India to soon have its own home-grown digital map of the country with a resolution of 10 centimetres via drones, AI & big data, thanks to an initiative undertaken by the Survey of India, which is part of the Department of Science & Technology. The project began a few months ago and is expected to be completed within two years.

The data from the project is planned to be made available to citizens, gram panchayats and local bodies, to help assist them in their decision making processes. The survey is currently being carried out in Karnataka, Haryana, Maharashtra and the Ganga basin.

Officials have told the media that this is different from satellite imagery since the mapping will be done via drones and also take into account topography. It is also said to be different from GPS which can have an accuracy of a few metres, while the digital map will consist of reference points every 20 km, greatly increasing preciseness.