Sorry for X post.
The location is here:
http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=13/11.5475/75.8735
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jaisen Nedumpala jaisuvyas@gmail.com Date: 2014-07-07 6:36 GMT+05:30 Subject: About having a mapping party in Koorachundu Village Panchayat - Kozhikode district - Kerala - Reg. To: OpenStreetMap in India talk-in@openstreetmap.org
Hi, I am Jaisen Nedumpala, roaming here for quite a while as a contributor of OpenStreetMap, mainly focused on the mapping of Kozhikode district. Right now, I am working as the assistant secretary to the Koorachundu village panchayat, in Kozhikode district.
What I am going to describe here is not purely a community issue, much related with my official duties too. But a village panchayat itself is a community, which:
1. enjoy an official status, 2. have its own powers and duties, 3. full legal recognition and 4. authority over a defined local geographical area.
So I think, it might not be wrong to raise this issue here, in the hope that, this would be considered as an act of goodwill.
Here we have an immediate requirement to map the village panchayat area, that might be helpful for the panchayat elections, which will be held in the year 2015. After the elections this map would be the base map for all the future practical purposes.
State Election Commission (SEC-Kerala) realises that, systematically prepared maps can be used as a base map for administrative, scientific and academic purposes as an official document. Such a map would be useful as a base document for future delimitation of wards or bifurcation of Local Self Government Institutions. So SEC-K has issued an order to prepare maps for all Local Self Government Institutions of Kerala, which is available here in this link:
http://lsg.kerala.gov.in/news/files/More_Details_352.pdf (Language: Malayalam.)
As per the order, the duties are assigned as follows:
1. Prepare maps for village panchayats, municipalities and municipal corporations (Local Self Government Institutions - LSGIs) with their external boundaries and mark geographical and man-made features such as small and big rivers, streams, roads, forests, raliway line etc. in those maps. Then pass down these maps to the LSGIs. The maps for village panchayats will be in A3 size (municipality: A2 size, municipal corporation: A1 size) and in defined scale, both in hard and soft copies, and will be issued to LSGIs within 15/07/2014. --Duty assigned to the Department of Survey and Land Records.
2. After obtaining the map from the Department of Survey and Land Records, The engineer in charge of public works at the LSGI, should draw the existing ward boundaries (which were fixed in 2010) and notable geographical marks, under the supervision of secretary of LSGI, after field verification. This job should be done within 29/07/2014 (within 9 working days after receiving the maps from Survey and Land Records) in case of village panchayats. --Duty assigned to the secretary and Engineer of LSGI.
3. After obtaining back the map with ward boundaries and notable geographical marks from LSGIs, the Department of Survey and Land Records will prepare the final maps of LSGI within 12/9/2014 using AutoCAD software program. --Duty assigned to the Department of Survey and Land Records.
Main Points to note: ----------------------------
1. LSGIs should have a systematically prepared base map for administrative, scientific and academic purposes as an official document. Such a map will be useful as a base document for future delimitation of wards or bifurcation LSGIs.
2. To become authentic, it must be prepared by the Department of Survey and Land Records, after receiving the official inputs from the LSGI authorities.
3. The maps for village panchayats will be in A3 size (municipality: A2 size, municipal corporation: A1 size) and will be in defined scale.
4. Department of Survey and Land Records will prepare the final map after obtaining the inputs from LSGIs, using AutoCAD software program.
Problems I could see: ------------------------------
1. KILA and SEC-K jointly published a hand book covering LSGI elections and related subjects, originally titled in Malayalam, which can be translated as "Good governance through legal awareness - Hand book for People's Representatives and officials at LSGIs" in 2013. In its pages no: 12 and 13, it is said that ward delimitation should be done using the cadastral map prepared and issued by the Information Kerala Mission, and if they didn't prepare such a map for a particular village panchayat, then that should be prepared with the help of Survey Department.
In case of Koorachundu village panchayat, Information Kerala Mission didn't prepare a cadastral map, so we approached the Department of Survey and Land Records regional and district authorities long before, but any action is still pending.
In the hand book, it says about preparing a cadastral map, but in the order of SEC-K mentioned above, the word "cadastral" is not there. No clue, what type of map would be issued to village panchayat, by the Department of Survey and Land records for this purpose.
