IIT-K starts course in Geodesy - Measuring the Earth

Kanpur, Dec 22 (IANS) The Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) has announced the launch of a new course - Diploma of IIT (D-IIT) in Geodesy which is the science of measuring the Earth.The D-IIT programme will be offered by the department of civil engineering in three broad areas. These include - Geodesy, navigation and mapping and remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS).The science of Geodesy has applications in monitoring earthquake, volcanic, landslide and weather hazard recognition and response; soil health, water resources, and drought surveillance; climate change including monitoring the polar ice cover; oil spill clean-ups; GPS timing and autonomous vehicle development.With the support from the government's department of science and technology, IIT-K has recently established the National Centre for Geodesy (NCG) with Professor Onkar Dikshit, from the Department of Civil Engineering as its coordinator and supported with the experience of Dr B Nagarajan (Chairman, National Geodesy Programme) and Prof Balaji Devaraju.The NCG is the first of its kind in the country to support education and research in Geodesy.Chairman Board of Governors, IIT-K, Dr Radhakrishnan said: "The D-IIT programmes launched at IIT-K will raise the national capability in Geodesy and navigation and mapping besides impelling advance data analytics into remote sensing and GIS."Director, IIT-K, Prof Abhay Karandikar said: "Geodesy is an area where well-qualified technical human resources, research activities, and geodetic infrastructure are required at the national level."He said: "The NCG has been established to enhance expertise in Geodesy and allied areas. The Centre's primary aim is to act as a hub of excellence in teaching and research in Geodesy, both at the national and the international level."He further said: "The area of Geodesy, has wide-ranging applications from vehicle navigation, location-based services involving search and advertisement to solving broader issues related to climate studies, military applications, and large-scale mapping of natural and agricultural resources and disaster studies."The new course will be open to candidates from different backgrounds with requirements as for the M.Tech/MS(R) programme of Geoinformatics with specialisation in civil engineering.However, for the D-IIT programme, the GATE requirement is waived for working professionals.
--IANS amita/pgh