CAPACITY BUILDING THROUGH GEOSPATIAL EDUCATION IN PLANNING AND SCHOOL CURRICULA

Geospatial technology has widespread usage in development planning and resource management. It offers pragmatic tools to help urban and regional planners to realize their goals. On the request of Ministry of Urban Development, Govt. of India, the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), Dehradun has taken an initiative to study the model syllabi of All India Council for Technical Education for planning curricula of Bachelor and Master (five disciplines) programmes. It is inferred that geospatial content across the semesters in various planning fields needs revision. It is also realized that students pursuing planning curricula are invariably exposed to spatial mapping tools but the popular digital drafting software have limitations on geospatial analysis of planning phenomena. Therefore, students need exposure on geospatial technologies to understand various real world phenomena. Inputs were given to seamlessly merge and incorporate geospatial components throughout the semesters wherever seems relevant. Another initiative by IIRS was taken to enhance the understanding and essence of space and geospatial technologies amongst the young minds at 10+2 level. The content was proposed in a manner such that youngsters start realizing the innumerable contributions made by space and geospatial technologies in their day-to-day life. This effort both at school and college level would help in not only enhancing job opportunities for young generation but also utilizing the untapped human resource potential. In the era of smart cities, higher economic growth and aspirations for a better tomorrow, integration of Geospatial technologies with conventional wisdom can no longer be ignored. * Corresponding author: pramod@iirs.gov.in


INTRODUCTION
Education is the essence for a meaningful growth of a nation.It drives the entire mankind across the globe for an advanced outlook in difficult times.There has been tremendous growth in the area of imparting Geospatial science and education over the past few years, but the influence remains confined to certain countries.It is the urgent demand of the hour to emphasize on Geospatial education right from higher secondary school level and motivate the capacity building endeavours in India.The ambit of Geospatial education has been very well accepted in the world and sees no bounds.In spite of the technical nature of the subject, it has universal applicability in almost all walks of life.There is an urgent demand to conceptualize plausible curriculum status for seamless interaction between the real world scenarios with the content being taught.For this, Geospatial education has to be conceived as an essential component of the education system and should be incorporated in the syllabi of all branches of learning provided the curriculum is developed in a manner that the subject is understood clearly and well-received (Anon., 2013).This initiative will in true sense bring down the barriers on human imagination capability and give a shift to the conventional thought process.
The recent Urban and Regional Planning Development Formulation and Implementation (URDPFI) guidelines in India also envisage a concept of Smart Cities.To realize this concept, the education on Geospatial technology can play a major role.
Keeping in mind the importance of disseminating knowledge in Geospatial technologies and applications, the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), on the request of Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), Govt. of India (GoI), analysed the planning curricula and suggested recommendations on the prospects and approaches to integrate Geospatial technologies and applications in the teaching and learning curricula related to Planning.It is felt that with the ever-evolving technology in the Geospatial discipline and the growing demand for trained professionals, the content updation of the syllabi at graduate and post-graduate level is desirable to meet the demand created by this technological drift.This most needed change shall help in facilitating implementation and monitoring of the planning process in the long run as well as to realize the concept of Smart Cities in India.Similarly, it is also realized that Geospatial education can be imparted to the aspiring students at secondary and higher secondary level (10+2).Hence, the inputs were provided for improvising Geospatial content at the school level also at the request of MoUD.This effort both at school and college level would help in not only enhancing job opportunities for young generation but also utilizing the untapped human resource potential.

