My special webinar talk about 'GIS Applications for Smart Agriculture-Case Studies & Research Prospects’ is a part of the webinar series on October 31st, 2020 organized by the TGISlab, a GIS Consultancy that is an initiative to fill the gap in GIS/Remote Sensing field to aware people about space technology for Earth Science & its applications. TGISLab works on different GIS Applications work and offers training/webinars/workshops to a wider community. It is based at Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India.

1. Aditya Allamraju
GIS Applications for Smart Agriculture-Case Studies &
Research Prospects.
Ms. ADITYA ALLAMRAJU
IEEE GRSS Ambassador

2. Today’s Webinar
Reg Link: https://www.tgis.co.in/index.php/upcoming-workshops/

3. TAKEAWAY FROM THIS TALK
1. Overview of Geospatial Technology
2. Basics of sustainable development & sustainable environment
3. Sustainable development goals (SDGs) & its significance.
4. Potential of EO data in Agriculture
5. Potential Application of Remote Sensing in Agriculture
6. Different Use Cases of GIS and Remote Sensing in Agriculture

4. GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGY
An important aspect of a GIS is its ability to assemble the range of geospatial data into a layered set
of maps which allow complex themes to be analyzed and then communicated to wider audiences.
This ‘layering’ is enabled by the fact that all such data includes information on its precise location on
the surface of the Earth, hence the term ‘geospatial’.

5. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
 There are 17 sustainable development goals with 169 targets in contrast to the 8
Millennium Development Goals with 21 targets.
 The complex challenges that exist in the world today demand that a wide range of
issues is covered. It is, also, critical to address the root causes of the problems and not
only of the symptoms.

6. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT : 5 P’s 5 P’S
People living in the Planet with Partnership brings peace and prosperity.

7. 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Satellite data has a role to play in relation to most of
the 17 Goals and around a quarter of the Targets.

8. GOAL ❷: End hunger, Achieve Food Security ,Improved
Nutrition & Promote Sustainable Agriculture
Five Principles- Attaining sustainable agriculture and food security
 Improving efficiency in the use of resources
 Conserving, protecting and enhancing natural ecosystems
 Protecting and improving rural livelihoods and social well-being
 Enhancing the resilience of people, communities and ecosystems
 Promoting good governance of both natural and human systems

9. SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
 A traditional system of agriculture in which long-term trend in output are positive and
no threat to fragile ecosystem.
 Significant advancements have been made in reducing hunger through :
1.Intensifying staple food production,
2.Integrating people and the environment,
3.Expanding the role of markets,
4.Diversifying out of major cereals,
5.Reforming economy-wide policies,
6.Improving food quality and human nutrition

10. What Sustainable Agriculture Needs & Goals

11. Potential of EO data in Agriculture

12. Role of EO data in sustainable agriculture
 Satellite data can be useful in this respect: They deliver information about the growth
performance of field crops, for example. This knowledge allows optimizing the use of
fertilizer to protect the ground water more efficiently since too much mineral fertilizer
can result in excessive nitrate content in our drinking water.
 The data from space also allow drought-related crop failures to be assessed at an early
stage. This is particularly important for farmers in poorer countries.

13. Derived Geospatial Information Services

14. Geospatial technologies have multiple applications aimed to strengthen food security, those
can be used for:
 Improving Disaster Risk Reduction strategies
 Enhancing Early Warning Mechanism
 Monitoring forest and land degradation
 Monitoring activities related to livestock and fisheries
 Monitoring water quality
 Assessing crops yields, providing more reliable data for assurance and access to credit
 Elaborating management maps, thereby enabling farmers to use pesticides, fertilizers
and general resources in a more sustainable and effective way

15. Potential Application of Remote Sensing in
Agriculture

16. Crop Monitoring-Potential of EO data

17. Bridging the Yield Gap: What EO can promise

18. USE CASES

21. GEO PROGRAM
GEO is the international program focused on the use of Earth Observations for Societal
Benefit.
• GEOGLAM is GEO’s Agricultural initiative

23. EO products used in Crop Condition
Monitoring

24. USDA FAS Crop Explorer

29. EO data for agricultural insurance
Remote sensing of Index insurance – a type of agricultural insurance
- is based on yield loss data, instead of individual, on-farm insurer
visits. This makes agricultural insurance more accessible to
smallholders Different remote sensing approaches, dedicated
mapping tools, and ground level sources of data and information be
combined to improve the quality of index insurance structures.
The satellite-enabled services in conjunction with ground data, to
support farmers in India include weather forecasting, agro-advisory,
agro-met services, soil moisture and agricultural extension activities
to support farming operations in the country by India Meteorology
Department (IMD), Ministry of Earth Sciences.

