IIT Bombay develops low-cost GIS software

MUMBAI: The Indian Institute of Technology here has developed a low-cost Geographic Information System (GIS) software which can be used for resource management by community development programmes, government sectors, NGOs and industries.

"The software is now made commercially available so that developing countries could make optimal use of their resources," Dr Parvatham Venkatachalam of IIT said.

The software will be distributed in the market by Bhugol GIS Pvt Ltd under the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of IIT.

The software is a highly capable GIS planning tool and is tailor-made for users with wide range of operations such as map database creation, query and retrieval, analysis, and visualization.

Giving examples of some of its uses, Venkatachalam said, "The software can help calculate the shortest route, locate the most vulnerable areas in flood prone Mumbai before every monsoon, indicate what crop a farmer can cultivate in his land so that he gets better yield or what is the optimal location for building a water harvesting structure in a village."