The Survey of India (SoI), the oldest scientific department in the Government of India founded in 1767 and now functioning under the Department of Science & Technology, has designed an e-platform to gather geotagged information about India’s critical infrastructure. The primary objective of this initiative is to aid the Government and public health agencies in making essential decisions concerning the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
Sahyog: A New Mobile Application
To further support this e-platform, SoI has introduced a mobile application named Sahyog. This app is primarily designed to collect location-specific data with the assistance of community workers. The collected data will then be used for creating various applications, intending to build a dataset that remains within the country.
About Survey of India
Headquartered in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, the Survey of India serves as an adviser to the Indian Government on all matters related to survey. These include geodesy, photogrammetry, mapping, and map reproduction. Geodesy involves the accurate measurement and understanding of Earth’s geometric shape, orientation in space, and gravity field. Photogrammetry refers to making measurements from photographs.
Key Features of the Initiative
One of the significant attributes of this project is its swift solution. Data collection through formal land survey is known to be a lengthy process. On the other hand, the Sahyog app facilitates data crowdsourcing quickly.
The app also complements the recently launched Aarogya Setu App, that aids in tracing contacts who may have been infected by Covid-19.
Relevance in Present Scenario
With the current Covid-19 situation, the initiative collects information regarding biomedical waste disposals, containment areas, available hospitals for Covid-19 cases, testing laboratories of ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research), and quarantine camps. One of the remarkable features of this platform is that these data points can be integrated with latitudinal and longitudinal parameters. This setup can be customized for various ‘Covid-related applications’ such as healthcare facilities, infection clusters, and disaster management.
Major Concerns
While the initiative promises a handful of benefits, it also raises several concerns. Primarily, the Arogya Setu app and Sahyog may infringe on privacy due to the lack of clarity on data sharing between the two applications. Additionally, the terms of use of Arogya Setu are unclear on several aspects, including data storage duration and what happens to the data post-pandemic. Another concern is the question of proportionality. In India, given its vast population, smartphone users are rather less, indicating that fewer people will download the app, thereby questioning its effectiveness.
Support System and Health Delivery System
The data provided by volunteers working on the ground, like the ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) and Anganwadi workers, form a substantial support system for the government and healthcare professionals. The initiative also aims to strengthen the public health delivery system of central and state governments by offering necessary information support to workers handling health, socio-economic distress, and livelihood changes.
Integration on a Single Platform
The government already possesses an enormous amount of geospatial data about locations of fire services, banquet halls, etc. However, these were not previously integrated on a single platform. The current initiative by SoI is a major step towards achieving this integration.