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1 Emerging Trends and Challenges for Geospatial Technology Development in India K S Rajan Lab for Spatial Informatics, International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad [email protected] Presented at ICGTA -12, Apr 12-13, 2012. at IITB, Mumbai IIIT-H Established in 1998 a new star in the Indian Technical Education scenario Ranked 7 th among Tech-Schools in India (DataQuest, 2008; among Tech Universities in South Asia, 2009) A research university ICT (CSE, ECE) Application Domains Research Centers and NO Departments

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1

Emerging Trends and Challenges for

Geospatial Technology Development in India

K S RajanLab for Spatial Informatics,

International Institute of Information [email protected]

Presented at ICGTA -12, Apr 12-13, 2012. at IITB, Mumbai

IIIT-H

• Established in 1998

– a new star in the Indian Technical Education scenario

• Ranked 7th among Tech-Schools in India (DataQuest, 2008; among Tech Universities in South Asia, 2009)

• A research university

– ICT (CSE, ECE)

– Application Domains

• Research Centers and NO Departments

2

Why Lab for Spatial Informatics?

• to combine strengths/progress in CSE/IT related

to Spatio-Temporal domains with application areas,

ranging from natural to social sciences.

• a nodal point for networking and joint research

works in inter-disciplinary areas (related to resource

use and management), by building on the data

generation, handling and monitoring capability to

analysis and modelling.

• ONLY centre/group of its kind in India promoting

GeoSpatial Research efforts at both system and

applied levels.

Lab for Spatial Informatics

• Started in late 2006

– Still in its infancy

• Faculty : 2 (currently)

• Researchers / Students:

– PhD: 4

– MS by Research: 6

• Graduated: 5+8

– Dual Degree/UG Students: 9+

3

LSI – Focus Areas1. Remote Sensing (RS) - Satellite Image Processing andSpatial Data Generation

2. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) - Algorithmsfor spatial data storage, visualization and analysisincluding computational geometry; System developmentbased on OpenSource philosophy

3. Application of GIS techniques and RS data in a widerange of areas like agriculture, forestry, urban studies,etc.

4. Integrated simulation and modeling of Land use/LandCover, and further related to Global EnvironmentalChange.

• 1970s ~ Computer Mapping

• 1980s ~ Spatial Data Management

– Raster & Vector Data Models accepted

• 1990s ~ Map Analysis and Modelling

– descriptive query to prescriptive analysis of maps

• 2000s ~ WebGIS

– Largely follows the same chain of development

• 2010s~ Multimedia Mapping

– 3D+Time

– Spatial Logic

• Future: Spatial Reasoning and Dialog

Source: http://www.innovativegis.com/basis/mapanalysis/Topic27/Topic27.htm

Raster &

Vector Data

Models

accepted descriptive query to

prescriptive analysis of maps

WebGIS

3D+Time

Spatial Logic

Spatial Reasoning

and Dialog

4

India – GIS Scenario• More than 2 decades old

– Internationally, 4 decades old

• Initial Use driven by – need to store and handle RS

data

– Image/RASTER driven data models

• But, GIS development borrows heavily from

Cartography – focus: Representation/Visualisation

– Vector Models

• Application based Analysis – BUT, limited to tools

• Statistics to (and?) Spatial Analysis

Domain related Challenges

• Use of Tools in GIS Application areas

– Convenience of use

– BUT, Limitations to Scientific Discovery

– NEED, more and better parameterisation

– Cadastral Mapping

• Mismatch between satellite derived data vs Land Records

5

• Land Records

– Paper to digital form

– Remote Sensing / Aerial Photogrammetry

– Re-survey

– Ownership issues

– Re-adjustment of parcels

• Research - Topology driven approach can be

tried

Source: GeoWorld December, 2006 http://www.innovativegis.com/basis/mapanalysis/Topic27/Topic27.htm

6

• Primarily, a Modelling guy – LULC

– GIS based models

– Process oriented Models is more the focus

• Analytics – pre-requisite for Modelling

– Need tools

– Modify the tools, if they are unable to extract what we want

• Analysis is based on Data

– Where is the data?

-- move to FOSS4G

How did I get into Spatial

Sciences

Analytics

• Is it tool-centric or idea-centric ?

• Are there enough tools to do Analysis?

