Need for pan-India compatibility of geospatial databases in terms of map projections and parameters

Abstract

The present study is taken up to record variations in the extent of area of two polygons—(i) a ground measured area of a university campus, (ii) enclosing the Ganga basin—and to examine the changes in both shape and area of another (iii) polygon covering India under different map projections with various parameters. The exercise brought forth interesting results. Depending on final ranks worked out based on minimum differences in extent of areas and shape distortion in the case of India, it is suggested to adopt either (i) Lambert Conformal Conical (LCC) projection with Everest India-Nepal datum, First Standard Parallel (FSP) 24.50, Second Standard Parallel (SSP) 28.50, Latitude of Origin (LO) 16.253259, Central Meridian (CM) 80.8749 or (ii) LCC projection with WGS 84 datum, FSP 24.50, SSP 28.50, LO 16.253259, CM 80.8749 or (iii) Polyconic with Everest India-Nepal datum, CM 84.50, LO 13.00, for mapping both smaller areas on larger scales and larger areas on smaller scales.