GIS

Survey to determine highest mountain peak begins

Survey of Bangladesh has taken initiative to determine the country’s highest peak. It will conduct survey in the Ruma and Thanchi upazilas of Bandarban district. The survey conducted using modern geodetic methods and advanced GNSS technology. International standards to determine the height of the country’s highest peak above mean sea level (MSL) were followed. Through the use of a newly developed Geoid Model, it will be possible to accurately convert ellipsoid heights obtained from GNSS receivers into mean sea level (MSL) elevations of the mountain peaks. www.dhakatribune.com

Busan extends Digital Twin partnership with LX

Busan Metropolitan City is extending its partnership with Korea Land and Geospatial Informatix Corporation (LX) by three years to strengthen its digital twin-based urban management capabilities.

The city plans to accelerate digital transformation across administrative and citizen services based on pilot project outcomes. Based on the existing agreement, both organizations successfully won the 2024 “Digital Twin Pilot Zone Development” public competition. The administrative and public service platforms currently operate on LX’s cloud servers. Busan plans to use Busanjingu, the pilot zone, as a hub to expand digital twin technology across the entire city.

The city also strengthened the public nature of its platforms. Busan registered trademark usage rights for its citizenfacing platform “1365 Twin,” blocking commercial use and clarifying its status as a public service. Busan plans to improve user manuals and case studies to increase citizen accessibility and expand its digital twin-based safety service model nationwide. https://en.sedaily.com

FSI stalls AI-based alerts on deforestation to States

The Forest Survey of India (FSI), which is responsible for the assessment and monitoring of the country’s forest cover, has not issued fortnightly alerts to States on deforestation activities since October 2025 and no data has been updated since then, according to the Anavaran-Deforestation Alert System portal. Since January 2024, the portal has been functioning by combining satellite imagery and machine-learning techniques to help FSI detect changes in forest cover. FSI used to send locationspecific alerts to State authorities every 15 days about areas where forest cover may have declined, allowing officials to conduct focused on-ground inspections in those locations. https://dailypioneer.com

Marine Spatial Planning framework launched in Puducherry, India

Puducherry has launched the country’s first Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) framework as part of a pact under the Indo-Norway Integrated Ocean Initiative, to balance growth alongside sustainable management of ocean resources and coastal environment preservation.

Puducherry and Lakshadweep were chosen as coastlines to pilot the MSP initiative that grew out of a 2019 memorandum of understanding that envisaged India and Norway collaborating on implementing MSP in the oceanic space. The beta version of the MSP for the Union Territory was put together in a collaborative exercise involving the Norwegian Environment Agency, the Ministry of Earth Sciences, the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, the Puducherry Coastal Zone Management Authority and Department of Science, Technology and Environment, Puducherry.

According to Lt. Governor, there was no scientific mapping that showed that roughly 50 per cent of Puducherry’s 42 km coastline was vulnerable to moderate to severe sea erosion. She further hoped for continued Norwegian support for the MSP-guided development of a “blue economy” in Puducherry, which had marine resources and a significant fishers community. www.nccr.gov.in