On 25 November 2025, the Department of Civil Engineering, BITS Pilani, in collaboration with the Survey of India – Rajasthan Geospatial Directorate, hosted an exciting workshop that brought together students, research scholars, and faculty from Civil, CS, EE, and Physics.

The session opened with a warm welcome by Prof. Dipendu Bhunia (Ph.D, Aff.M ASCE, L.M.ICI) (HOD, Civil Engineering), followed by a special gesture as the Survey of India team presented detailed geospatial maps of Rajasthan, including CORS network and benchmark datasets, to senior faculty members.
📡 Key Highlights
✅ A power-packed technical talk by Shri Rohit Agrawal, Superintending Surveyor & Director, SOI-RGD
✅ Insights into:
High-precision mapping
National Geoid Model development
CORS infrastructure for centimeter-level accuracy
✅ Announcement of upcoming National Geospatial Policy initiatives, enabling academic access to SOI datasets
✅ MoU between BITS Pilani & Survey of India currently in progress
🚁 Drone Demonstration
The workshop concluded with a thrilling Trinity VTOL Drone demo at the BITS Rotunda—showcasing live flight planning, take-off, landing, and high-resolution imaging for 3D campus mapping.
👏 Special Thanks
To the Dr Sudhirkumar V Barai, Director, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus and Prof. V Ramgopal Rao , Vice-Chancellor, BITS Pilani, for their continued support, and to Prof. Sanchari Thakur for coordinating the event. Gratitude to the Survey of India delegates and all participants for making the workshop a grand success.
This marks the beginning of a promising long-term geospatial collaboration between BITS Pilani and the Survey of India! 🚀
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