More youngsters join Mapathon Keralam

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Mapathon Keralam project of IT Mission got a new fillip when around 130 young professionals and resources persons of Haritha Keralam Mission joined it for mapping of streams in the state. With IT Mission providing online training for the volunteers, the mapping of streams has been completed in Kottayam and Kollam.
“Other districts are currently undertaking mapping of streams in respective locations. After drawing the stream using satellite images, they try to give names to each stream. Mapping of ponds will be part of the next phase. Mapping of water resources and related structures shall enable better planning against water scarcity,” said IT Mission director S Chithra.
Officials of IT Mission said that mapping of steams in Pathanamthitta was carried out by geography students of NSS College, Pandalam. Using the platform Open Street Mapping (OSM), IT Mission launched Mapathon Keralam, a crowd-sourcing initiative for macro-level mapping of various resources in the state, around six months ago. Initially, around 1,100 students, mostly NSS volunteers, joined as volunteers for Mapathon. Of these, over 600 students were trained by NSS programme officers under Kerala Technological University.
These volunteers are expected to contribute a minimum five mapping days. They will map buildings, roads and other assets. An attempt is being made to map all public health institutions with the help of NSS volunteers. Sources said that data available in OSM will be more accurate as it is available for public scrutiny.
Meanwhile, a group of technocrats has come up with a proposal to help encourage citizens to use public transport by leveraging a map of bus stops and routes. This will encourage more people to use it over private transport. Such change will have social and ecological benefits, said IT Mission officials.
Mapping activities are providing vital information that can be used for development planning in the state, and more importantly in disaster management.
IT mission officials said that people could utilize the period during lockdown to give macro-level information of their locality with the help of freely available satellite images. “It is a good way to contribute to Kerala’s rebuilding initiative at the time of lockdowns. We encourage more students and volunteers to join our efforts and contribute with your skill and knowledge,” Chithra said.