– both effectively and efficiently

– are we back to our scribbling ways

– OR are we part of the innovation, process discovery chain…

• So, Science/Research needs to create new

methods

– Developers are part of this!!

7

Computation – as a way of life!!

• Early stages of Computer Science

– Data storage and handling

– Mathematical process

• Mathematical theory – a main stay of Computing theory

• Applications – Large data handling • Sector-based approaches BFSI, Census

• Age of Internet – Information handling

Need to move from Data to Information

Broad Focus areas

• Computing Paradigm - in all domains

• Interactions between Computing and the

domains

– A One-way street?

– Or Bi-directional?

• Disciplinary and Multi-disciplinary interests –Opening up new paradigms of Computing

• The Indian Context

8

Computer Science – GeoICT

• Waking up to the exciting world of

– Algorithm development – Graph theory, etc

– Multi-dimensional Data

• Data structures and Data bases

– Graphics and Visualization

• 3D – GRID-TIN from either/or to Hybrid

– Parallel Computing

– Information Extraction and Retrieval

– Software Engineering

GIS: Another Application Area to a Frontier in CS/IT

Geospatial Technologies

– Location is it a variable or a constant?

– Geospatial Information Systems – Modifying Computer Science

• Simple Map Visualization to Web-based Map mashups

• DB to Geo/Spatial DB; Spatial Data Mining

• Analysis

– Statistical to evolving field of Spatio-Statistical tools

– BI to Geo-BI

• Modelling and Simulation

– Eg., Complex Climate-Social-Economic Integrated Modelling

– Remote Sensing - again, Volumes of Data to

Information – a still struggling journey

9

Mapping & Visualization: CG, Visual data manipulation,

Presentation, Automated Mapping

GIS Spatial Analysis: Rule and Relation based Analysis,

Simulations, Agent based modelling

Spatial Data Base: Data Collection & Generation, Retrieval,

Editing, Updating, Build Spatio-Temporal

data relation (data quality), Inventory

Main functions of GIS

Source: Longley, Goodchild, Maguire, Rhind [2001]

GI Science

GI Systems GI Services

???

- Primary focus on tools

Data & More Data

10

Applications

Remote Sensing Geo-Spatial Information

Systems

Theory

Environment / Policy / System Building

Classification techniques

- time-series

- Spatial Data Mining

Cropping SeasonIrrigation Mapping

Land Use Modeling

Locating News

& Geo-context

Auto Geo-registration

Algorithms for

Airline Industry

CANSAT

Competition

OBIA, Fusion, Change Detection

FOSS4G

Spatial Statistics

& Spatial Data Mining

Moving Objects –

Data & Analysis

Spatial Information

Extraction Eg.Roads

Tessellations and

Mobile

Network PlanningDrought Monitoring

Parallel Computing

& Mobility

VRGeo – Collab Mapping

Online Shapefile Viewer

GM

L an

d

Geo

-Web

Constrained

Networks

Challenges

• Technology (IT) – enabler ? – More data (single info layers to mash-ups)

– More accessibility

– Evolution of Intelligent Decision Support Systems

• Rapid changes in IT infra– Are our data models good enough?

– How Location aware technologies can seamlessly talk to say, Spatial Data Infrastructure • World of Sensing, Data collation, and Separating the chaff

11

What is the Success of an SDI

If SDInfrastructure is like a Road being laid

• Conformance to Standards

• Interoperability and Data flow/download

– With/without toll collection

• What if this Road connects to not-so-interacting

centers/cities/towns

– Hence, low usage – less clicks on GeoPortal

• Enabler of Services

– A good road also brings in More Shops

– Infra leads to Service

Disruptive Technologies

• Internet – Web 2.0; HTML 5 canvas

• Mobile-based incld Tablets

• Improvements in low-powered and better

accuracy GPS receivers

• One-way to Interactive approaches

12

LSI@IIIT-H’s Work in the

Context of SDI• SDI Standards related

– Mostly GML based

• Cumbersome and heavy

• Needs large bandwidth

• SADAK – Project Freeway

• VRGeo – Village Resource GeoSpatial Platform

– Crowd sourcing the data,

– so also pronounced “WE-ARE GEO”

GML Data Handling

• With increase in the amount of data, the

number of users of the data has also

increased considerably overloading the

servers with the geo requests.

• One of the possible solutions is the use of

distributed databases and distributed

networks including mirror sites.

• The other solution is reduction in the size

of the data, i.e., GML data compression.

