GIS is an enabling technology that provides a framework for understanding and applying geographical knowledge, helping the world make informed decisions on complex issues. In the Esri India UC 2021 Jack Dangermond, Founder and President, Esri and Agendra Kumar, MD, Esri India, talked about the sustainable ways to contribute to businesses, communities, and ecosystems that further support the planet.
Opening the India UC, Kumar said, “GIS is essential for sustainable economic growth.” He stressed the collective responsibility for creating a sustainable future. “Geographic thinking will be essential to address future challenges and restore the natural balance,” Kumar added.
Dangermond, in his keynote on “GIS – Create a Sustainable Future,” said that the geographic approach integrates and supports robust methodologies like:
· GeoAnalytics: Creating insights and understanding.
· GeoVisualization: A language through maps and visualization for communicating the content of our world and the context of our world.
· GeoDesign: Designing sustainable and inclusive future.
· GeoCollaboration: Engaging all the stakeholders.
· GeoAccounting: Being able to account for all the factors.
“Setting up measures that are not just economic driven but are driven by the way to balance it. This geoscience and understanding can support our future. They could support our planning, decision, engineering, operations, how we manage our organizations and, how we manage the world. These are all critical,” he added.
“GIS enables the geographic approach. The same tools that we use for measuring and visualizing, analyzing, making predictions, doing planning, making a decision and making all that work that we do is a kind of framework process for applying Geographic knowledge widely,” Dangermond emphasized.
Kumar highlighted the value of GIS for India’s sustainable economic growth. “While we plan for the sustainable environment growth, we need to look at providing a framework for understanding and applying the knowledge that we are gathering through a geospatial infrastructure,” he said.
In February, the Government of India (GoI) announced new geospatial guidelines, a historic step. “By providing this new line of thought, a new way of working, allowing users and us for making enormous models,” said Kumar.
GoI has proposed a new Space-based Remote Sensing policy along with the draft, and recently, the government also released a drone policy, which was required for an extended period. Kumar explained that geospatial technologies are fundamental to India’s economic growth. Drone data after processing becomes a part of the geospatial infrastructure, which is required for sustainable development.
“GIS is a common platform where all the different data sets can be brought together. It ensures that we can use that data to create maps and applications that further helps people in different fields, sectors, and departments solve different problems,” he said.
GIS and geospatial infrastructure enable technologies that provide a framework for understanding and applying the knowledge that is being created. Kumar also informed that Esri India is working with many educational institutes and supporting students with advanced GIS earning, which helps students get an edge.