PROSPECTS OF GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGY IN PLANNING
Cities are growing at a rate beyond imagination and Urban and Regional Planning (URP) helps in the management of resources shaping the cities of the future.Planning with the aim to integrate Geospatial content with the existing Planning syllabus In GIS Lab for Planning, introducing concepts like spatial data modelling and decision support system, multi-criteria decision modelling, Terrain Analysis, etc. Also introducing advanced topics like 3D modelling and spatial sampling Application of GIS and explanation through case studies covering topics like Land Use and Land Cover (LU/LC) map generation and change detection, Municipal GIS, Infrastructure and utility mapping, Urban Hazard mapping and Land Subsidence Analysis, etc. Introduction in subjects like Introduction to Regional planning, Urban and rural governance and Disaster risk Mitigation and Management Thesis proposed to be completed using Geospatial technologies with special emphasis on data sets available in BHUVAN-NUIS and other Open source/ distributed servers.
Table 1: Proposals at a Glance for B.Plan.Syllabus studying the syllabi content of all the five disciplines for all four semesters, it was found that Geospatial component is not evenly distributed in all semesters.It was also felt that Geospatial technology should be a part of all subjects wherever it finds relevance.It was also realized that since there are rapid advances in technology and new techniques have evolved in the field of Geospatial discipline e.g., Close Range Photogrammetry, LiDAR, GNSS, Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS), Web-GIS, etc., students shall attain the exposure at this level so as to face the competitive environment after completion of their education.Some of the general observations for all the specialized fields are as follows: • Geospatial component shall be a part and parcel of the Studio Exercises in all semesters so that students are able to relate the live projects with the technology.Similarly, the analysis and proposals were given for all the other four disciplines in great detail and wherever applicable the Geospatial component was added to the subjects.IIRS has taken many initiatives (Table 4) to enthuse the Geospatial concepts in young minds, where duration ranges from one-day workshop to 15 days workshops.IIRS has also contributed (Table 5) in preparing the Geospatial content for school children in recent past.

National Task force on Geospatial Education (MHRD)
Realizing the importance of Geospatial education, MHRD, GoI constituted the National Task Force on Geospatial Education which discussed the overall issues related to Geospatial education in the country at school level, university level, training and outreach needs, need for high-end research and also the possibility of setting up of an institution for Geospatial education.

Recommendation of Sub-committee for Geospatial
Education at School Level The sub-committee in its report has mentioned that at present the Geospatial technology as a subject is offered at 10+2 level either a part of geography curriculum or as an elective/ vocational/ additional subject (Anon., 2005).Major issues and concerns related to Geospatial technology are lack of trained faculty, spatial context, fundamental understanding to read a map, lack of amenities and infrastructure, etc.The important recommendations of the subcommittee are as under: • The Geospatial elective should be offered at 10+2 level for all the students of arts/ science or commerce streams.• Geospatial elective should focus on teaching advanced topics and applications and not the different GIS software.• Schools should be equipped with Geospatial kits which will consist of basic course material on fundamentals and overview of Geospatial technologies, maps and satellite images, basic GPS devices, hard copy prints of the maps and "learning to think spatially" document.
• Advanced topic such as photogrammetry should be deferred to college level.• Make learning of geography using Bhuvan/ Google Earth mandatory for all.• Introduce GIS education (project based and interactive) as part of summer camps during summer vacations.• Geospatial training to teachers should be imparted as to equip them to teach the subject.• Besides 10+2 level, committee also recommended introducing Geospatial concepts as part of geography subject from Grade 3 onwards with the help of simple exercises such as Mapping the Neighbourhood, sketch map of one's own locality, preparing the road map and town map with important landmarks, visualization on Bhuvan/ Google earth, etc. From Grade 7 onwards, committee has recommended that students should be made familiarized with topo-sheets, satellite images of their own city, etc. Grade 9 and Grade 10 students are recommended to have knowledge of GIS, GPS and geodesy as part of geography/mathematics subject.

Suggestions/ Recommendations
Geospatial technology including Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System and other related techniques, have emerged as a powerful and imperative system in all disciplines of study along with research and planning in a short span of time.It covers satellite communication and satellite meteorology as well as satellite Remote Sensing.There is a great need to introduce the Geospatial technology in education system at various levels in a designed way to provide wider understanding and acceptance of this technology.Increasing accessibility of Remote Sensing data and software has made it easier for people to learn about Remote Sensing yet the training in Geospatial technologies has been lacking in educated faculty as well as students in most cases.In recent years, a number of educational institutes, both in government and private sector have come forward to organize degree courses, diploma and certificate courses in Geospatial technology.It is an encouraging trend but the training and educational facilities of this technology are still inadequate to meet the challenges of its growing demand and utility.There is an urgent need of diffusion of this technology to school and college level.

