Training in RS&GIS at IIRS - Meeting future Challenges
by
Dr.V.K. Dadhwal
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 (SOI, Dept. of Science & Technology) mainly to provide comprehensive training in the emerging area of photogrammetry & photo-interpretation. The emergence of satellite remote sensing in early 70's and its potential applications created a need for trained manpower in the use of remote sensing technology, and the 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), DOS is the nodal agency for the development and application of space technology and science for the socio- economic development of the country.
Mirroring the development in RS technology, the institute itself presents a continuity of 4 decades of training with continuous upgradation of curricula. During its journey from training institute for photo-interpretation to institute for remote sensing and Geoinformatics science, IIRS has come to acquire an international stature. Today it offers courses for all levels of users from students to researchers to resource manager to policy makers. Its goal is to develop a mechanism from pixel to policy through human capacity building in Natural Resources Management. It is focusing to develop electronic course content provide certificate courses through Internet, developing network with non remote sensing institutions and nation building programme and increasing its outreach. Besides training, IIRS also contributes substantially in several R&D projects that have helped in operationalisation of technology in various application areas, especially, landslide hazard zonation, ground water targeting, biodiversity characterization, 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
Towards this, a team of 46 qualified and experienced permanent faculty imparts training on the application of Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics to mid-career professionals and fresh post-graduate students from diversified disciplines. Around 5500 trainees including about 250 from 45 developing countries of Asia, the Pacific, Africa and elsewhere have passed out 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. The technical manpower of institute grouped in two major streams, technology and applications. While the former deals with remote sensing technology, photogrammetry and geoinformatics, the latter includes application themes in six resource disciplines as explained below:
A recent initiative at IIRS is to provide a comprehensive curriculum for the fresh graduate aspiring to be a professional in the field of geoinformatics. IIRS alongwith International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), The Netherlands are in a new cooperation phase that covers curriculum development and organization of joint education programme. IIRS also has linkages with Groupment pour le Development de la. Teledetection Aerospatiale ( GDTA), France, Asian Disaster Prevention Centre (ADPC), Thailand etc., for improving training content, faculty & student exchange.
IIRS has now established a unique presence in formal education sector. With sponsorship from NNRMS office of Dept. of Space in 1994, it initiated 8 week training programme for University faculty. This training is now offered in five specialized disciplines. IIRS also helps in reviewing and revising the syllabus related to remote sensing and geoinformatics in universities and its staff directly support teaching as Guest faculty. IIRS is recognized as research center by a number of Universities for carrying out Doctoral research. These include, HN Bahuguna University, Srinagar; Pune University, Pune; FRI Deemed University, Dehradun and IIT Roorkee. The PG Diploma of IIRS is recognized as 2 semester course work equivalent for M.Tech Degree of Andhra University, Visakhapatnam since 2001. And most significantly IIRS in collaboration with ITC offers an 18 month Master programme in two areas, namely Geoinformatics and Hazard & Risk Analysis.
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Our Facilities |
In addition to classrooms, IIRS has one of the best computer training infrastructure for RS & GIS in the country. IIRS provides not only a computer to each trainee for project work but has best softwares, both in RS & GIS. These includes Digital Image Processing softwares like Erdas/Imagine, ENVI, IDRISI, ILWIS, Ecognition; GIS softwares like ARC VIEW, ARC-INFO, ARC-GIS, Geomedia, Geomatica, ILWIS, Internet GIS softwares like ARC IMS, MapServer, Geomedia, GIS customizing tools like MapObjects, ARC Objects, IDL and also statistical packages,like SPSS, MATLAB.
IIRS has a large number of computer systems (more than 300) with different configurations in personal computers and workstations interconnected with LAN using Switches and Hubs. Six servers (mail server, backup server, application server and proxy server etc.,) form the backbone of IIRS Intranet. There are a large number of peripherals like Printers, Plotters, Scanners, Digitizers, CD Writers etc., supported on these systems (more than 100). In addition IIRS has a 1 Mbps dedicated internet lease line from Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited. IIRS is also connected to DOS/ISRO centers via SPACENET a WAN connecting to all DOS/ISRO centers and a VIDEO conferencing unit across SPACENET.
IIRS has a number of additional facilities to provide training in RS & GIS. These include ground truth instruments such as GPS, Mobile Mapping Device, Radiometer Spectroradiometer, Canopy Analysers, Leaf photosynthesis measuring systems, Time Domain reflectometer and Infrared Thermometer etc. IIRS also has recently installed a sun tracking multi wavelength radiometer to measure aerosols. A soil chemical analysis laboratory supports field work related to soil survey.
