Now, data on flora, fauna & forest cover at your fingertips

GURGAON: For better monitoring and conservation, a geographic information system (GIS)-based digital map of forest areas in the state is being developed by the Haryana forest department. The mobile-based application will provide three-dimensional view of any chosen forest area with relevant data -- right from demographic details to number of trees and animal species.
Officials said the application will help the forest department in monitoring forest area with limited manpower and resources, checking encroachment and settling disputes related to boundary and land use of a particular area.It will also be of great help to the forest department in conservation of the Aravalis, where most of the areas are not recorded as forest and are under constant threat from realtors.
"The system will have multi-layer data from demographic details of area to biodiversity mapping, details of tree species, soil, rainfall, boundary and many more," Conservator of forests (south circle) MD Sinha told TOI on Tuesday.
"After the development of the system, officials can go to any area and get any details required from the mobile-based app. Even in case of an aerial survey over the forest area, all the information pertaining to a particular spot can be provided on mobile. This will be help in better understanding and planning," he added.
Conservator of forests (research) Vinod Kumar said the system will have multiple benefits. "It will be helpful in settling boundary disputes of forest area, without digging records. Boundary can be identified in seconds just by standing at a given place with mobile loaded with this application," said Kumar, adding it will be helpful in checking encroachment, monitoring of plantation sites etc. Moreover, it will bring in transparency in the system and data of this application will be admissible in a court of law, officials said.
Based on the data captured on the application in case of a fire or an encroachment, the location of the specific area can be identified and administrative unit can generate report along with the map at just a click, officials said.
Besides senior officials can keep a track on field officers, using this application. "Based on the auto-tracking record of the mobile application, higher officials can keep a tab on the activities of field officials -- like if they have visited the forest area at a particular time or not," said officials, adding the system will also provide administrative forest-related details like division, range, beat, compartment and reaches.