The Indian government is set to ramp up its drone-based rural land mapping programme, which will leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to gain more accurate information on property boundaries, water bodies, and more. Launched in 2020, the ‘Survey of Villages Abadi and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas’ (SVAMITVA) programme aims to provide an integrated property validation solution for rural India. The initiative also focuses on demarcating inhabited land to create accurate land records, reduce land disputes, and ensure clear ownership.
AI Integration and Data Mining
To enhance the program, the government also plans to deploy artificial intelligence for automatic data extraction, targeting features such as property boundaries, water bodies and road networks from drone images.
For training the AI mining model, the government will provide access to a drone dataset of 300 villages, along with other SVAMITVA data. The drone data, which has an accuracy of up to 5 cm, is currently stored in the cloud at the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in Hyderabad.
Precision and methodology
In a call for tenders issued to interested agencies, the government is seeking a 95% accuracy rate for data extraction. Agencies are recommended to use convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for image/object recognition and classification, and deep learning models like Mask R-CNN or U-Net for image segmentation.
Project Schedule and Scope
The government has set a deadline of two months from the selection of the agency for the development of the new AI model. The government also aims to cover 10,000 km² per week for data extraction.
The NIC will also play a crucial role in quality assurance and monitoring throughout the project.
Benefits of SVAMITVA program
The SVAMITVA project will facilitate the demarcation of inhabited rural lands, leveraging drone technology. This will contribute to the creation of accurate land records and the reduction of land conflicts, by ensuring clear ownership and facilitating the issuance of property cards to landowners.
In addition, it provides a “register of rights” for village house owners, allowing them to use their property as a financial asset to obtain loans and other benefits from banks.
Building AI capabilities in India
The move comes at a time when the government is focusing on strengthening the country’s AI capabilities through policies like the Rs 10,732-crore IndiaAI Mission.
READ ALSO : Microsoft steps down from OpenAI board observer role to avoid antitrust concerns
