Author: Akhil Pankaj Picture a farmer trying to figure out which of his fields need irrigation this week. Somewhere out there, a satellite has already captured the soil moisture data that would answer his question in seconds. The problem was never that the data doesn’t exist; the problem is getting it into his hands – […]

Author: Akanksha Singh Geospatial datasets are becoming easier to access, but access alone does not make them usable. Before relying on a geospatial dataset, users need the contextual information to understand its origin, quality, coverage, and suitability for their intended application (Figure 1). A high-quality geospatial dataset is more than accurate coordinates or detailed imagery, […]

When shopping online, we rely on product reviews to make informed purchasing decisions. A 4-star rated laptop with hundreds of user reviews gives us confidence about its performance, while a restaurant with consistent positive feedback becomes our go-to choice for dining. But what if the same principle could be applied to geospatial data? This is […]

Summary of Keynote Talk by Peter Rabley, CEO, Open Geospatial Consortium: “Will AI Eat Geospatial?” With the advent of Generative AI, a question that intrigues the mind of the Geospatial community across the globe is “Will AI eat geospatial?” With rapid advances in this ‘more than disruptive’ technology that is artificial intelligence, many wonder whether […]

Author: Sneha R Every monsoon, India braces itself for one of its most persistent natural hazards: flooding. It is driven by intense monsoons, cyclones, tsunamis, or earthquake-damaged dams failure causing extensive loss of life, infrastructure damage, and long term economic disruption. According to the National Flood Commission (1980), about 0.4 million km² of India’s area […]

Authors: Bryan Paul Robert,Lead Engineer, CDPG-FSID, IISc Mahidhar Chellamani,Engineering Director, CDPG-FSID, IISc Jyotirmoy Dutta,Director and Principal Scientist, CDPG-FSID, IISc For years, some of India’s most valuable geospatial datasets remained scattered across government departments, research institutes, or private organizations. They held immense potential to transform logistics, strengthen climate resilience, and support smarter urban planning, but they […]

Introduction Traditionally, data exchanges have relied on a centralized architecture — where both the control plane (responsible for cataloging, authorization, and access management) and data plane (where the datasets are stored and served) are hosted centrally. While functional, this model faces challenges of scalability, data governance, and security risks, especially as data volumes and contributors […]

Authors: Joel Joy, Dr Linda Theres The GDI Python SDK is a command-line toolkit designed to streamline interaction with the Integrated Geospatial Data Sharing Interface (GDI), accessible at https://catalogue.geospatial.org.in. Built to support a wide range of geospatial workflows, the SDK enables users to efficiently access, process, and manage both vector and raster data within a […]

India is experiencing various forms of natural hazards including, earthquakes, landslides, floods, forest fires, cyclones, and drought etc. Among these, landslides are one of the more prominent and devastating natural hazards especially in the hilly areas of the country. The eastern part of Kerala state (Western Ghats) in southern India is highly prone to landslides […]

In an era where climate change is bringing more erratic weather patterns, the consequences of heavy rainfall and flooding on agriculture can be devastating. Farmers, particularly those reliant on seasonal crops, are often left in precarious situations, struggling to recover from lost yields. In the early September of 2024, in NTR district of Andhra Pradesh, […]

Rapid urbanisation causes several issues, including the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, where urban areas experience significantly higher temperatures than their rural surroundings. This is due to several factors associated with urbanisation, including the replacement of vegetation with buildings, roads, and other impermeable surfaces that absorb and retain heat. Additionally, heat emissions from industries and […]

Suitability studies in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) play a vital role in spatial planning and resource management by assessing the appropriateness of a given area for specific land uses based on various criteria. These studies integrate multiple datasets and analytical techniques to evaluate how well certain locations meet predefined requirements, thus guiding decision-making in sectors […]