Each topic below explains the evidence, the business problem it creates, how GLOBEIR solves it, the benefits to your organisation, and how your data stays private and secure.
1. Heritage Site Documentation and Digital Inventory
India's protected heritage estate is very large. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) safeguards 3,686 centrally protected monuments, and the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities, set up in 2007 to build a national database of built heritage and antiquities, has documented 11,406 built heritage sites and 12.48 lakh antiquities [1]. The government's 2026 account of conservation practice lists the tools now used for this work: 3D laser scanning for high-precision mapping of complex structures, photogrammetry for architectural detail and condition changes, drone-based surveys for large or inaccessible sites, and GIS-based mapping to analyse environmental pressures and track development around protected zones [1].
Laser scanning measures millions of points on a structure's surface from several stations, which are registered into a single point cloud. Photogrammetry derives the same kind of 3D geometry from overlapping photographs taken by hand, on poles or from drones. Tied to surveyed ground control, the outputs become orthophotos, plans, sections, elevations and textured 3D models at a known accuracy. The Department of Science and Technology's Indian Digital Heritage work focused on the Hampi World Heritage Site, using laser scanning and mapping to build digital models with virtual walkthroughs [15], and the Indian Culture Portal now offers virtual walkthroughs and 360-degree tours of monuments such as the Qutub Minar complex [1]. ISRO's National Remote Sensing Centre runs the SMARAC project with the Ministry of Culture, ASI and the National Monuments Authority (NMA) for systematic inventory creation and site management plans for nationally important monuments [5].
Business problem
Many monuments are still recorded through old drawings, photographs and file notes held in circle offices. Without measured 3D records, conservation teams cannot reliably compare condition over time, plan interventions from accurate drawings or rebuild faithfully after damage. Surveys commissioned project by project use different standards and end up in separate folders, so the knowledge is hard to find when it is needed.
Our solution
- Terrestrial laser scanning, close-range and drone photogrammetry, and GNSS ground control planned for each monument and its setting, delivered through our 3D mapping and digital twins service.
- Registered point clouds, orthophotos, plans, elevations and textured 3D models, with condition annotations such as cracks, losses and water staining.
- A geo-referenced heritage inventory in GIS that links each monument component to its survey records, photographs, past interventions and inspection history, built with our GIS mapping and cartography team.
- Web viewers and 3D models published through WebGIS for conservation, planning and outreach teams, with access set by role.
Benefits
- Measured, repeatable records that let teams detect change between surveys (industry practice described by the government [1]).
- Documentation that supports post-disaster assessment and accurate repair, as NDMA recommends for sites of international significance [10].
- One inventory that conservation, planning and tourism teams can all use, in line with the inventory and site management aims of SMARAC [5].
- Digital models that can also serve virtual visits and interpretation, as the Indian Culture Portal and DST's digital heritage work show (industry examples) [1][15].
Privacy & data security
- High-resolution scans and drone imagery are geospatial data. Under India's 2021 geospatial guidelines, data finer than the threshold (1 m horizontal, 3 m vertical) can only be created and owned by Indian entities and must be stored and processed in India [16].
- Scan data and models are hosted in India, encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2 or higher) and at rest (AES-256), with role-based access and audit logs.
- Photographs captured during surveys are reviewed so that people who happen to be in the frame are not identifiable in published outputs.
- Models and drawings are used only for the agreed purpose and are exported to the client and deleted from GLOBEIR systems at the end of the engagement or on request.
2. Protected and Regulated Zones around Monuments
Under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act, 1958, section 20A makes the area extending 100 metres from the protected limit a prohibited area, and section 20B makes the area extending 200 metres from the prohibited limit a regulated area [2]. The NMA's competent authorities grant permission for construction, reconstruction, repair or renovation in the regulated area on its recommendation [4]. The 2010 amendment also requires heritage bye-laws for each protected monument, covering controls such as elevation, facades, drainage, roads and service infrastructure, and detailed site plans for each protected and regulated area. As of the NMA's last update, eight heritage bye-laws covering 34 centrally protected monuments had been laid in both Houses of Parliament [3].
Geospatial tools already sit at the heart of this process. The NMA requires applicants using the common application form of an urban local body to capture the geo-coordinates of the proposed plot through the SMARAC app, walking the plot and adding a point at every corner, and its online system relies on ISRO's colour-coded zonal maps of monuments [4]. NRSC describes the SMARAC system as including two mobile apps, an auto geo-processing system and a web application for faster processing of NOC requests, operationally used by planning authorities such as the New Delhi Municipal Corporation and the Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation [5]. From 1 July 2025, online submission of these applications through the NMA's NOAPS portal is mandatory [21].
