Wetlands Meaning In Punjabi
Jackie Bullinger
Many different types of information can be compared and contrasted using GIS. The system can include data about people, such as population, income, or education level. It can include information about the landscape, such as the location of streams, different kinds of vegetation, and different kinds of soil. It can include information about the sites of factories, farms, and schools, or storm drains, roads, and electric power lines.
With GIS technology, people can compare the locations of different things in order to discover how they relate to each other. For example, using GIS, a single map could include sites that produce pollution, such as factories, and sites that are sensitive to pollution, such as wetlands and rivers. Such a map would help people determine where water supplies are most at risk.
Cartographic data are already in map form, and may include such information as the location of rivers, roads, hills, and valleys. Cartographic data may also include survey data and mapping information that can be directly entered into a GIS.
Finally, GIS can also include data in table or spreadsheet form, such as population demographics. Demographics can range from age, income, and ethnicity to recent purchases and internet browsing preferences.
GIS technology allows all these different types of information, no matter their source or original format, to be overlaid on top of one another on a single map. GIS uses location as the key index variable to relate these seemingly unrelated data.
Putting information into GIS is called data capture. Data that are already in digital form, such as most tables and images taken by satellites, can simply be uploaded into GIS. Maps, however, must first be scanned, or converted to digital format.
The two major types of GIS file formats are raster and vector. Raster formats are grids of cells or pixels. Raster formats are useful for storing GIS data that vary, such as elevation or satellite imagery. Vector formats are polygons that use points (called nodes) and lines. Vector formats are useful for storing GIS data with firm borders, such as school districts or streets.
GIS technology can be used to display spatial relationships and linear networks. Spatial relationships may display topography, such as agricultural fields and streams. They may also display land-use patterns, such as the location of parks and housing complexes.
Linear networks, sometimes called geometric networks, are often represented by roads, rivers, and public utility grids in a GIS. A line on a map may indicate a road or highway. With GIS layers, however, that road may indicate the boundary of a school district, public park, or other demographic or land-use area. Using diverse data capture, the linear network of a river may be mapped on a GIS to indicate the stream flow of different tributaries.
GIS must make the information from all the various maps and sources align, so they fit together on the same scale. A scale is the relationship between the distance on a map and the actual distance on Earth.
Once all the desired data have been entered into a GIS system, they can be combined to produce a wide variety of individual maps, depending on which data layers are included. One of the most common uses of GIS technology involves comparing natural features with human activity.
With GIS technology, researchers can also look at change over time. They can use satellite data to study topics such as the advance and retreat of ice cover in polar regions, and how that coverage has changed through time. A police precinct might study changes in crime data to help determine where to assign officers.
One important use of time-based GIS technology involves creating time-lapse photography that shows processes occurring over large areas and long periods of time. For example, data showing the movement of fluid in ocean or air currents help scientists better understand how moisture and heat energy move around the globe.
GIS technology sometimes allows users to access further information about specific areas on a map. A person can point to a spot on a digital map to find other information stored in the GIS about that location. For example, a user might click on a school to find how many students are enrolled, how many students there are per teacher, or what sports facilities the school has.
GIS technology makes updating maps much easier than updating maps created manually. Updated data can simply be added to the existing GIS program. A new map can then be printed or displayed on screen. This skips the traditional process of drawing a map, which can be time-consuming and expensive.
City, state, or federal officials use GIS to help plan their response in the case of a natural disaster such as an earthquake or hurricane. GIS maps can show these officials what neighborhoods are most in danger, where to locate emergency shelters, and what routes people should take to reach safety.
Engineers use GIS technology to support the design, implementation, and management of communication networks for the phones we use, as well as the infrastructure necessary for internet connectivity. Other engineers may use GIS to develop road networks and transportation infrastructure.
There is no limit to the kind of information that can be analyzed using GIS technology.
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Earth Science Information Center
To find out more about how GIS is used in your local community, contact your nearest Earth Science Information Center (ESIC). Staff from the US Geological Survey (USGS) answer questions about aerial photographs, maps, satellite imagery, computer programs, data formats, data standards, and digital cartographic data. To contact your local ESIC, call 1-888-ASK-USGS or visit the website.
Photozincography
The labor-intensive process of photozincography anticipated GIS in the 19th century. This process used zinc plates to draft different layers of a map, and a large-process camera to combine the layers into a single image.
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Wetlands, in which water covers the soil, or is present near the surface, all year, or for varying periods during the year, are vital for human survival. They provide the water and productivity on which countless species of plants and animals depend for survival. To humanity they provide ecosystem services, like freshwater supply, food and building materials, flood control, groundwater recharge, and climate change mitigation.
Ramsar, the international convention on wetlands, says that study after study has demonstrated that the area and quality of wetlands continue to decline in most regions of the world. As a result, the ecosystem services that wetlands provide to people are being compromised.
Punjab too has its fair share of wetlands, and various initiatives are taken from time to time to develop and preserve these wetlands for posterity. In one such initiative, the state government has drawn up an ambitious plan to promote nature/eco tourism in three of its wetlands, two of which are declared Ramsar sites, meaning that they hold international importance.
LifeInChandigarh.com has learnt through authoritative sources that the plan was finalised in a recent meeting of the Punjab State Wetlands Authority, presided over by Forest and Wildlife Preservation Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak. After its approval by the state finance department, a cabinet note has been prepared. It is likely to be taken up for consideration by the state cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann.
The sources were quick to point out that the tourism initiative, involving Harike Wetland, Beas River Conservation Reserve (both of which are declared Ramsar sites) and Ranjit Sagar Wetland, will not be open to commercial tourism. It will remain strictly confined to nature/ecology lovers from across the country and abroad, so that while appreciating the flora and fauna, the fragile eco systems of these sites are not compromised.
The plan involves construction and establishment of cottages, eco lodges or dormitories for the accommodation of nature/eco tourists with dining, kitchen and toilet facilities. Also, audio visual facilities, dioramas (replicas of scenes, typically 3-dimentional), and other digital and interactive facilities will be provided in existing tourism infrastructure.
Besides, the plan involves construction of bird shelters and watch towers, providing facilities like drinking water supply, waste disposal and sanitation facilities for tourists. Transportation facilities like battery operated vehicles, bicycles and e-rickshaws will also be available for tourists. There will be a sizable presence of signages and boards for awareness generation in the designated tourism zones.
In this project, the Punjab State Wetlands Authority is working closely with a technical committee, the district wetland committees and knowledge partners like WWF-India. Consultants will be hired as and when required. It will be executed by the Punjab Department of Forests and Wildlife Preservation, District Wetland Committees and other stakeholder departments like Water Resources, Fisheries, Agriculture, Soil, etc. External stakeholders, like subject experts or people with required technology, may also be involved.
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