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Kolkata's Map a Click Away

By sachiv1, Section News
Posted on Wed Feb 14, 2007 at 11:42:55 PM EST

One has only to log in to www.natmomap.in to zero in on any given address in the city

The entire map of Kolkata will now be available at the click of a mouse. One has only to log in to www.natmomap.in to zero in on any given address in Kolkata courtesy Golden Map Service, a pioneering effort in the field of web cartography. The project, launched by the National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organisation (NATMO), has been completed in Kolkata and Salt Lake and marks the NATMO's foray into the service sector.

Entire Kolkata has been divided into 50 localities. The website, rather the "web map", can track down the various landmarks, streets and residential buildings in the city. One can also log in to scout for a host of services like banks, educational institutions, markets and emergency services like blood banks, hospitals, police and fire stations.

One can also "search" a locality and even find the ward number of the locality. There is also facility for "buffer" search, in which a person can key in a specified distance and zoom onto all the landmarks within that range.

The NATMO had first conducted a detailed survey of the city and with the help of aerial photographs has drawn out a "basic map". This was updated by satellite data and field data which had to be "digitised" after which the filed information were plotted on the map.

This is essentially where the map scores over the satellite images of the city which have already been floated on the web by some search engines. Referred to as "web-enabled GIS technology", in technical parlance, it has taken NATMO five years to develop the web map. The project pegged at Rs 1.5 crore will be launched in Kolkata on February 16, the first one in the country and cities like Burdwan and Chandigarh will be next on the cards.

"It is a new threshold in thematics but what is important is that we have to make it self-sustaining and find out ways to earn revenue," said P Nag, director, NATMO.

"We have also approached mobile service operators for a tie-up. They can provide this service over phone in exchange for a fixed royalty to us," said Ashok Mallik, additional director, NATMO.

The state government has also approached the NATMO to prepare a comprehensive land map based on parameters like present land usage, infrastructure in an area, the type of soil barren, single-crop or multi-crop and the availability of water. "We have agreed to it but have not received any feedback till now. If asked, we can complete the land map within a month," said Nag.

(Source-Indian Express,15/02/07)

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