IIT-Bombay to get advanced lab next month

In a major initiative, an advanced research lab for geospatial information science and engineering will be operational at IIT Bombay from November 2009. It will identify challenges and build solutions that can assist in taking appropriate decisions related to development and planning of resources and environment in the country.

“The lab will focus on undertaking original research and development work and build itself as a centre of excellence in handling and processing of geo-spatial data,” said professor NL Sarda, the principal investigator and coordinator along with professor Umesh Bellur. The project has been awarded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) to the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Bombay.

The lab will focus on establishing R&D thrust in areas like spatio-temporal, data modelling and analysis, service-oriented architectures for geographic information, geo-visualisation and analytics and software engineering for geospatial systems.

With a grant of Rs12 crore for five years, the plan is to collaborate with various research and user organisations and industries. It will assist in developing tools, technologies, methodologies and assessment, besides creating a repository for hosting technologies, applications and prototypes.

“The lab will establish research collaborations within India and overseas with leading research centres and user organisations. These collaborations will help in identifying problem areas, understanding of standards, products and technologies, and setting up educational and training activities for capacity building in the country,” said Sarda.

There are also plans to collaborate with National Spatial Data Infrastructure and various state data infrastructures for creating solutions and applying technologies to manage resources and support developmental plans based on geo-spatial data. A workshop under the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum will also be conducted in December to deliberate on research directions and explore possible collaborations.