Capacity building in Geoinformation Science
Dr.P.S. Roy
Dean, IIRS
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Introduction |
Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), formerly known as Indian Photo-Interpretation Institute (IPI), was set up in 1966 under the aegis of the Survey of India to provide comprehensive training with hands on experience of the emerging technology. The success of satellite remote sensing in early 70's created a need for manpower trained in the utilization of remote sensing technology, and therefore, Institute was merged with National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) in July 1976. Late 70's and early 80's saw the emergence of remote sensing as a powerful tool for natural resources survey and management and in the year 1980, NRSA came under the umbrella of Department of Space (Government of India), which is the nodal agency for the development and application of space technology and science for the socio-economic benefit of the nation. IIRS trains people and develop capacity among the users. It also keeps data purchase market active.
This Institute has come a long way. Journey from photo-interpretation to institute for remote sensing and Geographical science and IIRS has come to qualify for international stature. Today we have courses for all levels of users from researchers to policy makers. Its goal is to develop a mechanism from pixel to policy through human capacity building in Natural Resource Management. It is focusing to develop electronic course through Internet/developing network with non remote sensing institutions and nation building programme and increasing its outreach. Besides, IIRS has also contributed towards several R & D projects that has helped in operationalisation of technology in various application areas like landslide hazard zonation, ground water targeting etc
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IIRS Objectives |
- Technology transfer in RS & GIS to the user community
- Education at Post-graduate level in the application of Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics for natural resource management
- Promote research in Remote Sensing & Geoinformation Science
- Value addition and service
Towards this, a team of 46 scientists imparts training on the application of Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics to professionals and students from diversified fields. Around 5000 professionals including about 350 from 45 developing countries of Asia, the Pacific, Africa and other countries have graduated from the institute.
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Organizational Structure |
The Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) at Dehradun was established in collaboration with the Government of The Netherlands, on the pattern of the International Institute for Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Enschede, the Netherlands for transfer of technology in the field of Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics in developing countries.
In the recent initiatives IIRS has also taken up a curriculum for the fresh graduate aspirant professional in field of geoinformatics. It has strong linkages with International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), The Netherlands and cooperation in curriculum development, organisation of joint programme and development of education. It has also linkages with Groupement pour le Developpement de la Teledetection Aerospatiale (GDTA), France; Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand etc. for support its academic and professional structure. IIRS supports the Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (CSSTEAP) as host institution and is responsible for organising RS & GIS courses.
IIRS has been recognized as a research center by various Universities like HNB Garhwal Unniversity, Pune University, IIT-Roorkee, Forest Research Institute etc. It is also helping various Universities for their syllabus modification and some programmes in Universities are supported directly by IIRS e.g. the B.Sc (Applied) programme in Pune University. IIRS'S M.Tech in RS and GIS has been accredited by Andhra University and M.Sc in Geoinformatics and Hazard & Risk Analysis programme is a joint logo programme with ITC, The Netherlands.
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Our Facilities |
IIRS is the hub of GIS software in this part of the globe with various levels of GIS software starting from simple 1-D, 2-D to very advanced 3-D software packages. IIRS has one of the largest installation of image processing and GIS softwares through central servers and made available through intranet facilities for training and education. ILWIS 3.2, the Integrated Land and Water Information System, from ITC, Netherlands, runs on almost every machine dealing with training and research activities of the institute. For more specific users, ENVI, SPANS, PAMAP,GEOMEDIA, IDRISI etc. are available at selected locations. ARC/INFO on PC and on workstations give best of opportunity to learn and master the ESRI concept of GIS. IIRS has the best of the hardware peripherals such as A0 digitizer, A0 scanner, A0 raster & pen plotter, 8/4mm DAT drives, ZIP drives, CD-R/W and tape drives from leading manufacturers of the world such as Hewlett Packard, Summagraphics, DEC, DELL and Compaq etc. The centralised computer facility consists of three education labs, central server, resource lab and production lab. All the laboratories are equipped with Pentium III/IV based PC and Unix workstations with the above mentioned softwares.
IIRS has robust network setup with large number of computers systems (more than 200) which includes Silicon Graphics, Digital alpha, IBM Netvista, Compaq and HP with different configurations in personal computers , Servers and workstations interconnected with LAN using Switches and Hubs as shown in the following figure.
