Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure Course in Visakhapatnam

The IIC Academy, headquartered at Visakhapatnam, is conducting a timely and significant international course on Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure (MSDI) from 20th to 24th June 2016. The course is being conducted under the capacity building initiative of the International Hydrographic Organization for member countries of the North Indian Ocean Hydrographic Commission.

One participant each from Oman, Mauritius, Bahrain, Iraq, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia are anticipated to attend. The course will be inaugurated by Dr. Shailesh Nayak, former Secretary to the Government of India and Mr. Pravin Kumar, commissioner GVMC will be the Guest of Honor. Among other dignitaries, the inaugural session will be attended by Major General Dr. Siva Kumar (Retired), who has played a pivotal role in the setting up of Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) policy in India. Dr. Acharya, CEO, NSDI has been invited as a guest speaker at this event.

Explaining the importance of MSDI, Shekhar Murthy, President of IIC Academy, stated our world is increasingly becoming closely connected, and data, geospatial, or otherwise, is going to be the single most significant asset for any country or organization. Of course, the data held, will need to be contextually processed and analyzed, which becomes the basis for generating suitable models that can help society to conserve and optimally utilize its resources for the common good of humanity, without harming our environment. The key challenges to effective utilization of data, Mr. Murthy said, lie in sharing and integrating data collected from different sources, in different formats and variety, and making the data readily accessible to those who may need them. Interoperability, scalability and facilitating on-demand computing of diverse distributed data will be the key drivers of MSDI. The program will be led by Dr. Vijay, the senior faculty at IIC Academy under the mentorship of Mr. Satyanarayana who has over four decades of experience in the field of nautical cartography.

One of the key features of the course is the visit of participants to the Center for Studies on the Bay of Bengal at Andhra University, which has been kindly facilitated by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Department of Geophysics. The five-day instructor-led course will discuss many aspects of MSDI from policy formulation, data design, and models, to implementation issues deriving the best practices from various reported studies and initiatives by different countries. Specific case studies on coastal zone and port management will also be discussed.

The IIC Academy is the brainchild of Mr. Rajesh Alla, the Chairman and Managing Director of IIC Technologies Limited, who is a keen technopreneur, and who has led the company to make forays in geospatial sciences, both in India and globally. Under his stewardship, the company has demonstrated a three-dimensional total domain capability of surveying land, sea and air, modeling GIS data to suit user needs from different domains, the ports, telecommunications, mining, disaster management, coastal zone, and gravity studies. One area which additionally
distinguishes the company from any other is its competencies in undertaking heritage mapping studies. The innovation center at IIC Technologies is in the forefront of absorbing and shaping new technologies and processes for the wider reach and application of geospatial data.

Mr. Murthy further stated that the IIC Academy is the only private organization in the world that offers three internationally IHO-recognized courses on Marine Geospatial Information and Hydrographic Surveying. In addition to these courses, over the last five years, the Academy has trained participants from over sixteen countries and trained over 4000 participants, including government agencies and graduating students from Indian Universities, in areas related to photogrammetry, LiDAR, GIS, Surveying, as well as, professional management courses. The
Academy has MoUs with two prominent universities in Andhra Pradesh, the KL, and Vignan’s universities. The Academy is committed to skill development in areas related to geospatial sciences, which will be a crucial success factor in the implementation of several Government initiatives like building smart cities, infrastructure development, inland waterways, and digitization of assets that include, land and water.