Mapping : Opening of 7,00,000+ Rural Points of Interests Data

[naveenpf]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Harsh Nisar
Date: Saturday, 21 November, 2020 at 10:49:52 am UTC+5:30
Subject: ANN: Opening of 7,00,000+ Rural Points of Interests Data
To: datameet

Hello all,

ANN: PMGSY has opened data for about 7,00,000 geo-tagged rural facilities across India.

The data was collected to help plan road investments in PMGSY-III. It was collected over the last year and counting. Depending on which state's data you download either the survey activity is completed or still under-process.

The list of facilities which were to be surveyed as per guidelines of the scheme can be seen on Pg 37 of the PMGSY-III Guidelines (https://pmgsy.nic.in/sites/default/files/PMGSY_III_guidelines.pdf)

Eg. High Schools, Higher Secondary Schools, Vet Hospitals, PHCs, CHCs, Bedded Hospitals, Bus Stands, Block HQs, Panchayat HQs, Banks, Fuel Stations, Cold Storages, Agro Industries, Pack Houses, Collection Centres etc.

Data opened includes name of facility, address, category, sub-category and lat/long.

Some context:
While a common android application was used for this data collection there was no in-depth centralized training/SOP for how the data was to be collected and states were given freedom to interpret the definition of the facilities which need to be surveyed as long as they met the overarching categories and goals. Eg. Some states would have considered privately owned facilities as well for certain categories or would have interpreted bus-stands to include taxi-stands if that's the only relevant means of transport or not considered weekly haats for agro-markets etc. There is no documentation for these variations. Once the survey is completed in a Block it won't be updated in the future.

Even within a state you'll find variation because different divisions may have undertaken the survey independently with different levels of completeness, intent and accuracy. No standard mobile was used and GPS accuracy will vary from place to place. Further, the surveyors could be either on contract or government engineers. Treating it as a census may lead to claims of little substance.

Nevertheless, it was a massive exercise and hopefully of some secondary use as well.

License is Open Data License - India (s/o Naveen Francis) and you can download data for one state at a time. Other disclaimers are on the website.

Link: http://omms.nic.in Other Reports -> Facility Details

PS. Any pointers on how to collect citation metrics for this dataset are appreciated. It may help create a case for future such attempts to open data.

Regards,
Harsh Nisar

[naveenpf]

Frequently Asked Questions about PMGSY Rural Facilities Dataset 2020
http://omms.nic.in/Home/PMGSYRuralDataset/

[naveenpf]

bkamapantula/pmgsy/

@bkamapantula

[bkamapantula]

thanks @naveenpf, noted