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.