The State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (Sipcot) is planning to undertake a geographic information system (GIS) mapping of all its industrial complexes spread over 32,000 acres using drones. Locating idle lands as well as helping foreign investors see what is in store for them will now be easier with GIS.
A geographic information system (GIS) is a computer system for capturing, storing, checking, and displaying data related to positions on Earth’s surface. GIS can show many different kinds of data on one map, such as streets, buildings, and vegetation. This enables people to easily see, analyze, and understand patterns and relationships. The system can include data about people, such as population, income, or education level. It can include information about the landscape, such as the location of streams, different kinds of vegetation, and different kinds of soil.
3D mapping the country using drones
“There are two aspects to this. One is to identify lands that are idle. And the other is that potential investors abroad can see for themselves the real picture and three-dimensional visuals of the Sipcot lands,” an official said.
A three-dimensional representation of the surface, Digital Elevation Models (DEM), would be used to capture data of the terrain. Thus, the Project Officer in each of these parks manually takes images and sends them to the head office, if in need of visual information.
Before investing, many potential investors are also seeking details of the geographical coordinate system of the location. “They want specific details and so far we have been providing only CAD (computer-aided design) images,” the official added. Separately, Sipcot for the first time has called for bids for maintaining the industrial parks across the State. “Maintenance of common areas of these parks are the responsibility of Sipcot. So far, a party is selected through bids in each of the parks and the one who wins the bid has been found showing manpower in multiple places.”
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