For accurate land survey, civic agency planning to adopt LiDAR technology

In an attempt to modernise its method of land survey, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's roads department is now planning to adopt the Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) technology for a more accurate mapping of the land surface area.

Using this GPS-enabled technology, civic officials and elected representatives will be able to determine where road repairs and constructions are necessary, and identify the nature of structures, such as encroachments, that may be causing bottlenecks.

"The vehicle will help us gauge the width of the roads and structures on it. It will also survey the condition of roads and the kinds of potholes. This will help us in road-widening and removing encroachments. It will also give us an idea of where to conduct repairs. So far, we have been doing it manually but now the data will be more scientific," said chief engineer of roads department G Aggarwal.

He added that the department will not be procuring the technology but will outsource it to companies that already have access to the application. "We will float the tender this week after finalising the details. It has already got administrative approval. We will contract the work to companies that are already using this technology. The machine costs approximately Rs 50 lakh," said Aggarwal.

On a pilot basis, the department will float tenders to survey 300 km of city roads using the technology. "The BMC has 1,900 km of roads to manage and the pilot project will be launched on 300 km of roads. We are still finalising the area where this will be introduced," said an engineer working on the project.

LiDAR is a modern technology that has received wide acceptance around the world for its usefulness in terrain mapping. Currently, its application in India is limited.

At present, the civic body — through a Total Station Survey System — uses information from site visit reports to determine the urgency for work to be carried out.

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