When you call an app cab, do you ever wonder how it can find you so accurately? Or how Swiggy or Zomato knows which restaurants are closest to you? Do you know how Google maps guide you to your destination? The answer to all three questions is geoinformatics, or the more familiar GIS.
I met GIS during my days in Shri Shikshayatan College in Calcutta. I was then in the final year of a bachelor's degree in geography and GIS was a small part of the syllabus.
Geography had been my favourite subject since school and I was always passionate about it. To me, geography means a lot more than being able to point out a country on a map or know its capital city; it's about knowing our world and its people better. My initial plan was to do a master's in the subject, carry out research and, eventually, join academics. My introduction to GIS, however, changed my mind.
While most of my batchmates went on to take master's degrees in geography, I applied to the Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics (SIG) in Pune. I learnt of it from the Internet as well as from my seniors. Geography and geoinformatics go hand in hand. GIS broadens the field of geography, our way of analysing the earth.
SIG is one of the few Indian institutions that offer a master's degree in GIS. I had to clear a technical exam and then a personal interview. Many students wonder whether you can join GIS without a degree in geography - yes, you can. Since this is an interdisciplinary technical course, students of computer science, commerce, engineering and physics can also join it. Contrary to popular perception, you do not need to have studied maths in Plus Two to be eligible for this course.
The curriculum is vast and varied, stressful at times but always challenging. The best part was the field trips. We saw how GIS techniques were applied to solve problems and this practical knowledge helped us absorb the relevant theories easily. Epidemiologists use GIS to follow a disease outbreak. While the concept of using maps to trace the source of a disease is not new, now GIS can also be used to identify the growth pattern and predict new areas likely to be affected. This saves time and focuses effort. Then there are smart cities that are planned based on GIS. App cabs such as Ola and Uber as well as anything that uses GPS to navigate is also based on GIS.
In college, we were taught GIS and remote sensing applications as well as advanced GIS software that are used for analytics and development besides being taught the way to handle interviews, manage human resources and business communication.
After completing my master's in GIS, I was placed with HERE Solutions India, a company based in Mumbai that is a pioneer in car navigation technologies as well as three-dimensional maps. Creating the navigation maps that I have only used till date is challenging and interesting.
INSTITUTIONS THAT OFFER GIS COURSES
Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics, Pune
https://www.sig.ac.in
Teri University, New Delhi
http://www.teriuniversity.ac. in/msc-geoinformatics
Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune
http://ieer.bharati vidyapeeth.edu
Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi
https://www.bitmesra.ac.in
Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun
http://www.iirs.gov.in/msc
Mangalore University, Karnataka
https://mangaloreuniversity. ac.in/ geoinformatics
Savitribai Phule University, Pune
http://www.unipune.ac.in/dept/fine_arts/geography
Jadavpur University, Calcutta
www.ocean-ju.org
