Context: To complement the Aarogya Setu App (a government endorsed application that helps trace the contacts of those who may have been infected by COVID-19), the Survey of India (country’s apex map maker) has made public a trove of maps.

• To support this platform, a mobile application called Sahyog has also been created. This app will help collect location specific data with the help of community workers.

Benefits

• Swift Solution: Data collection by formal land survey is a lengthy and time taking process but the mobile app can help crowdsource data quickly.
• Complement Arogya Setu App: This will complement the recently launched Aarogya Setu App that helps trace the contacts of those who may have been infected by Covid-19.
• Relevant Information: Information regarding biomedical waste disposals, containment areas, available hospitals for Covid-19 cases, ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) testing laboratories and quarantine camps will be integrated on this platform with their latitudinal and longitudinal parameters. This could be customised to a variety of ‘Covid-related applications’ such as healthcare facilities, infection clusters and disaster management
• Data Localisation: Data collected using Sahyog application will be used for creating various applications for everyone’s usage and would facilitate building a dataset that remains inside India.
• Support System: The data fed by the volunteers working on the ground such as the ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) and Anganwadi workers will lead to a good support system for the government and doctors on ground.
• Health Delivery System: This will strengthen the public health delivery system of the central and state governments by providing necessary information support to workers dealing with the challenges of health, socio-economic distress and livelihood changes.
• Integration on Single Platform: A lot of geospatial data about locations of fire services, banquet halls etc. is already present with the Government which was not integrated in a single platform. This is a step in that direction.

About Survey of India

• It is the National Survey and Mapping Organization of the country under the Department of Science & Technology.
• It was established in 1767 and is the oldest scientific department of the Government of India.
• It is headquartered at Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

Their Responsibilities

• Advisor to Govt: Survey of India acts as adviser to the Government of India on all cartography of India related matters, such as geodesy, mapping and map reproduction.
• Geo names: It is responsible for the naming convention and spellings of names of geographical features of India.
• Certification and publication: Scrutiny and certification of external boundaries of India and Coastline on maps published by the other agencies including private publishers.
• Surveys: geodetic datum, geodetic control network, topographical control, geophysical surveys, cadastral surveying, geologic maps, aeronautical charts within India, such as for forests, army cantonments, large scale cities, guide maps, developmental or conservation projects, etc.
• National borders: Demarcation of the borders and external boundaries of India as well as advice on the demarcation of inter-state boundaries.