13

Proposed methodology

• The proposed methodology comprises of mainly two steps :-

– Common boundaries extraction and edge indexing

– Coordinate data management using a tree structure.

• The first step mainly focuses on the occurrence of common

boundaries based on the feature’s topological relationships.

• The second step introduces a tree structure for eliminating the

repetition of digits in the coordinates.

• Here, the work focuses on the polygon data, since they exhibit the

adjacency property

Flow chart of the algorithm

14

GTrees Compression Algorithm

�Exploits the Topology of the Data to eliminate redundancies in coordinate data

�A tree-based data structure is employed for data storage, thus making recovery of compressed data in a LOSSLESS way

�Interestingly, this Compressed Tree-based data structure helps handling efficiently Spatial Queries

Data files • To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, it was applied on

a range of GML data file sizes. These GML data files were created from

the district boundary dataset of India covering various geographies.GML File name No. of polygons No .of

vertices

GML file size (in

kilobytes)

Coordinate data

size(in

kilobytes)

% of the

coordinate data

in file

D1 17 5460 244 236 96.72

D2 13 9457 416 392 94.23

D3 24 17163 768 740 96.35

D4 29 26578 1200 1124 93.67

D5 72 52217 2300 2152 93.57

D6 117 84999 3600 3464 96.22

D7 145 113833 4900 4689 95.69

D8 185 152421 6500 6150 94.61

D9 267 204000 8600 8205 95.40

D10 351 263678 12000 11568 96.4

D11 468 357103 16000 15450 96.56

15

• Fig.5. Sample view of some of the data files

Results and DiscussionGML file name % of

compression

using common

boundaries

approach

% of

compression

using

coordinate data

tree approach

% of

compression

when both are

applied

D1 31.2 32.1 57.3

D2 30.1 32.3 54.1

D3 31.3 34.7 58.6

D4 31 35.9 60.5

D5 33.6 36.2 61.5

D6 35.6 36.8 62.1

D7 36.4 37.3 63.4

D8 36.7 37.9 63.9

D9 37.3 38.3 66.3

D10 37.1 38.8 66.7

D11 41.1 40.5 68.4

16

GTapp

• A Desktop user interface application is

developed to test all the operations including:-

– Compression

– Decompression

– Rendering of GML data in svg format.

• This app allows the user to use the Compressed

GML

GML data rendered

• Plain GML is converted to SVG format

and rendered

17

GTress Compression

• GML data is compressed into gmlz

format.

Gtrees based Decompression

- by GTapp• Gmlz data is converted back to gml format.

18

Decompressed data rendered on the fly

• Converted to svg format on the fly & rendered.

Gtqueries

- ongoing

• A query system is being developed on top

of the compressed GML data.

• It answers topological queries.

• It traverses through the tree exploiting

various topological properties like

adjacency, containment etc.

19

GIS computation timeline

High performance computing

• Current scenario

– Natural progression of current computing

– Accepted by Computing community

– Corresponding wide spread haste

• Practical issues

– Non Trivial

– Highly dependent on architecture

– Research community trying to bridge the gap

20

GIS and High Performance Computing

• Traditional computation model -> Centralized computing

• High performance computing-> Clusters

• Massive transition in HPC– Custom Hardware - GPU and Cell BE–Massive performance to cost ratio – Very good performance to power ratio

• Bottlenecks – Legacy software and practices

Mobility for GIS$.

• Practical features

– Capabilities

– Price

– Size

–Weight

– Battery Life

21

Advantages of amalgamation of HPC and

mobility

• Real time computation

• On-field analysis of data

• Reduction of response time

• Suitable for disaster prevention and management

– Communication not a bottleneck

– Efficient and fast response

– Real time updates possible

• Can nurse expansion of role of GIS

CELL Broadband Engine• General purpose computing platform• Jointly developed by Sony, Toshiba and IBM• Features for mobility– Capabilities- substantial– Price-Low– Size- compact• Bigger than handhelds

– Weight- light– Battery Life-low power design

• Computing hub of playstation– Also found in Blade servers and roadrunner supercomputer

22

Open Source and GIS

• GRASS GIS favoured open source distribution

• Well documented sequential code

• Large body of applications

• Stable performance across sequential platforms

• Starting point for our work

What Parallelization achieved

GRASS GIS Applications – flood

modeling• Mapcalc– Fundamental set of application

– Building block for multiple applications

– Embarrassingly parallel application

– Speedup of 5-6X over a sequential implementation

• Terracost– Direct application of algorithm by Hazel, T., Toma, L., Vahrenhold, J., and Wickremesinghe, R. Terracost: Computing least-cost-path surfaces for massive grid terrains. J. Exp. Algorithmics 12 (Jun. 2008),1-31.

