Webinar on GIS Organized for UT Officials

24 July,2020.Chandigarh: A webinar on Geographic Information System(GIS) was conducted by SPIC  under the aegis of Department of Information Technology, Chandigarh Administration  for senior Officials of UT. This webinar is first of its kind which has been organized for UT Officials to give an overview of the GIS technology which is extensively being used in smart city projects. Such webinars are need of the hour to keep  senior officials well aware of the emerging technologies which can be utilized in delivering  effective &efficient   governance.

The webinar was designed for giving a brief introduction to how geography matters and how GIS is used in our daily routine. The  idea is to make officials understand the basic concept of GIS and its application in different organizations .The webinar was focused on  need of GIS  to create   support system  for planning, execution, analysis and evaluation of  ground  reality which  will  further create a conducive environment for making better policies  which will further  lead to good governance. During webinar participants were given brief insight about types of analysis that can be done with GIS map and how optimum use of GIS technology can help departments like; Municipal Corporation, Police Engineering Department and Estate office to improve their workflows and services to citizens.  The webinar  ended  with question &  answer round where  officials asked queries related to hardware requirement for GIS, availability of GIS Resource person and availability of  GIS library  which  can  be  tapped  for any use. All queries were  well  addressed. 

Ms. Nazuk Kumar, IAS, Director Information Technology, Chandigarh Administration, said “Such webinars  should  be organized on regular basis for UT officials which will help in paving ways  for using new technology in  governance.She further added that GISis by far the quickest and most efficient method of creating maps and similar graphics.  As GIS is so powerful at representing conditions in an area it  can help policy makers understand issues more clearly, and lead to policies that address reality in rational ways.”

The webinar was attended by senior officials of Chandigarh Police, Professors of Chandigarh College of Architect, Senior officials of Urban planning and Municipal Corporation. Looking at the effectiveness and acceptability of webinars among UT officials,  SPIC is planning to hold more such GIS webinar in future which  will be department specific like;  Municipal  Corporation, Engineering Department , Department  of Urban Planning, Estate office, Chandigarh  Police  who are  playing a pivotal role in smart  city projects.

Taking leverage of online platform, SPIC is already conducting ICT training for UT Employees through virtual classroom during.  The entire ICT training is being conducted online where live classes are taken by SPIC faculty. UT employees are attending training from  comfort  of their  office /home which helps them to maintain  social & physical distancing  to curb the  spread of virus and at the same is helping them  to hone their  IT  skills during this pandemic.