Saint GIS

Geography or GIS for that matter has never been so closer to our lives. Citizens and Planners of our country have never had so much insight into the lives of the people: Where they live, How they live and What they do? Thanks to GIS for having opened their eyes to this new era of Geospatial Democracy. “Maps speak subtle and surprising truth”. But surprisingly in a country like India, the world’s largest democracy, maps have always been confined to geographers and planners. The hoi polloi, who constitute the basic tenets of democracy, have always been silently and safely ignored in most of our planning processes and kept away from accessing the geospatial data. Among the greatest shortcomings of Indian democracy is the citizens being denied the information they need to make meaningful choices. With the enactment of Freedom of Information Act, 2002: An Act to provide for freedom to every citizen to secure access to information under the control of public authorities, consistent with publ

GIS IS IN MY BLOOD! S.Raghavendran1 1 GIS Analyst Email: srg_gis@yahoo.com Give Me Blood! I Promise You Freedom!! This was the call by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at a rally of Indians in Burma, July 4, 1944 during India’s struggle for independence. Now we stand in an IT dominant era with tech savvy society, where most things happen at the click of a mouse. Phone calls to friends and relatives with a great deal of anxiety are quite common during medical emergencies arising out of accidents or illness or other such medical conditions. Any help from unknown quarters comes as a big relief. But one is often caught scrambling during such critical times for much-needed information, the information regarding blood donors. Those looking out for blood donors during such medical emergencies would understand the nightmare of not getting the required information at the appropriate time. Everyday thousands of lives are lost for want of blood at the appropriate time. When lives are at stake, every s