In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Survey of India (SoI), historically the custodian of India’s maps, has signed an agreement with a Mumbai-based private company, Genesys International, to prepare three-dimensional maps of several cities and towns. Called ‘Digital Twins,’ these maps are three-dimensional representations of cities and when coupled with high-resolution images, can be used in a variety of planning applications.
Genesys is a mapping company that uses aerial as well as ground-mapping methods to create digital maps. The SoI, apart from being a historical repository of maps and the arbiter of national and State boundaries, also maintains an all-India network of transmitters and receivers called CORS (Continuously Operating Reference Stations) that are interconnected via satellites and provide accurate estimates of position. The collaboration will allow Genesys to generate ‘three-dimensional digital twins’ for ‘major Indian cities and towns, develop an ‘urban 3-D data model,’ and allow it to “licence” geospatial data products to buyers in a ‘content-as-a-service’ model, according to company officials.
