ISRO implements ESRI image processing software

06 May 2009, 9:14am

Redlands, California — May 6, 2009 — The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has reached an agreement with NIIT GIS Limited (ESRI India), ESRI's distributor in India, to equip its five Regional Remote Sensing Service Centres (RRSSCs) with ArcGIS Server and the Image extension. The centers in Jodhpur, Dehradun, Kharagpur, Nagpur, and Bangalore use Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite and other imagery to create thematic maps and geographic information system (GIS) databases that provide valuable societal applications to various government agencies throughout India.

With India's success in remote-sensing technology through the IRS constellation, several new imagery-based and GIS-centric projects of national relevance are gaining visibility and importance. ISRO is presently implementing major programs related to natural resources, disaster management, environmental oversight, and groundwater and watershed management.

The remote-sensing centers are establishing a distributed architecture of server-based solutions designed to be the foundation for publishing, hosting, and serving images and data. Over time, the RRSSCs have collected large volumes of map data and integrated them with attribute data. The centers plan to combine and assimilate all the data with new-generation IRS high-resolution images and serve the data and application sets across the government sector.

The RRSSCs needed a GIS solution that met their needs and was scalable to meet growing demands for services from a large number of users for a variety of advanced applications. The centers selected ESRI's proven technology and superior solutions after several rounds of technical presentations, demonstrations, and discussions. The RRSSCs and ESRI India have concluded a comprehensive training session, and RRSSC users have started developing the solution.

Dr. Yvn Krishnamurthy, director of the RRSSCs, says, "ISRO users have been using ESRI products for a variety of applications, and many national programs have been based on GIS solutions. IRS imagery has been the source of thematic mapping inputs and provides end-to-end solutions under the umbrella of the National Natural Resources Management System. ArcGIS Server with the ArcGIS Server Image extension is a robust and integrated product and has capabilities that can meet our application needs of serving images and thematic maps to a variety of users. Our technical team is geared up to use these capabilities and develop solutions that will be unique and beneficial. We look forward to close support from ESRI in this endeavour."

Dr. Mukund Rao, president and chief operating officer at ESRI India, notes, "ISRO has been pioneering the use of IRS imagery and advancing GIS solutions for a long time. We are proud to be associated with [the organization] on this prestigious, first-of-its kind national project to serve image and map-based solutions in a GIS portal architecture. We value our relationship with ISRO and are committed in our support."

ArcGIS Server helps users connect people with the information they need via Web mapping applications and GIS services. It is built on a modern, service-oriented architecture. The ArcGIS Server Image extension makes it possible to take raw or preprocessed imagery and immediately deliver it as a Web service. It enables organizations to exploit the rich information content available in imagery and quickly access large volumes of imagery. This is far superior to traditional options that required significant effort by users to locate and make file-based imagery available.

Organizations are moving to newer technology platforms because of their need to leverage imagery throughout their entire enterprise and the new capabilities available for working with imagery. "We provide some really remarkable and powerful new tools that enable things to happen in near-real time¾things like delivering and displaying imagery, roaming around the imagery, zooming in to the imagery, and doing on-the-fly mosaicking and orthorectification of the imagery," says Lawrie Jordan, ESRI's director of imagery enterprise solutions. "Customers like this because they are seeing immediate benefits in terms of performance and the quality of their results."

ESRI India envisions that this new software deployment and implementation will serve as a key reference within all Indian government agencies, especially those that disseminate and/or consume imagery and imagery-related data.

ESRI

Geo: International