JOIN USIn its 250th year, India’s oldest scientific agency, Survey of India has decided to make maps more accessible to the common man, but only for those with an Aadhaar number.
The Dehradun-based mapping agency has created a portal (Nakshe), which can be used to download Survey of India’s open series maps.
To address security concerns and tracking, it has been decided that one has to enter his/her Aadhaar number to download a copy of the map. The downloaded data will be embedded with the bar-coded Aadhaar number of the users.
“We have approximately 5,000 open series maps, out of which 3,000 would be available immediately. Another 700, mostly related to land boundary, would also come up after we receive approval from the government,” Swarna Subba Rao, Surveyor General of India, said here on Monday.
Accessing these maps currently involves a trip to one of the Survey of India’s 23 branch offices, where these topography-sheets are sold against identity proof. In the portal (www.soinakshe.uk.gov.in), the maps would be available for free. “We have a law that states any information compiled with the public money should readily be available to the people.