India: Survey of India and Government of Maharashtra signed an MoU on 3rd March 2019, The President of India, acting through Surveyor General of India, Survey of India, Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India for large scale mapping of Gaothan (Abadi) areas with drones. Survey of India proposed to carry out drone-based survey of these areas for effective and efficient mapping output.
Background:
SC & DLR requires mapping of Village Gaothan (Abadi) areas: Settlement Commissioner (SC) & Director of Land Records (DLR) approached Survey of India (Sol) to undertake the large-scale mapping of Village Gaothan (Abadi) areas. It was proposed by Survey of India to carry out drone-based survey of these areas for efficient and effective mapping output. A pilot project was carried out to check the accuracy, output and results of drone-based survey at Sonori village of Pune District of Maharashtra. It was successfully completed. The same was accepted and approved for going ahead for use of large-scale survey for mapping of Village Gaothan (Abadi) areas in the State of Maharashtra.
Scope and Area of Work:
Drone/UAV based survey shall be carried out for around 40000 Village Gaothan (Abadi) areas in the state of Maharashtra. Inhabited areas surrounding Gaothan may also be covered under the project for the purpose of taking imagery.
A network of CORS base stations forming a closed network will be established across the State of Maharashtra.
Apart from the CORS Rovers needed for the project, an additional 400 CORS
Network Rovers shall be procured by Sol for SC & DLR.
Establishment of Data Processing Lab at Directorate of Maharashtra and Goa GDC (Sol) Pune for processing of data acquired through Drones.
Methodology:
High Resolution Digital Aerial Photographs using Survey/Mapping grade UAV/Drone:
Aerial photography of the Village Gaothan (Abadi) area shall be carried out by the SOI using Professional Survey Grade UAV/ Drone for Large Scale Mapping consisting of onboard kinematic GNSS and IMU. The flight plan shall be designed as to have requisite spatial resolution and sufficient overlap (forward/lateral) essentially required for raw data processing, Ortho-l m ag generation and DEM generation for all height measurements
Necessary preparatory work in the field like marking boundanes of land par shall be coordinated by SC & DLR.
Establishment of Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) Network: A network of CORS base stations forming a closed network will be established across the State of Maharashtra for speedier execution of the project first. CORS network broadcasts corrections, usually over an Internet connection and a GPS rover in the network uses this correction to give precise positioning on ground within very less time of the order of 30-60 seconds. Accuracy of observed position within the CORS network is very good, as more than one base station ensures precise positioning and guards against a false initialization with single base station. Ground Control Points (GCPs) shall be provided using this CORS network for all purposes in the project.
Levelling Network Establishment: All CORS stations will be connected with OT Levelling based on Sol Bench-Marks. Further densification of levelling network will be done as per the vertical or height control requirements in project.
The Sol shall ensure operation and maintenance of CORS network stations and provision of CORS network services to Govt. of Maharashtra for 5 years. Further, Sol and Govt of Maharashtra with mutual consent shall decide the modalities for operation and maintenance of CORS network stations. Area/site for CORS network installation shall be provided by GoM, along with electricity and physical security of CORS equipment.
