The GeoSmart India 2023 conference closed with a special session on various critical topics and themes that were discussed throughout the three-day conference.
Sanjay Kumar, CEO, Geospatial World said, “Looking at sustainability aspect of digital twin which will help understand the situation of any place. Digital twin can map the slow changes in a pond, for example, and monitor the health of real-life environment.”
Sanjay reiterated the importance of sustainability and the effect it is having on the newer generation “The new generations are more inclined towards finding solutions for SDGs. The social entrepreneurship is finding new sustainable ways to address the problems and challenges on the societal scale. The biggest opportunity and challenge of the 21st century is saving the planet. You cannot just leave this business to a charitable trust.”
Ramveer Tanwar (Pond Man of India), Founder, Say Earth NGO presented various case studies that showcased the stellar work of restoring ponds around the country. “My work revolves around sustainability. I talk about the problems, challenges, and restoration of the ponds.”
“We wanted to find the reason why migrating birds are not coming back to the restored ponds. We researched about this issue and even asked the local people there. The reason was very simple. If there is an island between the water bodies, the birds find a suitable and good place to live and lay their eggs. We did that and witnessed many birds coming back and settling around the pond,” exclaimed Ramveer.
He then discussed the role of geospatial technologies in his daily work and said, “Through satellite imagery, we can check the geographical area and make our proposal accordingly. However, at times there is disparity in land areas due to either encroachment from locals or builders which again becomes a challenge. This can be solved by pulling up historical geographical satellite area.”
“In recent decades, we have seen the uprising of major cities. The consequences of this is urban flooding. The places that were water bodies before have now been turned into concrete jungle,” Ramveer stated while talking about the metropolitan cities in India.
Dr. Prakash Chauhan, Director, NRSC said, “At NRSC, we have mapped wetlands in 2007-08 and after 10 years, we had collected the data about these natural water bodies once again. This helped us understand the developments and disparities in many areas. Using satellite data, we can see this type of mismanagement.”
For the last three 3 days, we talked about the various facets of geospatial technologies and how it is affecting all walks of life. This conference might be the first one that collected 60-70 Sarpanchs from around the country and made them aware of the use cases of geospatial technologies, which is a very welcome step.
While talking about the new policies Dr. Prakash said that there is an overarching ambition to create HD models, and accurate and better imagery which is a big task but the demand is being created upon which opening up the sector to the private companies is another welcomed step.
Rama Lanka Devi, Director, Emerging Technologies, Telangana congratulated the Geospatial World team for hosting the GeoSmart India event and extended her gratitude. “It has been a spectacular event. The event provided a holistic themes across its 3-day run time and the team worked really hard to put this all together,” she said.
Rama also congratulated the geospatial excellence award winners.
