Geospatial policy notified, hi-resolution Indian map by 2030

Seeking to make India a world leader in global geospatial space, the Centre has notified a national geospatial policy which besides working towards creating an enabling infrastructure for the sector also aims to bring out a high-resolution topographical map covering every inch of the country by 2030 and fashion digital twins of India's major cities and towns by 2035.
The digital twin is a virtual replica of a physical asset, process or service that lies at the core of the new digital revolution, facilitating better decision-making for all kinds of facilities and services in urban areas. The twin - digital copy - will also help policymakers understand how infrastructure will function in different situations such as high-footprints events, increase of population or during natural disasters.
The national geospatial policy 2022, notified by the science & technology ministry on Wednesday, comes at a time when India's geospatial economy is expected to cross Rs 63,000 crore by 2025 at a growth rate of 12.8% and to provide employment to more than 10 lakh people mainly through geospatial start-ups. The Union Cabinet had approved the policy on December 16.
Geospatial technology has applications in almost every domain of the economy ranging from agriculture to industries, development of urban or rural infrastructure, administration of land, economic activities of banking and finance, resources, mining, water, disaster management, social planning and delivery of different kinds of services.
"The National Geospatial Policy, 2022 is a citizen-centric policy that seeks to strengthen the geospatial sector to support national development, economic prosperity and a thriving information economy," said the preamble of the policy which puts focus on democratisation of data and its accessibility to promote ease of doing business.
Under the policy, the central government will constitute a Geospatial Data Promotion and Development Committee (GDPDC) at the national level which will be the apex body for formulating and implementing appropriate guidelines, strategies and programmes for promotion of activities related to the geospatial sector.
The GDPDC, a 17-member body to be headed by a person of repute from industry, government or academia, will drive the overall development of the geospatial ecosystem. It will replace and subsume the functions and powers of National Spatial Data Committee (NSDC) constituted in 2006 and Geospatial Data Promotion and Development Committee constituted in 2021.
"The focus of the Policy is to make geospatial technology and data as agents of transformation for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), bringing efficiency in all sectors of economy and instilling accountability and transparency at all levels of governance," said the notification.
A concrete strategy for mapping the subsurface infrastructure in cities in 3D mode and collating or updating data in cases where it has already been done will also be developed under the policy.