“Buy local”is big when it comes to fruits and vegetables,but it’s also a popular sentiment when it comes to technology and software. So,India is very excited about homegrown IGiS,“a completely indigenous seamless geomatics application,which includes geographical information system (GIS),image processing and its integration with the real time information,using the global positioning system (GPS).”The system took seven years to build and the impetus was to cut costs by avoiding the purchase of expensive software from overseas. Ramesh Sojitra,Managing Director of Scanpoint,the company who built it in partnership with ISRO,said,“By using the IGiS,a cost saving of up to 40 percent can be achieved.”Sojitra is a bit of a hero;the launch of his software prompted an article about how he got to his current position.
