North Eastern Space Applications Centre

NEDRP is one of the unique initiatives of NESAC sponsored by the North Eastern Council (NEC), Ministry of DoNER (MDoNER), Government of India with an objective to strengthen the governance policy through geospatial inputs. Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Hon’ble Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice, Government of India launched the updated and full version (with entire districts of NER) of NEDRP GeoPortal on 11 August, 2018 in august presence of the Hon’ble Chief Ministers and IT Ministers of NER States. The basic aim of this resource portal is to ensure the district-wise availability of all information pertaining to land, water, infrastructure and other asset maps generated using space based data. Such data will help in preparing district-level planning and developmental activities for the region.

The portal is being used by all the government departments in the states for their preparation of DPRs/Master Plans. It has helped them in optimum use of space based data for better planning and monitoring of natural resources. For further details on accessing these maps, Director, NESAC at email director[at]nesac[dot]gov[dot]in may be contacted. The site is live and operational at www.nedrp.gov.in.

NEDRP was awarded with the most prestigious National Awards for e-Governance for the year 2017-18 for outstanding contribution using Spatial Technology and GIS in e-Governance by the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG), Government of India.

The North Eastern Spatial Data Repository (NeSDR), a project based on the establishment of NER Remote Sensing and GIS Resource Network was formally released on 11th November, 2020 at NESAC by Shri K Moses Chalai, IAS, Secretary, North Eastern Council. He was accompanied by six of his senior officials including Shri C.H Kharshiing, Planning Adviser, NEC. The meeting was also attended by the Directors of all State Remote Sensing Centres (SRSACs) of NER. Several senior scientists from ISRO have also participated during the official launch. The NeSDR Geoportal hosted at https://www.nesdr.gov.in is populated with 1226 vector datasets pertaining to land, water, administrative, terrain, action plan, infrastructure, weather and climate, utilities, disaster support inputs of NE states etc. It provides the datasets as per OGC standards for visualisation via web services. The interface has been designed to be more responsive in all kinds of platforms and devices. It’s a single window platform for seamless data accessibility across various users for data visualisation, interactive analysis, search and discovery of spatial based user’s interest. About 35 user groups from academia and government departments have been actively using the database of NeSDR. NeSDR also provides a platform for hosting Governance applications of various Government Departments to empower planning and monitoring activities. As of date, a total of 26 dashboards and 25 Mobile Apps for Governance Applications have been developed for the various Government User Departments of the region.

Additionally NeSDR Analytics is an in-house developed powerful geoprocessing platform for performing on-the-fly geospatial big data analytics. The platform incorporates a range of analytical tools like long term trend analytics, point data analysis, clustering and many more on top of the catalogued data. The application is designed to analyse the satellite images on-the-fly and produce the result as OGC compliant Web Map Service (WMS). The platform is catalogued with a collection of widely used geospatial datasets. The bulk of the catalogue is made up of Earth-observing remote sensing imagery, including the archive of MODIS and INSAT datasets pertaining to NER along with certain cloud free scenes LANDSAT and Sentinel-2. It also includes weather forecasts, land cover data and many other environmental, geophysical and socio-economic datasets. The catalogue is continuously updated with geospatial data from active missions. The analytics platform is built on an open-source stack and other enabling technologies that are widely used within the geospatial domain; it is implemented using python programming language. The Geo-processing framework consists of a library of a large number of functions, ranging in complexity from simple mathematical operations to powerful geostatistical, machine learning and image processing operations. Web-based raster calculator is also implemented and made accessible via a simple and easy to use user interface to enable users to perform custom operations. The platform has various modules for disseminating output of research and applications for various thematic areas like; Web-GIS vegetation monitoring system to monitor vegetation change and disturbances using long term vegetation index datasets, Monitoring Air quality using AOD (Aerosol Optical Depth) products from Satellite images, Assimilating rainfall from INSAT satellite data, Forest fire analytics using night light images, identifying the flood-affected areas using Near Real Time flood inundation rasters.

Project Monitoring Portal under “GeoTagging and Monitoring of NEC/MDoNER funded Projects/schemes in NE region using Geospatial Technology and Tools” project is one of the unique applications developed by the North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC) with the support of North Eastern Council (NEC) and Ministry of DoNER (MDoNER) using IT-enabled Geospatial Technology with a lot of innovations towards enhancing the Governance process. Currently, a total 588 projects spreading in more than 1664 locations are being mapped and monitored using the above platform. This also includes 37 major projects of MDoNER distributed in 90 sites across NE region. State Remote Sensing Applications Centres (SRSAC) of NER have been engaged in geotagging of the project sites on ground. Satellite and drone images are being used where the project site is relatively large and leading to the construction of roads, stadiums etc. Shri Ram Nath Kovind, Hon’ble President of India has launched the Project Monitoring Portal on 4th May, 2022 during the valedictory ceremony of North East Festival organised as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav at Sankaradeva Kalakshetra, Guwahati.

Inauguration of the NEC Project Monitoring Portal by Shri Ram Nath Kovind, Hon’ble President of India

The Election e-ATLAS is one of the unique initiatives of NESAC in collaboration with SRSACs of NE region to empower the electoral process in the States of NE region. The e-ATLAS was conceptualized based on the requirements and guidelines defined by respective Chief Electoral Officers of states and the application has been developed using open source software and standards for wider and free accessibility. Live visualization of polling updates and turnout spatially from the control room on the day of election is the vital component of the system. It also generates the live heat map polls based on the live feed of polling updates from the various polling stations. Further, the e-ATLAS application allows for real time positional tracking of important election officials during the election as required by the CEO. The e-ATLAS therefore, ensures the increased accountability, transparency and efficiency of the electoral system towards strengthening the democratic process. On pilot basis, the Election e-ATLAS was successfully utilized for the first time in the country during the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly Election held on February 27, 2018 for the district of Ri Bhoi, Meghalaya and during by-election of 43-Williamnagar (ST) assembly constituency of Meghalaya held on April 27, 2018. With the successful utilization of e-ATLAS, it was then officially launched on 27th September, 2018 by Shri Frederick K Kharkongor, IAS, CEO, Meghalaya during their State Level Function in Shillong. The application was extended to Mizoram and it was used effectively for the entire state during Mizoram   Legislative   Assembly   Election   held   on 28 November, 2018. This success further led to a series of live demonstrations on e-ATLAS given to respective Chief Electoral Officers of other states in the region. Based on their feedback, these applications were customised. The e-ATLAS is currently deployed for all the States of the North East Region. Recently, during the State Assembly Elections in Manipur held during Feb-Mar 2022, the eAtlas application was successfully and effectively utilised for carrying out poll related activities before and during the elections. Many issues with malfunctioned EVM/VVPATs were captured in real time by eAtlas Live Dashboard and were resolved by officials within minutes. Major incidents that occurred at a few Polling Stations were also captured with detailed photographs and immediate action could be taken by the office of CEO. The application also helped tracking of all important election officials including Presiding Officers, Sector Officers and their Safe Arrivals etc. The Application therefore helped senior election officials by taking instant decision and action through live alert monitoring. Contact Email director[at]nesac[dot]gov[dot]in for more information.

Shri Giriraj Singh, Hon’ble Union Minister of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Government of India, New Delhi has launched ‘Tripura Banadhikar App’ in presence of Shri Biplab Kumar Deb, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Government of Tripura and Shri Narendra Chandra Deb Barma, Hon’ble Minister, Revenue & Forest, Government of Tripura in a programme held in virtual mode on 3rd December, 2021. The Tripura Banadhikar App is developed by IT & GeoInformatics Group of NESAC, Department of Space, Govt. of India, Umiam, Meghalaya as per the request of Directorate of Land Records and Settlements, Government of Tripura for demarcation of Forest Pattas lands. A small video on the capability of the App was played during the launch. The Government of Tripura was highly appreciated for initiating such an important activity with the support of NESAC towards demarcation of forest patta lands using Mobile App integrated with GAGAN/NaVIC technology. The app is also expected to help in monitoring the movements and changes within the forest land allocated to the beneficiaries. The Tripura Banadhikar App can also be used in offline mode (where there is no internet connectivity), it allows users to carry out the land survey with higher positional accuracy, real-time mapping with area measurement and map visualization on top of higher satellite imageries.

NESAC in collaboration with Regional Medical Research Centre, NE, Dibrugarh have developed an integrated surveillance graphical app called ‘FeverTracker’ that has been designed to assist the community and the healthcare workers in digital surveillance and thereby contribute towards malaria control and elimination. FeverTracker utilizes geographic information system (GIS) and is linked to a web application with automated data digitalisation, Short Message Service (SMS) and advisory instructions, thereby allowing immediate notification of individual cases to district and state health authorities in real-time. The utility of FeverTracker for malaria surveillance is apparent given the archaic paper-based surveillance tools used currently. Digital tools like FeverTracker will be critical in integrating disease surveillance and they offer instant data digitization for downstream processing. The use of this technology in healthcare and research will strengthen the ongoing efforts at malaria elimination, and FeverTracker provides a modifiable template for deployment in other disease systems. The software application has recently got copyright.