– Speedup gained 6X over sequential.

23

MiSTICMiSTICMiSTICMiSTIC –––– Mining Mining Mining Mining SpatioSpatioSpatioSpatio----

Temporally Invariant CoresTemporally Invariant CoresTemporally Invariant CoresTemporally Invariant Cores

� Spatial Analysis (for time step t):

(i) Detecting FOCAL POINTS

(ii) Delineation of ZONES

• Spatio-temporal Analysis (spatial analysis over

time period T) - Identifying CORE REGIONS :

(i) Neighborhood constraints – CC / CR

(ii) Occurrence Frequency – CHD / CLD / CND

K. Sravanthi And Dr.K.S.Rajan

Flowchart describing the steps to identify core regionsFlowchart describing the steps to identify core regionsFlowchart describing the steps to identify core regionsFlowchart describing the steps to identify core regions

24

Detecting Focal PointsDetecting Focal PointsDetecting Focal PointsDetecting Focal Points

Figure 2: Direction values

� In our study, the preprocessing involves assigning each cell a value

between 0 and 8, where each integer determines a direction of the

maximum increase in rainfall from that cell.

� If a cell has maximum value of rainfall with respect to its eight

neighboring cells, then it is assigned a value 0.

Such grid points with zero direction value are tagged as the “focal points”.

After this step, each grid cell has a derived value

Delineation of ZonesDelineation of ZonesDelineation of ZonesDelineation of Zones

Figure 4: Zones created for each of the four Focal Points (corresponding to those locations shown in Figure3) in Peninsular India, 1992

Figure 3: Four focal points detected in Peninsular India, 1992

25

Identifying Core RegionsIdentifying Core RegionsIdentifying Core RegionsIdentifying Core Regions

Core Region (or Core) is frequent set frequent set frequent set frequent set of N N N N focal points focal points focal points focal points which are

predominantly occurring in a defined neighborhooddefined neighborhooddefined neighborhooddefined neighborhood. . . . The complete set

over T is formed by choosing at most one point from each time step.

• Neighborhood:Neighborhood:Neighborhood:Neighborhood: In order to understand the event behavior across

space over T, cores are classified into two types satisfying different

neighborhood constraints :

i. Core with Contiguous points (CC) : This type of core refers to a set of

focal points which are contiguous in both space and time.(Figure 5)

ii. Core with defined Radius (CR): This core includes the set of focal

points ordered in time which are non-contiguous in space bounded by

an area with radius r defined around the reference focal

point.(Figure 6)Focal points that do not satisfy the neighborhood constraints are called Not Satisfactory (NS)Not Satisfactory (NS)Not Satisfactory (NS)Not Satisfactory (NS)

points or time steps.

Neighborhood : CC & CRNeighborhood : CC & CRNeighborhood : CC & CRNeighborhood : CC & CR

Figure 6: Core with defined Radius.Neighborhood with radius r definedaround focal point in time step t1.Focal point in t4 is missing as itoutside the defined area.

Figure 5: Core with Contiguous Points.t1 to t10 represent consecutive timesteps . Dotted boundary lines definethe neighborhood for a given point(eight adjacent cells)

26

• Occurrence Frequency:Occurrence Frequency:Occurrence Frequency:Occurrence Frequency: A focal point is considered

frequent if its frequency of occurrence at a given location is

more than a user-specified minimum support (min_sup).

Based on the different percentages of highest frequency

(frequency higher than min_freq) and number of time steps

not considered for analysis (max_pruneTS - number of time

steps pruned from the analysis), cores are classified as :

i. Core with Highly Dominating point (CHD)

ii. Core with Less Dominating points (CLD)

iii. Core with No Dominating point (CND)

Study of Rainfall Patterns in

Monsoonal India

27

Figure Figure Figure Figure 7777: : : : TwentyTwentyTwentyTwenty----five zones created, five zones created, five zones created, five zones created, each each each each marked marked marked marked by different by different by different by different color, for color, for color, for color, for each of the twentyeach of the twentyeach of the twentyeach of the twenty----five focal five focal five focal five focal points points points points highlighted highlighted highlighted highlighted with dark brown color for with dark brown color for with dark brown color for with dark brown color for entire India entire India entire India entire India in in in in 1991199119911991. The color bar has . The color bar has . The color bar has . The color bar has the corresponding zone IDthe corresponding zone IDthe corresponding zone IDthe corresponding zone ID

� For each of the 56 years, set

of valid focal points are

detected and zones are

created for each of them.

