Survey of India

Survey of India

Subject : History

Section : Art and Culture

Context: The Survey of India (SoI), India’s 250-year-old map maker (as of 2017), while no longer having a monopoly on making high resolution maps, will remain the arbiter of maps that deal with State borders and national boundaries says Sunil Kumar, Surveyor General of India and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology.

More in news:

• In December 2022, the Centre officially released the National Geospatial Policy of India that allows any private agency to make high resolution maps.
• Before this, the Survey of India made various categories of maps that, while available for nominal charges, were relatively hard to access. Moreover, maps made for “civilian purposes” were coarser than the “defence series maps” that were more detailed but only accessible to the Defence Ministry.
• The SoI will continue to maintain CORS (Continuously Operating Reference Stations) that are necessary to create accurate digital maps to cartographers. A CORS consists of a GPS receiver operating continuously, and a stable antenna for continuously streaming raw data.

Concept:

Survey of India:

• Origin: 1767, Major James Rennell was appointed as the Surveyor General of Bengal.
• It is the oldest scientific department in India and one of the oldest survey establishments in the world.
• Foundation for the scientific survey and mapping of the country was laid with The Great Trignometric Survey in the 19^th C by noted surveyors Col Lambton and George Everest.
• It has played an indispensable pioneering role in understanding the country’s priorities in growth and Defense and was pivotal in the foundation of almost all major developmental activities of the modern India.
• It looks forward to create a new era of geospatial evolution which would facilitate India to achieve future economic milestones along with Sustainable Development Goals.
• Significant Developments include:
  • 1787: 1^st Indian survey based on Triangulation system conducted from Madras to the Southern Peninsula
  • 1843: Measurement of the Great Arc from Cape Comorin to the Himalayas completed
  • 1849: Height of Highest Himalayan peak Mt. Everest (computed by RadhanathSikdar)

National Geospatial Policy,2022:

• It is a citizen-centric policy that seeks to strengthen the Geospatial sector to support national development, economic prosperity and a thriving information economy.
• The policy has divided 14 Geospatial Data Themesto support the development of commercial geospatial applications in various sectors e.g., disaster management, mining, forestry etc.
• Some of the major Goals include: