[Talk-in] [Press] Crowdsourcing to map road network in Kerala

[Sajjad Anwar]

Thanks for sharing Naveen. I'm closely following this and part of the
tech committee. Will keep you guys posted if this moves forward.

Cheers,
Sajjad.

On Sat, May 23, 2015 at 5:27 PM, Naveen Francis <naveenpf at gmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/crowdsourcing-to-map-road-network-in-kerala/article7238824.ece
>
> Crowdsourcing to map road network in Kerala
>
> T. Nandakumar
>
> To monitor movement of school buses, LPG tankers, taxis, and autorickshaws
>
> Aid agencies and volunteers deployed in Nepal after the devastating
> earthquake on April 25 depended on a community-driven mapping initiative for
> crisis response and relief work. Thousands of OpenStreetMap (OSM) volunteers
> from across India and other parts of the world helped provide detailed and
> accurate maps of roads, villages, and buildings in the affected areas to
> help relief organisations locate people at risk and deliver goods and
> services to the needy.
>
> This crowdsourced mapping project will soon be used to track vehicles on the
> roads in Kerala. The International Centre for Free and Open Source Software
> (ICFOSS) and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) are
> embarking on a project commissioned by the Transport Department to map the
> road network in Kerala using OSM.
>
> “In the first phase, the OSM maps will be used to track 16,000 private buses
> plying the road network,” says Transport Commissioner R. Sreelekha. The
> system will enable officials manning a master control room in
> Thiruvananthapuram to detect speeding and time and route violations. The
> vehicles will be fitted with a GPS locator-cum-communication device. “We
> have plans to monitor the movement of school buses, LPG tankers, taxis, and
> autorickshaws in a phased manner,” Ms. Sreelekha said.
>
> OSM involves crowdsourcing to create data for mapping. The field data
> generated by volunteers including students will be supplemented with
> satellite imagery to create detailed maps. The OSM allows free downloading
> of all data and permits free use under a FOSS licence.
>
> The pilot project will be implemented in Kozhikode where the district
> administration has already taken up a crowdsourced initiative to map
> waterbodies and garbage disposal sites. While most of the PWD roads in
> Kerala have been mapped, secondary roads are not yet charted.
>
> “We need basic mapping information for the whole State for a variety of
> applications. Commercial service providers charge heavily for the data while
> the OSM approach is cost effective,” explains P.M. Sasi, Associate Director,
> CDAC.
>
> “The OSM initiative has the potential to provide accurate, updated
> information, once the network of volunteers is in place,” says Satish Babu,
> Director, ICFOSS. “The data created under the project will be available
> under a Free Data licence, making it the foundation for numerous development
> initiatives and disaster response plans. In that sense, it will be a
> sustainable investment for the future,” he said.
>
>
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-- 
Sajjad Anwar http://geohacker.in