Satellites and drones are doing some heavy lifting in urban slums in India. The aerial devices are mapping informal settlements to speed up delivery of land titles and services to some 200,000 households, according to a recent report by Thomson Reuters Foundation News.
“Understanding human settlement patterns in rapidly urbanizing cities is important because of the stress on civic resources and public utilities,” Nikhil Kaza, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina, is quoted as saying by Reuters. “Geospatial analysis can help identify stress zones, and allow civic authorities to focus their efforts in localized areas.”
It could also provide data needed to address poverty. “Lack of information on the nature and diversity of informal settlements is an important limitation in developing appropriate policies aimed at improving the lives of the urban poor,” Anirudh Krishna, a professor at Duke University, is quoted as saying by Reuters. [news.trust.org]
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