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Training & Educational Programmes |
IIRS conducts a range of training programs for various target group (Table1) that range from 4 day awareness to 4 months certificate, 10 month PG Diploma, 18 months M.Sc & 24 month M.Tech. The course curricula are regularly revised to keep pace with rapid development in field of RS & GIS technology & applications. The major programme and courses are organized in a modular structure.
Remote Sensing & GIS Mapping & Monitoring of Natural Resources
1. Certificate Course (PRS)
2. Post Gradutae Diploma Course
3. M.Tech in Remote Sensing & GIS
Geoinformatics Technology & Applications
4. Certificate Course
5. Post Gradutae Diploma in Geoinformatics
6. M.Sc. in Geoinformatics
Hazard & Risk Analysis (HRA)
7. Awareness Course
8. Certificate Course
9. Post Graduate Diploma Course
10. M.Sc in HRA
Remote Sensing Applications : Theme Specific Certificate Course
11. Orientation Course in any area of Natural Resource Management, Environment Assessment and Disaster Management
Decision Makers Course
12. Overview Course
International Programmes
13. Short Course in Remote Sensing and Digital Image Processing Sponsored by International Technical and Economic Co-operation (ITEC), Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India.
14. Remote Sensing and GIS Post Graduate Course conducted on behalf of Centre for Space Science & Technology Education in Asia & the Pacific - affiliated to UNited Nations (CSSTEA)
15. Short Course on Geoinformatics Sponsored by International Technical and Economic Co-operation (ITEC), MInistry of External Affairs, Govt. of India
NNRMS Sponsored Courses for University Faculty
16. GIS technology and Applications
17. RS&GIS Applications to Water Resources
18. RS & GIS in Forestry / Botany / Ecology / Environment
19. RS & GIS in Urban & Regional Planning
20. Cartography and Mapping
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Major Research Thrust Areas |
IIRS has a multidisciplinary and application driven 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 on a selective basis also permits, M.Tech, B.Tech, B.E and MCA students from other institutes in carrying out their dissertation work, which is integrated with ongoing research themes wherever 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.
The research at Institute is either funded from its budget, or carried out through proposal submission and grants from Department of Space, Dept. of Agriculture, Dept. of Science & Technology & Dept., of Bio-technology and sometime international funding organisation. The institute hosts pre/post doctoral research fellows who work with faculty for this research. The students/trainees at IIRS also get an opportunity to work in these research areas which provide them an immensely beneficial exposure to modern research themes.
IIRS faculty is currently engaged in research projects in following areas:
Agriculture & Soil Division-
DSS for Agriculture land use planning
- Crop growth simulation modeling
- Process based soil erosion modeling
- Retrieval of crop biophycial & agrometeorological parameters
Forestry and Ecology Division-
Biodiversity characterisation
- Forest Carbon flux modeling
- Geospatial phytoresources Inventory
- Wildlife habitat modeling
Geoinformatics Division-
Spatial Decision Support System
- Mobile Mapping
- Data Mining
- Information system
- 3-D Visualisation
- Geoinformation Management
Geosciences Division-
Landslide Hazard zonation
- Seismic Micro zonation
- Ground subsidence and surface characterization using SAR inteferometry
- Ground water prospects zone mapping & modeling
Marine Science Division-
Coastal environment
- Biological Oceanography
- Coastal Salinity
- Mangrove
- Tsunami
- Ocean colour remote sensing
Human Settlement and Analysis Division-
Modeling dynamics of urban spatial growth
- Urban Hazard & Risk Assessment
- High Resolution & thermal data applications in Urban Envionment
Water Resources Division-
Snowmelt Run-off forecasting
- Modelling hydrologic components and impact of Land use/Land cover changes on hydrologic regime
- Meso-scale hydrogical modeling
- Wetland dynamics in Indo-gangetic planes
- Flood Inventory & Modelling
Photogrammety & Remote Sensing
Digital/Satellite Photogrammetry
- Information Extraction
- Automated classification
IIRS is the host institution of CSSTEAP Headquarters and also responsible for conducting yearly the 9 month PG Diploma in RS & GIS and the short course. Out of 361 successful PG Diploma trainees of CSSTEAP 189 have been trained at IIRS. Similarly for short term trainees, IIRS has contributed significantly. IIRS through its diverse specialization of faculty, able to cover RS & GIS basics as well as applications, but also to train CSSTEAP students in most of the areas of application of RS & GIS. This can be seen from the themes of project work conducted by CSSTEAP trainees, which is summarized below:
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RS&GIS (CSSTEAP) student's project work |
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