IIT Tirupati Hosts 5th BRICS Geospatial Meeting

IIT Tirupati hosted the fifth meeting of the BRICS Working Group on Geospatial Technologies and its Applications at its Yerpedu campus from 20 to 22 July 2026. The three-day event was organised under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, and brought together delegates from BRICS and partner countries in hybrid mode.

BRICS and Geospatial Technologies

The BRICS grouping includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and it has expanded cooperation in science, technology and innovation. Geospatial technologies cover the collection, analysis and use of location-based data through tools such as remote sensing, global navigation satellite systems, geographic information systems and digital mapping.

Key Themes in the Meeting

The meeting focused on geospatial infrastructure for sustainable development, climate resilience, positioning, navigation and timing technologies, artificial intelligence-based geospatial analytics, and data interoperability. These themes are linked with national geospatial policy, disaster management, transport planning, agriculture, urban services and environmental monitoring.

Institutional and Technical Context

The inaugural session included IIT Tirupati Director K. N. Satyanarayana, DST Under Secretary Gautam Govind, Head of the DST National Geospatial Programme Division Manoranjan Mohanty, and scientists Shubha Pandey and Arindam Bhattacharya. IIT Tirupati’s Navavishkar I-Hub Foundation, also known as IITNiF, participated in the organisation of the meeting.

Important Facts for Exams

• Geographic Information System is a computer-based system used to capture, store, analyse and display spatial data.
• Global Navigation Satellite Systems include GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou.
• Positioning, Navigation and Timing services are used in aviation, shipping, telecommunications and emergency response.
• Data interoperability refers to the ability of different systems to exchange and use geospatial data in a standard format.

Expected Outcomes

The meeting is expected to produce the Tirupati Recommendations (2026), the BRICS Working Group Action Plan (2026–2027), the BRICS Geodesy and Positioning Cooperation Framework, and the BRICS Framework for Interoperable Geospatial Data Infrastructure. Technical sessions also cover the integration of emerging technologies with geospatial systems and a special session titled “Translating Innovation into Impact”.