30. Satellites Designed for Benefit of Farmers

31. Precision Agriculture Mapping
 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools and online web resources can help farmers
to conduct crop forecasting and manage their agriculture production by utilizing
multispectral imagery collected by Satellites, fix wing Aircraft or Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles (UAV's) and processed to provide NDVI and other vegetation soil indices, to
identify crop stress. This data is used in regional GIS or CAD management systems and
web portals. The ability of GIS to analyze and visualize agricultural environments and
workflows has proven to be very beneficial to those involved in the farming industry.

36. Base Layers & Thematic Data Information
S. No. Tool Web Address Type Category Salient Features
1 GADM http://gadm.org Human
Geography
Administrative
Boundaries
Spatial data on administrative boundaries of
different countries are available in shape file,
geodatabase, KMZ and RData format.
2 Gridded Population of
the World (GPW)
http://sedac.ciesin.colu
mbia.edu/data/collecti
on/gpw-v4
Human
Geography
Population Provides population estimates for the years
2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020. The GPW
data collection provides openly-available,
licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0
3 MODIS Global Land
Cover
http://visibleearth.nasa.
gov/view.php?id=6100
4
Global Land Cover Global land cover data in 1Km and 4Km from
MODIS.
4 Harmonized World Soil
Database
http://webarchive.iiasa.
ac.at/Research/LUC/E
xternal-World-soil-
database/HTML/index.
html?sb=1
Global Ecology Regional and national level soil database
generated under LUC programme of FAO. The
spatial data is available resolution of 30 arc-
second.
5 Open Street Map http://www.geofabrik.d
e/data/download.html
Human
Geography
Buildings, Roads
and Points of
Interest
OSM is a collaborative project to create a free
editable map of the world. Contributors use
aerial imagery, GPS devices, and low-tech field
maps to verify that OSM is accurate and up to
date.
6 Gateway to Indian Earth
Observation
Bhuvan Geoportal
http://bhuvan.nrsc.gov.
in/data/download/inde
x.php
India General Online geo-visualization, data download and
thematic services for variety of EO
applications. Also offers various tools and
services to analyse the geo-data.

37. Data Visualization, Analysis & Collection
ta Visualization, Analysis & Collection
S. No. Web
Portal
Web Address Coverage Category Salient Features
1 Bhuvan https://bhuvan-
app1.nrsc.gov.in/bhuvandi
saster/
India Natural Disasters Portal provides space based information on major natural
disasters apart from other events as data processed apart
from 3D visualization
2 Google Earth
Engine (GEE)
https://earthengine.google.
com/
Global Engine GEE combines a multi-petabyte catalog of satellite imagery
and geospatial datasets with planetary-scale analysis
capabilities to detect changes, map trends, and quantify
differences on the Earth's surface.
3 Global
Surface Water
Explorer
https://global-surface-
water.appspot.com/map
Global Thematic Layers Maps location & temporal distribution of water surfaces at
global scale over the past 3.5 decades, & provides statistics
on their extent and change to support better informed
decision-making
4 UN-ASIGN
Crowd
https://www.arcgis.com/ap
ps/webappviewer/
Global Application Facilitates collection of photos, assessments, and geo-located
text messaging in the field, works over low bandwidth.

38. FURTHER READING
1. D. R. Satapathy, Y. B. Katpatal & S. R. Wate (2008) Application of geospatial technologies for environmental impact
assessment: an Indian Scenario, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 29:2, 355-
386, DOI: 10.1080/01431160701269002
2. Elsa João & Alexandra Fonseca (1996) THE ROLE OF GIS IN IMPROVING ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
EFFECTIVENESS: THEORY VS. PRACTICE, Impact Assessment, 14:4, 371-
387, DOI: 10.1080/07349165.1996.9725913
3. Wilson Eedy (1995) THE USE OF GIS IN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT, Impact Assessment, 13:2, 199-
206, DOI: 10.1080/07349165.1995.9726090
4. https://www.aaas.org/programs/scientific-responsibility-human-rights-law/overview-geospatial-project
5. https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/what-is-environmental-sustainability-and-sustainable-development.php
6. www.iirs.gov.in
7. http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/academics/geospatial-center-of-the-cuny-crest-institute/what-is-geospatial-technology/

39. 39

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Services

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44. THANK YOU
Aditya Allamraju
https://www.linkedin.com/in/aditya-allamraju/
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aditya_Allamraju