Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) has partnered with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ India) on the project, “Urban-Act,” designed to promote climate-resilient and data-driven urban development for Panaji.
This initiative signifies a comprehensive approach to addressing climate challenges through infrastructure mapping, enhanced resource management and sustainable city planning.
The Urban-Act project focuses on systematically understanding and addressing Panaji’s topography and drainage infrastructure, aiming to build a future-proof database that will guide climate-resilient urban planning.
Appointed as implementation partners, M/s Excel Geomatics and M/s Techno Essence Solutions, both based in Delhi, have been tasked with executing an advanced survey of the city’s topography, storm water drainage network and mapping street utilities.
This thorough mapping initiative will provide a detailed, real-time view of critical infrastructure locations like trees along roads , street lights, sewerage manholes, footpaths and other utilities, storm water drains, watershed of the city and contour data necessary for anticipating and addressing urban challenges.
A topographical survey in 1:1000 scale was done using the Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) instrument. In Panaji city , 24 Primary Survey Control Points (PSCPs) were set up with Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS ) of Survey of India.
An Electronic Total Station (ETS) survey was also undertaken to measure angles, distances and elevations along the linear features like road, drains etc. The aerial survey was undertaken using the latest UAV/ Drone with payload of LIDAR of 3kgs. A Digital Terrain Model (DTM) and Ortho Rectified Imagery (ORI) in 5 cm Ground Sampling Distance (GSD) has been created using the drone data.
For this, special permission from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Government of India has been obtained.
Initiated in September 2024, the project commenced with establishing 24 Primary Survey Control Points (PSCPs) across the entire municipal area of 8.2 sq. km. These points act as fixed reference spots, helping to combine drone and survey data into a unified map.
This entire data collection framework was designed in consultation with WRD, CCP, PWD and IPSCDL. Validation is supervised by Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP), Water Resources Department (WRD) and IPSCDL. The purpose of the data is to have more robust data-driven design for the city in coming days. The data will be made available in public domain .
Drainage Networks: Mapping of both open and covered drains, including drainage width, top and invert levels, confluence points and total linear drain coverage.
Utility Features: Capture of over all the trees along the road , all electric street light poles , traffic signals, transformers and electric junction boxes, facilitating a clearer view of urban utilities and natural elements within the city .
Data from the survey will populate a comprehensive city database, supporting the development of predictive models for climate-resilient infrastructure planning. This data will be used to simulate urban scenarios and potential future climate impacts, providing decision-makers with the insights needed to improve drainage systems, reduce flood risks and ensure infrastructure durability.
“We aim to get a comprehensive drainage map for the city of Panaji by the end of this project. Any further work on drains in the city should be based on the criticality and need as indicated through this scientifically captured and physically validated database,” said Mr. Sanjit Rodrigues, MD & CEO, IPSCDL.
The final deliverables include UAV-captured imagery, a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) with 10 cm vertical accuracy and orthorectified imagery with 5 cm horizontal accuracy. The ETS survey has covered midpoints, edge points and other specific topographical details such as road types (bitumen, concrete, and tiled), street light poles and footpath layouts. These data layers will be available in both AutoCAD and ESRI formats, ensuring accessibility for use in simulations, future planning and urban design projects.