Utility services provide us the essentials of life. Water, power, waste disposal, conveyance, telephone, they are what keep us going. But we seldom give thought to how complicated and complex each of these systems are. Take, for example, the water supply system in a city like Delhi. Imagine the network. Countless pipes, running into millions of metres in length, criss-cross the entire City to bring precious water to your home. Yet this massive system was hardly ever planned. It grew with, and much the same way as the population — in a haphazard and unplanned manner! So is the case with all the other utility systems. Superimpose them on each other, and we have a situation that is not only truly mind-boggling but utterly confusing in itself.
Utility Mapping plays a crucial role in the management and planning of utility service systems. It lends order and meaning to the chaos by generating detailed and precise digital maps of these systems.
NIC is the Country's leading organization in the field. We present a profile of its activities in Utility Mapping.
NIC established its Utility Mapping Group at its Headquarters in New Delhi in 1989. Comprising of professionals from various disciplines such as Computer Sciences, Information Science, Civil Engineering, Surveying and Photogrammetry, Transportation Engineering, Town Planning, Remote Sensing, etc., the group was entrusted with the responsibility of introducing utility mapping in the Country to aid the process of planning and management of utility services. To do so, the Group set out with the objective of mapping various utilities on large-scale common digital basemaps. It was also its endeavour to create an integrated database of all the utilities, along with digital basemaps, for their proper management.
Eight years since, today, NIC has succeeded in redefining utility management and planning to a large extent. Its Utility Mapping Group has grown from strength to strength by successfully completing a number of important projects. The Utility Mapping Project for Delhi is one of the most important.
The Delhi Project
The Utility Mapping Project for Delhi was conceptualized in co-operation with various Departments of the Delhi Administration including the Delhi Development Authority(DDA), Delhi Water Supply and Sewage Undertaking, Delhi Fire Service, Delhi Traffic Police, Public Works Department and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. The basic problem in implementing such projects is non-availability of large-scale base maps of cities. Consequently, it was decided to establish a large-scale (1:1000) map for a pilot area of about 30 sq km in Delhi.
To prepare the basemaps of the pilot area, it was essential to fix ground control points inside and in the periphery of the area, for establishing a local grid for Delhi. A reconnaissance survey of the area was conducted, and about 19 Ground Control Points (GCPs) were selected and monumented. Levelling routes were finalized for densification of height control. Global Positioning System (GPS) was used for establishing planimetric control (i.e., Easting and Northing).
Pre-pointing of GCPs and Utility Objects: All the GCPs were marked by specially designed targets prior to aerial photography of the pilot area. In addition, about 3,000 utility objects were pre-marked with white paint so that their image would appear sharply on the aerial photographs taken on a scale of 1:6000.
Preparation of Basemaps: After network adjustments, the GCPs were transferred on to the aerial photographs for further photogrammetric control extension and were used in Block Adjustment program for the preparation of the digital basemap. During the process of preparation of the basemap by digitizing the aerial photographs on Analytical Stereoplotter, every feature on the ground was assigned a feature code.
The digital basemap thus created was again verified in the field, and some details like house numbers, street names, locality names etc. were added.
Basemap Storage: A mapsheet indexing system is required for organized storage and retrieval of basemaps. The Utility Group developed the mapsheet indexing system for various plotting scales. All the basemaps were stored in GINIS/MAPMAN software. Various layers for different utilities were created and superimposed on the basemap layer. The basemap and utility layers could then be stored and retrieved seamlessly.
