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130 PIONEERING A NEW FUTURE
L-R: A map being release by the Minister of Science and Technology Dr Harsh Vardhan
A drone taking off
GNSS observation at West End S
SOI conducting survey work on Rihand Dam project
Continuously Operating Reference Station
Below: 24-inch astronomical instrument - Zenith Sector - designed by Sir George Everest
with the best practices prevalent in other leading countries of the world.
The annual tide tables published by the Survey of India have tide predictions upto one year in advance. These have provided crucial information required for navigation of ships near ports, both for merchant ships and for Indian Navy.
The training institute of Survey of India has not only met the training requirements of officers and the staff of Survey of India, but has also conducted trainings to meet the geo-spatial requirements of other Central/State government organizations, private individuals and other Afro-Asian countries. It has played a pivotal role in building the geo- spatial capabilities of survey organizations of neighbouring countries like Bhutan and Nepal.
SUCCESS STORIES
The Great Indian Arc Expedition: The Great Indian Arc of the meridian was the longest measurement of the earth’s surface ever to have been attempted. Its 1600 miles of inch-perfect survey took nearly fifty years, cost more lives than most contemporary wars and involved equations more complex than any in the pre computer age, and hailed as one of the most perilous. William Lambton, an endearing genius conceived the idea,
and started the work on 10 April 1802. Sir George Everest completed it, in the year 1841. This effort defines a coordinate system (Everest System)
on which the entire mapping of the country was based till 2005 when it was replaced by WGS84 coordinate system.
Identification of World’s Highest Peak: The highest peak of the world, initially designated as peak XV, and finally named Mount Everest, was first observed in 1847. Further observations were done between 1849-50 and on 1 March 1856 Surveyor General named the peak Mount Everest.
Great Indian Explorers: Tibet was a mystic land closed to the Europeans but still open to Indians, Capt. TG Montgomerie visualized the important role that Indians could play in charting that unknown country by travelling in the garb
of tradesmen and mendicants. On his suggestion, Colonel Walker engaged two pandit brothers – Pandit Nain Singh and Pandit Kishen Singh – who were trained in the use of sextant compass and hypsometer. From 1865 to 1892, different explorers carried out a number of exploratory expeditions in the upper reaches of the Himalayas.