National Geospatial Policy 2022

Geography glossary

Topic: Remote Sensing, GIS and GNSS · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The National Geospatial Policy 2022 (NGP 2022) is India's national plan for maps and location data, notified by the Ministry of Science and Technology on 28 December 2022, with a vision running to 2035 [1]. It treats geospatial data made with public money as a public good open to everyone, sets up one top committee for the sector, and fixes mapping targets for 2025, 2030 and 2035 [1].

It matters because it completes India's shift from controlling maps to opening them up. It also lays the data base for planning tools such as PM Gati Shakti and for drone and satellite mapping.

Explanation

What the policy does: from control to openness

  • Geospatial data means any data linked to a place on Earth, such as maps, satellite images and survey points.
  • Before: collecting or publishing maps often needed prior approval from the government.
  • Step 1, the Geospatial Guidelines (15 February 2021): Indian entities no longer needed this approval. A negative list of sensitive items, such as defence sites, stayed restricted.
  • Step 2, the Drone Rules (August 2021): fewer forms and lower fees made drone surveys cheaper and easier.
  • Step 3, NGP 2022 (28 December 2022): these changes became one long-term national policy with targets and a governing body [1].
  • Core idea: geospatial data made with public funds, including Survey of India data, is a public good and is open to everyone [1].

Institutions: who runs it

  • Geospatial Data Promotion and Development Committee (GDPDC): the top body. It makes the strategy and guidelines for the geospatial sector [1].
  • DST (Department of Science and Technology): leads the work under the policy [1].
  • Global model: NGP 2022 follows the UN-GGIM's Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (IGIF), a UN guide to how countries should build their location-data systems [1].

Targets in three stages

Target year Goals [1]
2025 A legal framework for liberalisation; one common digital interface for public geospatial data; a redefined National Geodetic Framework (the national system of exact reference points used to measure position); a high-accuracy geoid model
2030 High-resolution topographic survey: 5–10 cm for urban and rural areas, 50–100 cm for forests and wastelands. A National DEM: 25 cm accuracy in plains, 1–3 m in hilly areas. A Geospatial Knowledge Infrastructure
2035 Bathymetric data for inland waters and the deep sea, for the Blue Economy; mapping of underground infrastructure in major cities; a National Digital Twin of major cities
  • Geoid model: the shape of Earth's mean sea-level surface. It is needed to measure the true height of land.
  • Topographic survey: a map of the land's surface features, such as hills, rivers, roads and buildings. "5–10 cm" means the map is correct to within that distance.
  • DEM (Digital Elevation Model): a digital grid that stores the height of the land at every point.

  • It is used for flood modelling, road planning and watershed planning.

  • Bathymetry: the measuring of water depth.

  • Digital twin: a detailed 3-D digital copy of a real city.
  • Planners test changes on the copy first.
  • Then they build in the real city with fewer mistakes.

Follow-up steps

  • Operation Dronagiri: launched on 13 November 2024 as a pilot (trial project) under NGP 2022 [1].
  • It runs in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra [1].

  • It uses an Integrated Geospatial Data Sharing Interface (GDI) [1].

  • CORS network: Survey of India has built a pan-India CORS network [1]. CORS (Continuously Operating Reference Stations) are fixed GNSS stations that give very exact positions.

  • National Geospatial Mission: the Union Budget 2025-26 gave it ₹100 crore [1].
  • National Geospatial Data Repository: one central data platform, now being built [1].

Where it occurs

  • Who runs it: the Ministry of Science and Technology notified it on 28 December 2022. DST leads it and the GDPDC sets its strategy [1].
  • Where it operates: across all of India. It covers cities, villages, forests, wastelands, plains, hills, inland waters and the deep sea (see the target table).
  • Pilot states: Operation Dronagiri runs in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra [1].
  • Main data agency: Survey of India. Its publicly funded data is opened to all, and it has built the pan-India CORS network [1].
  • Use in planning: accurate data from NGP 2022 is meant to make PM Gati Shakti planning easier and to avoid duplicated work [1].
  • Gati Shakti is a GIS platform built by BISAG-N. It brings together the plans of 16 key ministries [1].

  • From Budget 2025-26, its data is to be opened to the private sector for PPP planning [1].

  • Wider ecosystem: NGP 2022 sits alongside NSDI (2006) (shared standards for map data), Bhuvan (2009, NRSC) (ISRO's map portal) and SVAMITVA (2020) (drone mapping of village homes).

Don't confuse with

  • Geospatial Guidelines (15 February 2021, DST): these only removed prior approval for Indian entities and kept a negative list. NGP 2022 is the later, wider policy with a committee (GDPDC) and targets up to 2035.
  • NSDI (National Spatial Data Infrastructure, 2006): a framework of shared data standards and a geoportal for sharing data between agencies. It is not a liberalisation policy with time-bound targets.
  • SVAMITVA (24 April 2020): a Ministry of Panchayati Raj scheme that drone-maps inhabited village land and gives property cards. NGP 2022 is a DST-led national policy for all geospatial data.
  • Drone Rules 2021 (Civil Aviation): these deal with drone airspace zones (green, yellow, red) on Digital Sky. They do not set national mapping targets.

Prelims Hooks

  • NGP 2022 was notified on 28 December 2022 by the Ministry of Science and Technology. DST leads it and the top body is the GDPDC [1].
  • Target years: geoid model by 2025; national DEM and high-resolution topographic mapping by 2030; digital twins of major cities, underground infrastructure mapping and bathymetry by 2035 [1].
  • Accuracy figures for 2030: topographic survey at 5–10 cm (urban and rural) and 50–100 cm (forests and wastelands). DEM at 25 cm (plains) and 1–3 m (hills) [1].
  • Order in time: NSDI (2006) → Bhuvan (2009) → SVAMITVA (April 2020) → Geospatial Guidelines (February 2021) → Drone Rules (August 2021) → Gati Shakti (October 2021) → NGP (December 2022).
  • Operation Dronagiri (13 November 2024) is an NGP 2022 pilot in 5 states: UP, Haryana, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra [1].
  • Trap: NGP 2022 follows the UN-GGIM's IGIF [1]. The Union Budget 2025-26 gave ₹100 crore to the National Geospatial Mission [1], not to the GDPDC.

Mains Points

  • From control to openness (GS-III, infrastructure and technology):
  • The 2021 Guidelines, the Drone Rules 2021 and NGP 2022 moved India from map control based on approvals to open data treated as a public good [1].
  • This helps start-ups and Atmanirbhar mapping.

  • It protects data sovereignty (India's control over its own data) because the finest data stays with Indian entities.

  • Better planning and the economy:

  • Accurate DEMs and digital twins help with flood modelling, city planning and watershed planning.
  • Bathymetric data supports the Blue Economy [1].

  • Linking NGP data to PM Gati Shakti cuts duplicated work and supports multimodal connectivity and lower logistics costs [1].

  • Concerns:

  • Privacy: high-resolution and drone images can show private homes.
  • Security: open data has to be balanced against national security, which is why the negative list exists.
  • Capacity: many states and panchayats lack trained staff to use GIS. This could slow progress towards the 2030 and 2035 targets.

Related concepts

Read more

Sources

  1. 1PIB Backgrounder, "National Geospatial Policy 2022: Powering India's Vision for Viksit Bharat" (Ministry of Science and Technology, 27 February 2025)static.pib.gov.in · tier 1