UAVs can map better town planning

Faizullaganj is a tightly packed neighbourhood of Lucknow, the capital city of India’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh. 

Planning for redevelopment, repairs or reconstruction of basic facilities in the city and its neighbourhoods is no easy task. The simplest of projects can take months. When the Lucknow Jal Nigam (LJN), the body that manages water supply to the city, decided to ensure reliable supply of drinking water for Faizullaganj, the administrators came up with a unique solution. 

Mapping the 17 square kilometres of the neighbourhood packed tightly with dwellings that came up haphazardly is time consuming. Typically ground surveys can take six months of arduous effort. As a first, LJN decided to use drones for mapping the neighbourhood.  LJN brought in DronaMaps, a Vizag based start-up to conduct an aerial survey of Faizullaganj. 

The DronaMaps team took on the project earlier this year and flew UAVs across the area to map the dwellings, roads, junctions and elevation. The final maps were stitched together and submitted to JLN’s engineering team for implementation of the pipeline project. It took about two weeks for this process to be completed. The accuracy of the maps helped the engineering team in identifying the best routes for laying the pipes keeping in mind the elevation which determines the upflow and downflow of water. Equally important has been the impact of reducing post-installation disputes between pipe-laying contractors and landholders. 

Finally, the data and maps generated remain a point of reference for subsequent development projects that go beyond water supply. DronaMaps has done similar work for industrial areas of Indore and for planning smart villages with the government of Andhra Pradesh. 

Use of UAVs for aerial mapping is emerging as an important feature of urban planning in India. A simple UAV can map about 3 square kilometre a day while a fixed wing can map about 40 square kilometre a day. While it is early days, municipalities, utilities and other bodies are warming up to the importance of aerial mapping and data generation. Aerial mapping has the potential of offering a fact based picture of the urban reality of India. While the Smart City programme is being rolled out across the country, India needs to map every inch of its habitable areas. Planning for smart cities will need a clear picture of ground realities. 

In recent months, some elements of city planning are now being aided by technology in a way that is bringing efficiency and clarity. A city’s needs are multi-dimensional —from utilities like drainage, water supply, electricity and waste management to commercial, residential and public space needs. Transport and mobility that are sustainable are the new dimensions that most cities are grappling with. 

Several young start-ups are now offering solutions using IoT, AI and UAVs for smarter management of cities. Though they face a challenge. The management of Indian cities is divided among various urban bodies that often work against each other and almost never have a common vision or plan. 

For smart city management, India needs smart technology deployment. However, the adoption of technology is hampered by lack of empowered bodies. The effort to digitise processes; to create transparent approval systems and use of smart technologies including UAVs can’t be done without a single empowered authority. Ideally each city needs its own CEO. A city CEO should have the power to work across functions and departments to endure a harmonised solution. So the data generated by UAVs could be used for property taxes, traffic management and new housing projects. Without an empowered authority, tech-based innovation may not go beyond a few successful pilot projects.