Kapil Sibal

With the global economic downturn now predominantly in the past, capital spending on information technology has rebounded vigorously. The geospatial market has contributed to the mitigation of the effects of global recession and is now all set to participate and make its presence felt in the economic turnaround process. The geospatial industry is at an exciting stage of its development. The technology itself is ever increasing- ever expanding, finding new areas of applications and new markets for exploitation. Its reach is so wide that no area of our activity is now untouched from it.

The world today is a world of fast pace changes. Technologies are coming into being and falling by the wayside in numbers that were unthinkable a few decades ago. We are living in an era of science and the pace of communication is mind boggling. Geospatial sector will have to continue to strive to change and become better and more useful for its users. Perhaps the most redeeming feature of this industry is that it helps other industries realize their goals efficiently and effectively. It helps them remain competitive. That may be the reason its existence will never be threatened.

It is heartening to note that the pace of this technological change has been significant in India. The inconceivable has become the reality in India with geospatial being assimilated into planning, managing and monitoring of natural resources, utilities, infrastructure, agriculture etc. As government embarks on developing roads & highways, hydrology, hydro power, bridges, land development, power distribution, the technology is heading to become ubiquitous. Geospatial has a big role to play in the development sector in making our developmental planning more efficient and its implementation more effective. Long term policy, cost effective technology & the user’s confidence are the vital factors which if addressed would provide a major fillip to the geospatial movement in India. ‘GIS is the power of today & the future’ and therefore there is a need to take proactive steps to advance geospatial technologies in a bigger way. Opportunities are tremendous and we shall leave no stone unturned in revolutionising our industry using geospatial. It’s time for the “GEOSPATIAL REVOLUTION”.