� For the analysis in this study,

only a subset of the data with

contiguous landmass of the

mainland India with non-

extreme climatic behavior

(Central and Peninsular India)

is considered.

Analysis

• Reference set of focal points determine the number of

cores that should be identified. Analysis has been done

for 7 reference focal points.

• For this analysis, a point is considered frequent in a core if

it has occurred at the same place within that core for more

than three years (i.e. min_sup = 5%) out of 56 years.

• The following table has the conditions to classify cores as

CHD/CLD/CND

with T=56 years

Core

Type

min_freq max_pruneTS

CHD >=60% (~34) <=10% (~6)

CLD >=25% (~14)

& <60% (~33)

>10% (~7) &

<=33%(~19)

CND <25% (<=13) >33% (>=20)

28

Ref

Focal

Point

Core

type

Core

size

Max

Freq

(%)

#NF

Years

#NS

Years

Classification (CHD/CLD/CN

D)

P1 CC 5 ~32% 4 13 CLD

CR 5 ~32% 7 5 CLD

P2 CC 3 50% 1 2 CHD

CR 3 50% 0 0 CHD

P3 CC 1 ~28.5% 6 34 CND

CR 6 ~32% 9 9 CLD

P4 CC 3 ~52% 1 7 CLD

CR 3 ~59% 0 0 CHD

P5 CC 2 62.5% 5 10 CLD

CR 3 ~64% 12 0 CLD

P6 CC 4 ~39% 3 9 CLD

CR 5 ~39% 3 1 CHD

P7 CC 2 ~8% 17 31 CND

CR 5 ~34% 8 6 CLD

MiSTICMiSTICMiSTICMiSTIC ---- SummarySummarySummarySummary

• The detection of these core regions, especially the CHD can

help detect phenomena that exhibit highly localized occurrences

over time.

• Changes in climatic pattern over long periods may be discovered

by observing whether a given region has changed from say CHD

to CLD or to CND, if analyzed over decadal time periods.

• For the monsoonal rainfall phenomena, it is observed in this

work that CR is a better indicator of the core regions. This could

be attributed to the dynamic nature of the Monsoonal rainfall in

India.

29

Besides the nature of the event, the following reasons could also have an impact

on the results :

i. Scale Issues – With changing resolutions, the neighborhood regions of

interaction change and subsequently the core points change.

ii. Dominance definition – There could be more classifications

iii. CR vs CC – Both handle different events

In this paper, the work demonstrates a method which

detects the core regions of largely spatio-temporal

dynamic phenomena, the data of which when analyzed

over only space or time may not provide enough insights

into its processes

Such localized behavior exhibited in space and over time

can provide important clues for further analysis of

controlling and/or regulating characteristics for the

phenomena at study.

Challenges in the Indian Context

• Has to provide for Incremental Design– Can’t get agencies to share data till they see value in it

• Language Localization – Data Collection to Manipulation to GeoDBmanagement

• Data Interoperability– Application driven Formats and Parameters –unification of Data Model will take time

• Data Ownership + Security– Though largely Govt., Distributed Authorities

– Map Policy & RS Policy of India

30

Innovation/Creativeness

at the Level of Education

• Tool based teaching– Undermines conceptual learning

– Limited by what is offered and not what one can do

– Students/employees complain when asked to ”think”

• Need to look beyond tools– Gaps in tool vs. what one needs to do

– Solutions approach vs. technique based

– Solutions needs Creativity and Innovation

My views - where we should go• Technology focus is needed

– Need Roadmap to generate new technologies actively and not just a passive user of these (known s/w tools)

– Recognizing INDIA’s needs - given language, literacy and other barriers. Eg., like GeoVisualization may be a big need here even for Decision makers over and above (scenario based) Modelling

• SKILL-imparting vs GIS Conceptual understanding

and GIScience R&Dev.

