<p>After completing the aerial survey to get the 3D map of 240 square km of Hubballi-Dharwad, Karnataka's first full-fledged pan-city 3D geographic indication system (GIS) survey project has entered the mobile LiDAR mapping stage of collecting 3D data of the urban area. Soon, this project will enter the most important phase of door-to-door survey which may last for six months.</p><p>The Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) is spending Rs 23.1 crore from its own resource for this survey of a 15-month duration. It is considered as a major exercise to collect accurate details of all properties and to trace unreported, under-assessed and wrongly-assessed properties. The civic body, which is facing financial constraints, expects the GIS survey to help bring all properties into the tax net with accurate assessment, resulting in a drastic increase in its revenue. Meanwhile, this survey is also expected to get Rs 20 crore incentive from the Union government, through the state government. </p><p>According to HDMC Commissioner Rudresh Ghali, this survey makes the corporation eligible to get Rs 20 crore incentive under the special assistance scheme of the Union Finance Ministry, for urban land records reforms through ortho rectified images.</p><p>"As we will get all details of roads, properties, open spaces and even trees on a single platform, this will also be useful for urban planning. For example, we should not have to go for another detailed physical survey of a road for its development plan, as road length, width and even encroachments will be available at fingertips in the 3D model database," he said.</p><p>This survey would give a master data of urban infrastructure of entire twin cities which would come in handy for future planning, Ghali added.</p><p><strong>First in state</strong></p><p>"Such a pan-city 3D GIS survey with an aircraft is first of its kind in the state. The next phase of door-to-door survey is a challenging one, as it has to be done manually and takes more time. Within a month, GIS technical team and HDMC staff will start visiting properties, to record all details through a mobile app," said HDMC Superintending Engineer Vijaykumar R, adding that before modifying tax records, notices would be served to properties in case of violations.</p><p>The difference between PID numbers and electricity connections is around 90,000. This survey would bring nearly 70,000 additional properties to the tax net, along with tracing violations, Vijaykumar noted.</p><p>Senior corporator Veeranna Savadi said GIS survey was a decade-long demand and proposal to the government was sent twice. At last, the HDMC itself is conducting it zone-wise, and it will help increase the tax revenue upto Rs 350 crore, along with rectifying tax records, he said.</p><p>The contracts to conduct GIS survey in 12 zones of the HDMC are awarded to Genesys International Corporation Limited and RSI Softech India Private Limited. The project includes 3D mapping, ground truthing, database creation, property tax management software development, and updating it for next three years, officials said.</p><p>Revenue doubling </p><p>With 3.99 properties in its property register, the HDMC collected property tax of Rs 138 crore in 2024-2025. Officials are expecting the outcome of GIS survey to help increase this revenue to at least Rs 300 crore per annum in coming years. A sample survey of just 513 properties conducted manually had shown that only 173 were correct as per the permission given and the remaining violated rules and were not paying tax in tune with the purpose they were being used for. This hinted at the magnitude of tax evasion and violations, strengthening the need for a GIS survey.</p>
<p>After completing the aerial survey to get the 3D map of 240 square km of Hubballi-Dharwad, Karnataka's first full-fledged pan-city 3D geographic indication system (GIS) survey project has entered the mobile LiDAR mapping stage of collecting 3D data of the urban area. Soon, this project will enter the most important phase of door-to-door survey which may last for six months.</p><p>The Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) is spending Rs 23.1 crore from its own resource for this survey of a 15-month duration. It is considered as a major exercise to collect accurate details of all properties and to trace unreported, under-assessed and wrongly-assessed properties. The civic body, which is facing financial constraints, expects the GIS survey to help bring all properties into the tax net with accurate assessment, resulting in a drastic increase in its revenue. Meanwhile, this survey is also expected to get Rs 20 crore incentive from the Union government, through the state government. </p><p>According to HDMC Commissioner Rudresh Ghali, this survey makes the corporation eligible to get Rs 20 crore incentive under the special assistance scheme of the Union Finance Ministry, for urban land records reforms through ortho rectified images.</p><p>"As we will get all details of roads, properties, open spaces and even trees on a single platform, this will also be useful for urban planning. For example, we should not have to go for another detailed physical survey of a road for its development plan, as road length, width and even encroachments will be available at fingertips in the 3D model database," he said.</p><p>This survey would give a master data of urban infrastructure of entire twin cities which would come in handy for future planning, Ghali added.</p><p><strong>First in state</strong></p><p>"Such a pan-city 3D GIS survey with an aircraft is first of its kind in the state. The next phase of door-to-door survey is a challenging one, as it has to be done manually and takes more time. Within a month, GIS technical team and HDMC staff will start visiting properties, to record all details through a mobile app," said HDMC Superintending Engineer Vijaykumar R, adding that before modifying tax records, notices would be served to properties in case of violations.</p><p>The difference between PID numbers and electricity connections is around 90,000. This survey would bring nearly 70,000 additional properties to the tax net, along with tracing violations, Vijaykumar noted.</p><p>Senior corporator Veeranna Savadi said GIS survey was a decade-long demand and proposal to the government was sent twice. At last, the HDMC itself is conducting it zone-wise, and it will help increase the tax revenue upto Rs 350 crore, along with rectifying tax records, he said.</p><p>The contracts to conduct GIS survey in 12 zones of the HDMC are awarded to Genesys International Corporation Limited and RSI Softech India Private Limited. The project includes 3D mapping, ground truthing, database creation, property tax management software development, and updating it for next three years, officials said.</p><p>Revenue doubling </p><p>With 3.99 properties in its property register, the HDMC collected property tax of Rs 138 crore in 2024-2025. Officials are expecting the outcome of GIS survey to help increase this revenue to at least Rs 300 crore per annum in coming years. A sample survey of just 513 properties conducted manually had shown that only 173 were correct as per the permission given and the remaining violated rules and were not paying tax in tune with the purpose they were being used for. This hinted at the magnitude of tax evasion and violations, strengthening the need for a GIS survey.</p>