Abstract

Toward development of an Uttarakhand geoportal for decentralised governance in Uttarakhand
Web-accessible geo-database is an important requirement in sharing of up-to-date geo-spatial data. The primary goal of such a geo-database is to effectively manage geospatial data and related metadata so as to facilitate their delivery to the end-users through a web-user interface called a GeoPortal. Working as a data clearinghouse, the geoportal acts as a gateway to a network of geo-spatial data repositories. Geoportal also acts as a single window gateway to an extensive metadata catalog to help discover available data. Decentralized governance requires access to a wide variety of geo-spatial data. In view of the utility of a web-accessible geo-database in decentralized planning, the Kumaun University, with technical and financial support of the Department of Science and Technology Government of India has launched the initiative to develop geo-database and a GeoPortal to provide a decision support in the governance in the state of Uttarakhand. A bottom to top approach, starting from district, has been adopted to develop geo- database of the State as per users geographic information needs. The present paper reports brief history of development of Uttarakhand SDI; outline of SDI of already completed five districts of Uttarakhand; and details of future work plan including development of a permanent work mechanism for SDI maintenance for decentralized governance in Uttarakhand through g-Governance.