National Geoscience Data Repository Portal

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Context

• The Union Ministry of Mines is to launch the National Geoscience Data Repository (NGDR) Portal on 19th December 2023 in a ceremony in New Delhi.

About National Geoscience Data Repository Portal

• It is an extensive web-based tool for geospatial data access, sharing, and analysis in India.
• The Geological Survey of India (GSI) and the Bhaskaracharya Institute of Space Applications and Geoinformatics (BISAG-N) led the NGDR effort.
• It is a major step towards democratising important geoscience data, giving academics and industry stakeholder’s unparalleled access to priceless resources.

Key Facts about Geological Survey of India

• The primary goal of the Geological Survey of India (GSI), founded in 1851, was to locate coal reserves for the railways.
• As time has gone on, GSI has not only expanded into a national repository for geoscience data needed in a variety of sectors, but it has also gained recognition as a reputable geoscientific organisation worldwide.
• Its primary responsibilities include mineral resource evaluation and the creation and upgrading of national geoscientific data.
• The main responsibility of GSI is to provide current, unbiased, and objective geological expertise as well as geoscientific information of all types, with an emphasis on the demands of business, society, and policymakers.
• The GSI also places a strong emphasis on the methodical recording of all surface and subsurface geological processes in India and its offshore regions. The firm uses the newest and most economical tools and approaches to carry out this task through geological, geophysical, and geochemical studies.
• The Ministry of Mines' affiliated office is called GSI.
• Head Office: Kolkata
• Its state unit offices are dispersed throughout nearly every state in the nation, and its six regional offices are situated in Lucknow, Jaipur, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Shillong, and Kolkata.

About BISAG-N

• Ministry: MeitY, Government of India. (Indian Bureau of Mines)
• At present, BISAG is a state agency of the Department of Science and Technology Government of Gujarat, located at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
• Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics [BISAG (N)] is an Autonomous Scientific Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, of 1860.
• Objective: to undertake technology development & and management, research & and development, facilitate National and international cooperation, capacity building and support technology transfer & and entrepreneurship development in the area of geo-spatial technology.
• BISAG has implemented GIS and geospatial technologies for major Ministries and almost all States.
• For this purpose, geo-spatial science (GIS Remote Sensing, Image Processing, Photogrammetry, GPS, Cell Phone etc.), Information Science Systems (MIS, Database, ERP, Project Management, Web, Artificial Intelligence etc.) and Mathematics Science Systems (Geometry, Fluid, Mechanics, Trigonometry, Algebra etc.) have been integrated in-house by BISAG.