The Sericulture Information Linkages and Information System aptly called SILKS is an important component under Applications Remote Sensing and GIS in Sericulture Development – A national Project coordinated by North Eastern Space Applications Centre and funded by Central Silk Board, Bangalore. SILKS has been developed using Open source GIS as a single window decision support system to provide spatial and non-spatial information for selected districts (Phase I: 108, Phase II : 70) in the country and hosted in the public domain at http://www.silks.csb.gov.in. SILKS portal currently host data services for more than 1000 sets of spatial layers consisting of potential areas for expansion of sericulture development in a single window access system. Additionally, each SILKS is supported by 16 non-spatial modules on sericulture planning, farmers advisory and other services specific to the district. The information system is made in such a way that it is easily accessible by the users through a single window interactive web application. To make it wider accessibility among local farmers and planners, the site is made multi-lingual comprising 12 major local languages of India.

Integrated WebGIS Platform for Dissemination of Real time Early Warnings/Alerts and Enabling Analytics in Spatial Domain for Monitoring and Management of Disaster Events

With the request of ASDMA, Government of Assam, NESAC has developed a prototype application for dissemination of real-time early warnings & alerts for monitoring and management of disaster events. It facilitates the dissemination of early warnings issued by India Meteorological Department (IMD), NESAC, CWC or any other organisations responsible for providing alerts to ASDMA via Mobile Application/SMS. The application is also integrated with time-series data on land use, climate and other relevant information from the publicly available open source web/data services to provide a reference base on a regional scale. The prototype Mobile Application on the dissemination of alerts/early warnings on floods, lightning etc. with Geofencing capability to provide real-time information while passing through any disaster risky zones. This can provide proximity to the disaster incidents or epicentres from the current location. This enables the application to facilitate the optimal or shortest route by avoiding the risky zones during any emergency situation. The application is coupled with a Dashboard management system which can send alerts to the Mobile Application including the SMS text messages. AI/DL-based analytical tools for assessment of damage/vulnerability analysis using time-series satellite images (open series) and visualised via on-the-fly analytics to provide real-time reference inputs are also added for enabling decision making.

The project has been sponsored by NEC to promote the tourism activity in NER. The Mobile App for geotagging of existing sites has been developed. More than 864 tourism sites have been mapped. 30 tourism circuits from 8 NER states have been updated including the associated information. Dashboard is updated with proximity query for tourism circuits, weather forecast visualizations, etc. The tourism potential index map for NER has been prepared. In addition, tourism sites with scope for further development of tourism have been identified. The index map is under quality check and to be shared to the tourism stakeholder for feedbacks. The outcome of the project will be useful in development of a tourism database as well as Tourism Potential Index (TPI) which can be used for planning tourism potential development in the region. This will benefit the government by aiding decision makers to promote tourism and also help the common people. For more information one may write to Director, NESAC at email director[at]nesac[dot]gov[dot]in

In addition to the webportals and services to strengthen planning and governance for the stakeholders, several R&D projects utilizing Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Deep Learning in all domains of Earth Observation are being carried out. These projects aim to utilize the availability of the large volume of geospatial data to develop predictive algorithms for use cases as described below:

1. Land Use Land Cover Mapping: Multi-temporal (rabi, khariff and zaid) Resourcesat 1 and 2 LISS III imagery used in a supervised classification framework to develop LULC mapping modules using random forest and UNET convolutional neural network architecture on python to segment the imagery into 48 classes at a scale of 1:50000. This project established the ability of machine learning and deep learning to accurately (validation accuracy is 85.26%) predict the land cover classes and thereby improve the temporal availability of land cover maps from 5 years to 1 year.
2. Meteorological/climate applications: AI/ML/DL can be used in a variety of predictive problems in meteorological/climate studies including time series forecasting, variable downscaling, model parameterization and climate attribution. One study on rainfall prediction uses deep learning and evolutionary computing to estimate rainfall at several time steps (6 hrs, 12 hrs, 24 hrs, 48 hrs).
3. Cryosphere applications: Several tasks in cryospheric studies such as snow cover mapping, snow melt estimation and glacier mass balance estimation has been implemented using deep learning. Due to paucity of glacier mass balance data, a transfer learning approach was demonstrated with initial weights of a neural network obtained using datasets based in Europe and training was continued using the sparse Himalayan dataset to extend the ability of deep learning to regions with limitations in accessibility.