Utility Mapping Services of NIC
AM/FM/GIS:
● Consulting ● Feasibility studies ● Turnkey Implementation of AM/FM/GIS projects ● Data conversion ● Software Evaluation ● Specifications for H/W and S/W requirements ● Application Software Development and Customization ● Object oriented relational database design and development ● Networking Applications and Front-end Graphics for various utilities organization
Surveying and Photogrammetry:
● Consulting ● Feasibility studies ● Establishing Ground Control Network for various Surveying and Photogrammetric applications using GPS technology. ● Digital Basemap Production ● Contours Generation ● Digital Terrain Modelling
Utility Mapping Facilities at NIC
Equipment Software
Surveying Global Positioning System GPSurvey,Trimplan Trimnet, Gemini Total Station TC1610 Level NA24 Wild Soft
Digital Photogrammetry Analytical Stereoplotter PHOCUS,PATMR PLANICOM P3 with Videomap
AM/FM/GIS VAX-Alpha Sysdeco Mapping Software Application Software PENTIUM GINIS VISION SUN WORKSTATION TELLUS VISION PC BASED ARC/INFO
Scanning Raster Scanner(A0) PIXTOOLS
Plotters Raster Plotter A0 size Penplotter (HP) A0 size
A P3 Analytical Stereoplotter used by the NIC Utility Mapping Group
Incorporation of Utility Network data: The data related to various utilities such as water, sewer and fire were collected from old records, plans and maps. The utility lines and the objects which were underground and exposed were again field checked for their positional accuracy with Metrotech detectors and Ferromagnetic line tracers. The measurements so obtained were then incorporated again in the respective utility layers by using the GINIS package.
Other Projects
Computerization of Pre-paid taxi service for Delhi Traffic Police: This project was implemented for the Delhi Traffic Police for computing fares for pre-paid taxi services from important locations such as railway stations and airports. Fares were computed by measuring the optimum distance between the starting point and the destination on a digitized map of Delhi. Optimal routes were identified by using the PC ARC/INFO Network module.
Railway Route Alignment of the Udhampur-Katra section: Alignment for the 25 km railway route from Udhampur to Katra, was carried out in 1996. For the first time in India, GPS technology was used for railway route alignment.
Development of GINIS VISION package: GINIS VISION is a software package for structuring and manipulating cartographic data. It enables the production and maintenance of maps and spatial information to keep all data in one place and maintain full control over it. This application was developed using QBE Vision.
Projects in the Pipeline
Utility Mapping Project for Delhi: A ground Control Network (main grid) has already been established for entire Delhi (40 km x 40 km) using the Global Positioning System. Further densification of Ground Control Points is being carried out in many parts of Delhi.
Digital Basemap for Okhla Extension: A digital basemap for the Okhla Extension of Delhi, covering an area of 180 sq km, is under production.
House Registry Application: It is a GIS application that is designed to enable emergency services to be at the scene of crime or incident without losing any time. An integrated database of all addresses in Delhi is being created in Oracle. The exact physical locations of these addresses will be identified against a basemap as the background. This will enable police personnel to be directed to a particular address from a central control point. This solution will be available on both Pentium PC and Mainframe platforms.
Utility Mapping System for the Chandigarh Electricity Department: A feasibility study has been conducted for automation of the electricity network of Chandigarh City. The feasibility study envisages the implementation of a cable route network which would help in proper documentation, planning, analysis and trouble shooting. Load flow analysis and short circuit analysis would help in raising the efficiency of the electricity system.
Utility Mapping System for Tamil Nadu Electricity (TNEB), Chennai: A feasibility study has been conducted for automation of the electricity network in Chennai.
Preparation of Digital Basemaps for the State of Sikkim: A feasibility study was conducted recently for mapping the state of Sikkim for incorporation of land records in a digital basemap.
Training Programmes
Personnel from various utility organizations are imparted training on the GIS software developed by NIC.A week-long computer training programme on AM/FM, with special reference to utility mapping, is conducted every year in September. An appraisal programme in city infrastructure management is conducted for senior officers every year.
Over the years, NIC's Utility Mapping Group has gained expertise in various aspects of digital mapping technology. The digital mapping techniques that it has developed can be replicated in other cities of the Country as they face similar problems in management of utilities. Utility Mapping has the potential of making life much more comfortable for the common man. NIC intends to exploit this potential to the fullest.