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Survey General Of India Completes 250 Years

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The Survey General of India completes 250 years on 10th April, 2017. The center launched a website which allows the public access to 3000 maps which are prepared by Survey General of India. It also made a subscription to Aadhaar mandatory for the service.

Nakshe Portal:

A Nakshe Portal was launched by the Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan on the occasion of 250th anniversary of Survey of India in New Delhi

  • Topographic Maps or Open Series Maps (OSM) contains natural and man- made geographical features which includes terrain and topography.Survey General of India completes 250 years.jpg
  • It is prepared by Survey of India since 1767 and is in conformity with the National Map Policy-2005.
  • These OSM maps have been made available for free download from “nakshe”web portal through Aaadhar enabled user authentication process.

Major Highlights:

  • Making the Aadhaar mandatory for entering the website would ensure that only Indians used it.
  • The SGI has provided a link on which one can download up to 3 maps a day using one’s Aadhaar number.
  • One’s Aadhaar number would be the login ID.
  • The site has been designed, developed and hosted by the National Informatics Commission Uttarakhand.
  • The SGI has an abundant collection of more than 3000 maps of which 3000 have now been accessible to the public.
  • The SGI includes differentiation of state and International boundaries, mapping of topography, making maps for urban planning, mapping rivers, flood plains and roads.
  • Through the Survey of India, The East India Company mapped the entire region and its data like the measurement of the sea level.
  • It also being a reference point for several South and East Asian countries.
  • The Institute first published ‘A Map of Hindoostan’ in 1783 which depicts the subcontinent comprising India Pakistan besides part of Afghanistan and Burma.
  • It also prepared maps for neighbouring countries like Myanmar and Srilanka, Burma, Ceylon.
  • The bulk of the work done by SGI revolves around defence- It prepares a different sets of maps for the armed forces.
  • After the 2005 “National Policy of 2005”,the open series maps that can be accessed by general public and while the maps that are made for defence are restricted to armed forces.

History of Survey General of India:

The Surveyor General of India is the Head of Department of Survey Of India a department under a ministry of Science and Technology of Government of India.

  • HQ- Dehradun
  • 23 Geo—Spatial Data centers
  • SGI acts as adviser to the Government of India on all survey matters.