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Training & Educational Programmes |
IIRS conducts various training programs of long and short duration for various target groups (Table 1). It has been trying to keep pace with technological developments. Most of the recent efforts of the revisions are also addressed to the issues, like, optimizing teaching load, balancing teacher-student contact duration, modular structure of the course, reduce repetitive teaching by faculty. The new directions are emerging in the following manner:
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Major Research Thrust Areas |
The certificate and Post graduate diploma course will be embedded in this programme. This will provide an opportunity to the user departments to create professionals with an incentive to improve qualifications for their willing staffs. The M.Tech will be awarded by Andhra University as per AU-IIRS MoU. The course will have 10 months duration and a project (duration will be 8-12 months).This will enable the candidate to undertake research project with quality and in-depth work.
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Geoinformatics |
The certificate and Post graduate diploma course will be embedded in this programme. This will provide an opportunity to the user departments to create professionals with an incentive to improve qualifications for their willing staffs. The M. Sc. will be awarded by ITC, the Netherlands and IIRS jointly as per ITC-IIRS MoU. This programme will have 12 months course work and 6 months projects. The six months project will have two components (3 months in IIRS and 3 months in ITC). This is more a technology oriented programme where candidates will be exposed to know how of the geoinformatics technology. It will also relate the technology to the application.
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Hazard and Risk Analysis |
India, being prone to several disasters every year, lose several lives and property. Hence, this course will have direct implication on social aspects. This programme is of 18 months duration with 12 months of course work and 6 months of project work. The six months project will have two components (3 months in IIRS and 3 months in ITC). Remote sensing and GIS have strong role in addressing some of these disasters and their aftermath. In this programme, candidates will be given a thorough knowledge on how to use RS and GIS techniques to understand these natural disasters, risks and hazards zonation, their mitigation, monitoring and management.
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CSSTEAP : Role of IIRS |
The Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific, affiliated to United Nations is located within the space technology campus of IIRS. It was established during November, 1995 in response to the UN General Assembly Resolution (45/72 of the 11.12.1990) endorsing the recommendation of UNISPACE-82, the United Nations Department of Outer Space Affairs. The centre is an educational and research institution emphasizing in-depth education, research and application programmes in space sciences and technology. It offers Post-Graduate level courses in the fields of Remote Sensing and GIS, Satellite Communication, Satellite Meteorology and Global Climate, and Space Sciences on the basis of standard curricula developed by the United nations. The Centre thrives on the expertise and infrastructure of IIRS for Remote Sensing and GIS programmes. It has arrangements with Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad playing as host institution for programmes related to satellite communications and satellite meteorology, and with Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad for Space Science. It looks forward to take a lead role in capacity building in space science and technology in Asia-Pacific region.
IIRS provides infrastructure support of CSSTEAP headquarter office located within the campus. The training program of CSSTEAP in the area of RS & GIS are organised by IIRS, both the PG Diploma and short term courses. IIRS provides faculty support to M.Tech students. So, far 169 students for long term course and 128 for short term course has been passed out from the center in the field of RS and GIS.
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Research and Development : Major Initiatives |
IIRS has a multidisciplinary and problem oriented research agenda that focuses on role of remote sensing and geoinformatics involving mapping, surveying, management and planning of natural resources for sustainable development. The institute promotes doctoral and post doctoral research programmes under CSIR, UGC, DST and sponsored project fellowship. The Ph.D programme at IIRS is recognized by IIT Roorkee, Andhra University, H.N.B Garhwal University, Forest Research Institute ( Deemed University). Recently, the University of Pune, has recognised Indian Institute of Remote Sensing as a research center. IIRS will also support Pune University graduate programme in Remote Sensing and GIS.
The Institute on selective basis allows MCA, M.Tech, M.Sc., B.Tech. or B.E. students in carrying out their dissertation work, which is integrated with ongoing research themes if feasible. In fact, IIRS is a test bed for many pilot projects in remote sensing applications and case studies are utilized for developing trained man power for various remote sensing applications.
Following are partial list of major project works carried out by different divisions of IIRS.
- Biodiversity characterization at Landscape Level
- Landslide Hazard Zonation in North East region
- Ground water prospect of National Capital Region
- South Central Asia Land use / Land cover Mapping
- Digital mapping of Moga Township
- NRIS Project in Andaman and Nicobar Islands
- National Landslide Project : Varnavrat, Uttarkashi
- Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission
- Feasibility study for Sugarcane yield prediction
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