• An Explicit focus on RESEARCH

– Innovation comes from Research

– Maybe, an explicit Goal-oriented Fund

31

Thank You !!

Can Routing Algorithms

become more Intelligent?

- GIS based approach at Multiple

Thematic integration and its

handling in Routing Algorithms

32

• Routing

– GIS/Navigation tools still involved with basic O-D routing

– What about constraints?

• Network (internal)

• External – feature driven or user driven

– AI based User friendly techniques needed

dc = 50 units

S to D = 71 units

RED: S to F3 (64) > dc

BLUE : S to F1 (30); total 123 units

GREEN: S to F4(50); total 118 units

• Handing Mobile Objects

– Collision avoidance systems – rail, aircraft

• Processing is an issue

– Correct & complete solution vs Approximate Solution (TAT~1sec or less)

• Data accuracy / Uncertainty is an issue

– Approximate solutions

Mobile Objects

33

Complex systems & Spatial Scales

• Data collection – AVHRR (8Km) to few cms spatial resolution

– Sensors

• Data handling– Multi-scale spatial data access models

• Data Processing– Mostly at a given scale of the phenomenon

– Affects MODELLING

• Multi-level data input vs Spatial Map generation– Eg. Forest survey data to hierarchical forest class maps

FOSS4G

• Paradigm Shift? Or Natural Progression?

• Conviction vs Compulsion

• Top-down vs Home-grown

• Capacity Building and Training

– Spread in Awareness

34

FOSS4G Contributions from LSI• Indian Language versions of OpenJUMP – a vector GIS tool – in Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi

• VR-Geo (http://lsi.iiit.ac.in/lsi./vrgeo )

– pronounced “we-are-geo”; and also Village Resources

GeoMapping Platform

– A Collaborative Mapping Platform

• Online ShapeFile Viewer

– Launched Feb 2011 - Has 32 users in less than a month

• Actively involved in giving talks and training program (EDUSAT, State Depts., Univs., etc)

���� ���� �� �� �������� ���� �� ���� !"�#�� ���� $%�&'

Sample Screenshot

in Telugu

35

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()*�+

()*� ����

()*� �,-./0()*� 1.2�%3

2��45 �6��7 8'2��45 �,-./02��45 �,-./0 8'2��45 8')9,%�:�

�;.3

Sample Screenshot

in Malayalam

36

Sample Screenshot

in Malayalam

Sample Screenshot

in Malayalam

37

VRGeo: Collaborative Mapping

Platform (1)• Crowd-sourcing of Spatial Data

– GPS based inputs

– Satellite Images / Raster based

• Use any WMS data in the background

• Attributes based on needs

– Local sourcing

– Structuring Unstructured data

• Centralised Geo-DB

VRGeo: Collaborative Mapping

Platform (2)• Further plans

– GPS device detection and upload

• GPS-Babel hacked

– SMS based input

– Village level data generation, correction and update

– Case studies based Semantic Standardization

• Cultural / Language aspects

• Attribute specifications

DEMO

38

39

40

Online ShapeFile Viewer

41

42

Online ShapeFile Viewer

43

Online ShapeFile Viewer

Challenges in the Indian Context

• Has to provide for Incremental Design– Can’t get agencies to share data till they see value in it

• Language Localization – Data Collection to Manipulation to GeoDBmanagement

• Data Interoperability– Application driven Formats and Parameters –unification of Data Model will take time

• Data Ownership + Security– Though largely Govt., Distributed Authorities

– Map Policy & RS Policy of India

44

Innovation/Creativeness

at the Level of Education

• Tool based teaching– Undermines conceptual learning

– Limited by what is offered and not what one can do

– Students/employees complain when asked to ”think”

• Need to look beyond tools– Gaps in tool vs. what one needs to do

– Solutions approach vs. technique based

– Solutions needs Creativity and Innovation

My views - where we should go• Technology focus is needed

– Need Roadmap to generate new technologies actively and not just a passive user of these (known s/w tools)

– Recognizing INDIA’s needs - given language, literacy and other barriers. Eg., like GeoVisualization may be a big need here even for Decision makers over and above (scenario based) Modelling

• SKILL-imparting vs GIS Conceptual understanding

and GIScience R&Dev.

• An Explicit focus on RESEARCH

– Innovation comes from Research

– Maybe, an explicit Goal-oriented Fund

45

Thank You !!