Guwahati, March 10: Carrying huge and voluminous maps will be a thing of the past as it will now be available on CDs. The Assam-Nagaland Geospatial Data Centre under Survey of India here is preparing digital maps of Assam and Nagaland, which will also be available for the common people.
?Students or researchers will not have to pore over entire maps for specific information. Now, they will be able to get a CD pertaining to their area of interest,? a source said. The maps will be prepared digitally on the world geodetic system, in other words, based on land survey.
For example, if a student or a research scholar is interested in wildlife, he would be able to get a digital map showing only the forest or reserve forest areas.
Sources said the maps should be ready by this year. They will then be sent to the surveyor general of India?s office in Dehra Dun for getting security clearance. The CDs have already been sent to Dehra Dun. ?The Survey of India has taken up the digitisation of maps as the user community was demanding reliable high-resolution data in digital form,? a source said.
The state boundaries will be marked exactly as in the existing maps and if there is any dispute over the demarcation, the governments of both Assam and Nagaland will certify the marked areas as ?disputed? after holding meetings.
According to the current restriction policy of the ministry of defence (MoD), topographical data falling within 50 km (approximately) from international boundaries or coastline are classified as restricted. The maps of restricted categories can only be issued to government departments or NGOs after completing the formalities as laid down by the MoD. Moreover, digital data of all topographical maps have been classified as restricted.
To overcome such difficulties of end users, the Survey of India has introduced two series of maps. One series with all existing details will be for use of defence forces only and the second series with less detail will be for the public.
?More layers of information will be provided to the common people on request,? the source said. The industry will also greatly benefit by the digital maps. A committee will be set up to determine the prices of the digital maps as they have to be cost-effective for public use.