The Times of India - Delhi 19.08.2009
NDMC areas now on 3D GIS map
NEW DELHI: New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has completed GIS mapping of its entire area to effectively provide tourist information along with information on who all have paid property tax and if any household is carrying out unauthorized construction, etc.
The 3D-GIS mapping will also be used to keep a tab on public utility services like roads, streetlights, sanctioning of building plans, etc by simply zooming in on a particular area. It will even be used to enhance the green cover as information on species of trees planted, their lifespan etc will also be made available using the system. Each tree or potted plant will be numbered by the civic body and if a tree is uprooted during a storm, NDMC will be able to act immediately and take remedial measures.
"A 3D-satellite imagery of the NDMC area has been taken on a GIS platform. When we zoom out, tourist information will be provided, but as we begin to zoom in, we will get information about the green areas in a colony, about status of sanctioning of building plans of properties, unauthorised construction cameras will also be installed for this purpose and whether a particular property has paid property tax or not etc,'' said an NDMC official. This will also help the civic body in increasing its property tax collections.
The L-G's office has been given a presentation of the functioning of the 3D-GIS system. NDMC has been working on this project since the last two years and the entire project is expected to be completed in six month's time.
The GIS system will be used for improving various civic services provided by NDMC by mapping every pipeline, electricity line etc in the area. Said an NDMC official: "If there is a power failure, NDMC will be able to identify the problem immediately using the system. Moreover, we will be able to get the information on when a road was made, the last time it was repaired, the contractor who carried out the job and the cost of the entire process. A general survey is being conducted to gather such information on all our public utility services. The present cost incurred by us is Rs 50 lakh.''
NDMC is planning to make the 3D-GIS system partly accessible to the public so that complaints registered by people will also be shown on the system with red and green lights (red signifying complaints that need to be looked into and green showing those complaints that have been addressed). The civic body has appointed a consultant for this project.
"By the end of this project, we will get information on every asset such as sub-stations, transformers, signages, manholes, trees etc owned by us. We will be able to do better asset management,'' added the official.