administrative purposes.
• Nearly 2.6 lakh gram panchayat had been covered by the Ministry under the mapping and digitization scheme.
• India announced plans to prepare digital maps of all its 6,00,000 villages, and pan-India 3D maps will be prepared for 100 cities. This is in line with the SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) scheme.

Significance of Geospatial Technology

• Potential Sector: The sector has the potential to grow to Rs 63,100 crore at 12.8% by the end of 2025 as per the India Geospatial Artha Report 2021.
• Employment: Private Companies like Amazon, Zomato, etc. use this technology to smoothly conduct their delivery operations which supports livelihood generation.
• Implementation of Schemes: The schemes like the Gati Shakti program can be smoothly implemented using geospatial technology.
• Make in India: Focusing on the sector allows Indian companies to develop indigenous apps like an Indian version of google maps.
• Management of Land records: Using the technology, the data related to a large number of landholdings can be appropriately tagged and digitized.
• It will not only help better targeting but also reduce the quantum of land disputes in courts.