2. If the map is meant to be useful for administrative, scientific and academic purposes, and be useful as a base document for future delimitation of wards or bifurcation LSGIs, I think, it must be a cadastral map. So I am doubtful whether the size A3 mentioned in the order of SEC-K is sufficient for this purpose. That is too small to include the necessary features in detailed scale, that to make it useful for any other practical purpose other than ward delimitation. Besides, the village panchayats of Kerala vary largely in their geographical area, the largest among them is Kumily in Idukki District, with a huge 816.73 Sq. K Ms size, and the smallest is Valapattanam in Kannur District with only 2.04 Sq. K Ms, and all the others lie somewhere in the range in between. How it is practically possible to make the maps of all these village panchayats in A3 size and at the same time in a defined scale? No idea. And it seems to be hard to draw all the ward boundaries and geographical features within this fixed time-limit, in a detailed and accurate manner for this relatively large village panchayat (Area: 72.74 Sq. K Ms).
Cadastral map is a must, as we already suffered difficulties earlier when:
1. Using the watershed master plan, which was prepared without using a cadastral map, for the programmes under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in village panchayat,
2. Asked for the panchayat level cadastral map to prepare detailed watershed based masterplan for Integrated Watershed Management Programme, but we couldn't provide it.
Let it be.
We couldn't prepare a panchayat level resource map for Koorachundu village panchayat, because we don't have a base cadastral map yet. So I think, it is high time to prepare one somehow, atleast in three themes viz. Assets, Land use, and Water resources so that it can be made useful for all practical purposes which may arise in the future.
Continuous updation make a map an authentic source of information and possibilities of customisation make it reliable over time. Hard copy maps or raster images of maps have limited flexibility to update or customise. GIS or WebGIS is the best solution for this purpose. But, All the Local Self government Institutions (including village panchayats) of Kerala are restricted from preparing projects to develop a GIS or spend money for it, vide government circular available in the following link:
http://www.go.lsgkerala.gov.in/pages/fileOpen.php?fname=cr20131213_9208.pdf&... (Language: Malayalam.)
Considering all these factors, I can see more of less a deadlock condition here. Not expecting any relaxation in any of these orders/circulars within this fixed time limit. So I think about not a direct, but an alternative way to get mapped this area. OpenStreetMap would be the best solution at this point, I think. If all the necessary features here, are marked in OpenStreetMap, the geospatial data can be made available for any practical purposes including administrative, scientific and academic purposes at any time, using ETL techniques. Because I see many of the foreign academic/government firms make use of geospatial data from OpenStreetMap these days.
Can anybody help us to map this area within 29/07/2014, if we arrange a mapping party here?
Priorities to map are:
1. The geographical boundaries of Koorachundu village panchayat. 2. Existing ward boundaries (which was fixed in 2010). 2. Rivers and Streams. 3. Roads. (No need to map railway line, because it doesn't exist here.) 4. Forest area. 5. Buildings which can be used as potential polling booths. 6. All the ways/foot paths to those buildings. 7. Assets, Landuse and Water resources if possible within this time-limit.
Will this plan be accepted by the OpenStreetMap India community as a model?
If it is possible, then it will have a few advantages mainly:
1. It would be a learning experience for OpenStreetMap volunteers about this village community. 2. Hopefully can arrange the help of Kudumbashree volunteers to map this area, and that would be a learning experience for them too on OpenStreetMap. 3. The OpenStreetMap volunteers will get an opportunity to explore the Koorachundu village panchayat, within which have some scenic places, reservoirs and streams.
------------------------------------------------------ Koorachundu Village Panchayat profile ------------------------------------------------------ 1. It is a hilly village panchayat, bordering with Wayanad district. 2. The headquartes - Koorachundu is 38 Kilometers away from Kozhikode(Calicut). 2. Well connected with all-weather roads (few nooks and corners are not, still), but public transportation facilities are limited. 3. Population: 16111 (2001) 4. Area: 72.74 Square Kilometers 5. number of wards: 13. 6. Two major reservoirs (Peruvannamuzhi, and Kakkayam) and one dam (Kakkayam) are there in panchayat. 7. The Kakkayam valley tourism project is in incubator. Besides Kakkayam, there are some other scenic places in panchayat, being a hilly area. 8. Broadband internet connection will be available at the O/o village panchayat. ------------------------------------------------------
Please do comment on this idea..