Geoportal Platforms for Sustainable Management of Natural Resources

Abstract

AbstractGeoportals are being considered as robust and innovative platforms for spatial data assimilation, analysis, management, visualization, and dissemination of geospatial information. Web-based geoportal acts as a gateway to visualize and disseminate diversified thematic databases and information derived from various sources and field surveys along with the metadata with respect to geographic data and services. The emerging geoportal platforms have redefined the efficient planning, monitoring, and sustainable management of natural resources. Geoportals developed with diversified geospatial databases by adopting open data standards facilities to develop interoperable services. This chapter aimed to discuss the evolution of geoportal platforms with reference to Bhoomi geoportal, its services, and potential applications in natural resource management. In India, ICAR-National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (NBSS&LUP) has developed Bhoomi geoportal as a robust platform to provide various thematic services on land and allied resources as Web Map Service (WMS) to access, query, visualize, and disseminate the information to the users. Bhoomi geoportal offers various WMS on terrain characteristics, vegetation dynamics, agro-ecology, soils, land degradation, crop suitability, and cross-domain applications in natural resources management. The challenges associated with geoportals are development of robust functionalities, services, and applications to leverage the big data in meeting the user demands. Development of cross-domain applications, geospatial data analysis, innovative query modules, and visualization tools are some of the important future thrust areas of geoportal platforms for sustainable management of natural resources and location-specific agricultural planning.KeywordsGeoportalNatural resources managementService oriented architectureWeb map services