ABOUT IRS

Anna University blossomed to its present status from a humble beginning in 1978, as the first ‘Survey School’ in the country to produce land surveyors The Institute of Remote Sensing (IRS) was established in 1982 by Anna University with the funds provided by the Government of Tamil Nadu IRS is the State Remote Sensing Application Centre for the Government of Tamil Nadu. From its establishment back in 1982 to recent times, the infrastructural facilities at IRS have seen outstanding developments primarily through development grants received mainly from Ministry of Human Resources Development, University Grants Commission, Federal Republic of Germany, Government of India and Department of Agriculture of Government of Tamil Nadu.

Institute of Remote Sensing, Anna University, Chennai, is one of the best of its kind in providing quality education, exposure and facilities in the fields of Remote Sensing, GIS and Large- Scale Mapping. It is one of the very few institutes in India providing undergraduate B E degree in Geoinformatics, along with postgraduate and PhD programmes too IRS has been transferring Remote Sensing and Geoinformation Technology to Government Departments and various users through Pilot Projects/ Operational Projects.

The Institute functions as an autonomous unit of Anna University, governed by an executive committee headed by the Vice-Chancellor and the recurring grants for maintenance are provided by the Government of Tamil Nadu As an externally assisted project, Federal Republic of Germany has provided assistance worth 7 million DM towards equipment, exchange of staff and for conducting a 4year engineering Under-Graduate program, B.E. (Geoinformatics). The Royal Norwegian emphasis as a part of Indo Norwegian Institutional Cooperation Programme has supported the institute to a tune of 1 1 crores for selected research projects and infrastructure development IRS is also a member of UNGGIM Network (The United Nations initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management).

The Institute has always aimed at producing skilful Geomatics Engineers, capable of operating in the industry as well as continuing research. With a versatile and diverse set of alumni, IRS stands as the finest hub of Geoinformatics in the country, with notable recognition across globe.

The Institute of Remote Sensing (IRS), Anna University, focusses on Remote Sensing and GIS and its crucial role towards real-world problem solving A component of IRS that helps fulfil the institute’s visionary objectives is the Society of Geoinformatics Engineers (SGE) Founded in 2004, the Society of Geoinformatics Engineers is the face of IRS. SGE is a culmination of a diverse community of students, professors, faculty members and the alumni network SGE aims at inculcating the momentousness of Geoinformatics and giving adequate exposure to students It follows a holistic approach by not only focussing on Remote Sensing and GIS courses, but provides students the opportunity to utilise their Geoinformatics skills into practical applications . SGE has portrayed the vitality of Remote Sensing and GIS in varied ways – through events, workshops, annual symposiums and the Annual Society magazine

SPATIA

Annually, SGE conducts two signature symposiums – National Level Technical Symposium, GEOHORIZON, and at an intra-college level, CELESTIA A variety of technical and non-technical events are organized in these symposiums, including Paper and Poster Presentation, programming and coding events and many informative workshops The annual magazine of SGE – SPATIA is published annually during GEOHORIZON Symposium SPATIA covers various domains of Geoinformatics and integrates the efforts of the entire student community. Student articles, annual newsletter, words from the Alumni and various other sections of the magazine provide a 3600 exposure to the reader in the field of Remote Sensing and GIS SGE also has been conducting events and interactive sessions during Space Week since a couple of years With the collective efforts of all its members, SGE strives to be at the core of Geoinformatics research.