Bhoo-Mandal Talk on June 18, 2021
Talk Title: Data-Driven Decision Making: Applications of GIS and Remote Sensing in Governance and Planning
Speaker: Mr. Raj Bhagat Palanichamy, World Resources Institute (WRI) India
Time: June 18, 2021 (Friday) at 5 pm IST
Venue: [Virtual talk on Zoom Webinar]
Abstract:
This talk focuses on the concept of “Data-driven Decision Making” and how GIS and remote sensing are being applied and adopted by WRI India’s GeoAnalytics Team. Even though the application of geospatial data and analysis in our planning and governance process has been increasing over time, there have been shortcomings primarily because the analytics are not focused on the problem and are instead designed as a demonstration of the technology. There are other problems such as data deficiency, opacity, lack of capacity that are plaguing the adoption of these technologies. This presentation, after a brief explanation of the concept of data-driven decision making, touches upon the philosophies and key concepts behind designing an effective application-oriented geospatial analysis that would address the problems and questions. The philosophies are based on experiences gathered while working in a challenging environment and were refined through stakeholder interactions. The final part of the presentation would provide samples of how geo-analytics ranging from simple visualizations to complex machine learning algorithms have been used to influence the decision-making process over the last few years.
Speaker Biography:
Raj Bhagat Palanichamy is a Senior Manager in the Sustainable Cities program of World Resources Institute-India. He is a post-graduate from the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (Indian Space Research Organization) and The University of Twente, The Netherlands where his research was specialized in Earth Observation and Geo-Informatics. He holds a graduate degree in Civil Engineering from St.Xavier’s Catholic College of Engineering which is affiliated to Anna University, Chennai.
With a background in GIS, Remote Sensing, and Civil Engineering, Raj has been supporting multiple projects of WRI India in the fields of Urban Development, Water Resources, and Transport since 2015. His research in these fields is used to inform local, state, and union governments in various issues, where Raj has been assisting them to adopt data-driven approaches in their planning processes through capacity building. Prior to joining WRI India, Raj had been working with multiple consultants in the private sector and as a freelancer in the themes of geospatial analysis and modeling.
Raj’s current portfolio of projects includes monitoring and understanding the characteristics of Urbanization in India, their effects on ecosystems, mapping the economic geography across multiple urban regions of India, flood simulation models for forecasting and planning, automated systems for monitoring quantity and quality aspects of surface water, and a tool for cities’ water assessment.