CONCLUSIONS
The present study is an endeavour to study the existing model syllabi of AICTE for planning curricula at Bachelor and Master level and syllabi at 10+2 level.It was realized that Geospatial contents is unevenly distributed across semesters in planning curricula at bachelor and master level.Therefore, few suggestions were made to seamlessly integrate the Geospatial contents in a structured manner in planning syllabi.At Bachelor level, the Geospatial content was spread throughout all the semesters with more emphasis on its incorporation in studio exercises.It was also suggested that theory subject teaching should be augmented with case studies and examples (wherever Geospatial data has utility) for better understanding of Geospatial technology and applications.Conventional digital drafting methods need to be replaced with GIS software so as to enhance the capabilities of planners to understand various real world phenomena.At M.Plan.level, the existing syllabi in the first integrated semester need to be improvised, henceforth, the detailed content of theory and practical were suggested.It is also advised to prepare Development Plan/ City Development Plan in this semester using Geospatial techniques and Bhuvan NUIS datasets.As the Geospatial technologies are evolving continuously, Geospatial technologies for planning-II were suggested as a separate subject across all five disciplines of M. Planning that includes advanced topics such as Photogrammetry, LiDAR, GPR, GNSS, Web-GIS, etc. Detailed suggestions were also made in all the theory subjects of remaining three semesters across all the five disciplines at Master's level to incorporate Geospatial content wherever it has relevance in the form of case studies.It was also emphasized that students should be encouraged to use the Geospatial technologies in their studio exercises in place of conventional technologies.The final year project work is proposed to be completed using Geospatial techniques wherever spatial component is present at both Master and Bachelor level.It is also advisable to make use of Geospatial technologies and Bhuvan-NUIS to support the planning, management and decision making.This effort will enhance the understanding among planners for real world phenomenon and enable them to have a wider job avenues.
Detailed Geospatial content updation was also suggested at 10+2 level of education.The content was proposed at school level in a manner such that youngsters start realizing the innumerable contributions made by space and geospatial technologies in their day-to-day life.This effort both at school and college level would help in not only enhancing job opportunities for young generation but also utilizing the untapped human resource potential.In the era of smart cities, higher economic growth and aspirations for a better tomorrow, integration of Geospatial technologies with conventional wisdom can no longer be ignored.

2.2 Master in Planning (M.Plan.)
The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XL-8, 2014 ISPRS Technical Commission VIII Symposium, 09 -12 December 2014, Hyderabad, India taught in Planning Institutes and Colleges, model All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) syllabus (Anon., 2012) was studied in detail for Bachelor in Planning (B.Plan.)and Master in Planning (M.Plan) comprising of five disciplines on the request of MoUD.
B.Plan.consists of four years and eight semesters.Semester 2, Semester 5 and 6 have already incorporated Geospatial technology as a part of Surveying and Photogrammetry Lab, Geo-informatics for Planning and GIS lab for Planning in the existing syllabi of model AICTE.A general observation after studying the curricula was made and following recommendations were given for improving the Geospatial contents:  Geoinformatics is taught during 2 nd , 5 th and 6 th semesters of B.Plan.However, as the Geospatial Technologies are evolving continuously, its incorporation in other semesters is also relevant.It is suggested to use case studies and

Table 1 :
City Development Plan using Geospatial Techniques and Bhuvan NUIS (Table2).•Todistributethe Geospatial course curricula evenly and for structured understanding of the subject in all the semesters, the syllabus was studied thoroughly.Accordingly, proposals (Table3) were given to incorporate Geospatial technology in second semester as a separate subject in all the disciplines and incorporating the case studies in the course content wherever it has relevance.• The end semester in all the disciplines is thesis semester.The students are required to work on a case study area on various planning issues prevalent in the country.During this semester, the students work individually unlike other exercises where work in a group is preferred.Hence, it is felt that thesis is the best time to utilize the GIS knowledge and present a Geospatial integrated Planning thesis.This approach is also advisable for better job prospects.• Bhuvan-NUIS Portal has gained a lot of recognition after its launch.It should be used for preparation of base maps for starting the planning analysis further.Geospatial content in first semester of Integrated M.
• Semester 1 is integrated semester for all disciplines.This semester gives an overview of all disciplines of Planning.It is advised to perform Studio exercise of making Development Plan/

Table 2 :
Geospatial technology in three semesters of M. Planning with specialisation in urban planning(Proposal)

Table 3 :
Geospatial Education Initiatives at IIRS for School/ College Teachers and Students this technology are still inadequate to meet the challenges of its growing demand and utility.There is an urgent need of diffusion of this technology to school and college level.
training in Geospatial technologies has been lacking in educated faculty as well as students in most cases.In recent years, a number of educational institutes, both in government and private sector have come forward to organize degree courses, diploma and certificate courses in Geospatial technology.It is an encouraging trend but the training and