Business problem
Pressure on land around monuments is intense. State-wise figures tabled in Rajya Sabha in December 2024 run into thousands of reported cases of unauthorised construction in prohibited and regulated areas in several states, including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh [2]. Where protected limits are drawn on old sketches, plots are not mapped against them and bye-law controls are not available as map layers, permission decisions slow down and enforcement often begins only after a building is complete.
Our solution
- Digitisation of protected limits from notifications and survey plans, verified in the field with GNSS, and generation of the 100 m and 200 m zones [2].
- Overlay of cadastral plots, building footprints and heights, roads and services, with heritage bye-law controls attached as attributes of each zone [3].
- A WebGIS viewer where planners and competent authorities can check any plot, see which zone and controls apply, and view the site plan, built to complement official systems such as SMARAC and NOAPS rather than replace them [4][5].
- Change detection on recent imagery and geo-tagged inspections in the My GLOBEIR app to spot new construction inside the zones early.
Benefits
- Consistent zone maps for every monument in a circle or city, so the same plot always gets the same answer.
- Faster preparation of site plans and heritage bye-law drafts, which the Act requires for each protected monument [3].
- Earlier detection of unauthorised construction, which the December 2024 figures show is widespread (industry evidence) [2].
- Clear map evidence for owners, urban local bodies and enforcement teams.
Privacy & data security
- Cadastral plots and owner names linked to applications are personal data under the DPDP Act [17]; public map layers show zones and controls, while owner details stay in role-restricted views.
- Access to application, plot and enforcement layers is controlled by role (applicant, local body, competent authority, NMA), with audit logs of every view and change.
- Data is hosted in India, on the client's own infrastructure or on MeitY-empanelled government cloud for government clients [20].
3. Destination Planning and Carrying Capacity
The Ministry of Tourism revamped Swadesh Darshan as Swadesh Darshan 2.0 with the objective of developing sustainable and responsible tourism destinations, following a destination and tourism-centric approach. States prepare perspective plans, and the Ministry has notified 57 destinations, including heritage destinations such as Hampi, Mamallapuram, Dholavira, Ajanta-Ellora and Gwalior [6]. By December 2025, 53 projects worth Rs 2,208.27 crore had been sanctioned under SD2.0 and 36 projects worth Rs 648.11 crore under the Challenge Based Destination Development initiative, and the Ministry had drafted frameworks for destination development and destination management in line with the 2025-26 budget announcement [7]. Projects under the SASCI scheme, worth Rs 3,295.76 crore across 40 projects, were selected on connectivity, the existing tourism ecosystem, carrying capacity and availability of utilities [8].
Tourism carrying capacity has a standard definition from the World Tourism Organization: the maximum number of people who may visit a place within a given period without compromising its environmental, physical, economic and socio-cultural characteristics and without reducing visitor satisfaction [13]. A peer-reviewed study of Agra calculated physical, environmental and social carrying capacity for the city and its main monument, and found that pressure beyond capacity was linked to poor visitor satisfaction [13].
Business problem
Destination plans are often prepared as lists of projects, without a mapped baseline of land use, access, parking, accommodation, water, power and waste services and sensitive zones. Carrying capacity then becomes a phrase in a report rather than a number that can be tested. Planners cannot easily show where a destination already strains its services, or what a new attraction or road will do to visitor pressure elsewhere.
Our solution
- A spatial baseline of the destination: land use, access roads, parking, accommodation, utilities, sensitive and protected zones and attractions, using imagery and field survey (remote sensing).
- Zone-wise estimates of physical and facility carrying capacity, following the standard definitions used in tourism research [13].
- Scenario models for visitor growth, new attractions, transport links and visitor caps, delivered through our geospatial data science service.
- Maps and dashboards that support State Perspective Plans and destination management frameworks [6][7].
Benefits
- Evidence that plans respect carrying capacity, a selection factor already used for SASCI projects (industry example) [8].
- Early sight of service bottlenecks such as parking, water or accommodation before they limit a destination.
- Better phasing of investments across a destination rather than at a single landmark.
- A baseline that can be updated to measure the effect of projects after completion.
Privacy & data security
- Planning analysis uses area-level data on land use, services and visitor volumes; no personal data is needed.
- Where accommodation or business records are used, they are aggregated by zone before analysis.
- Client data is used only for the agreed planning purpose, never sold or shared, and not used to train models for other clients.
Visitor volumes at India's heritage sites are large. India recorded 2,948.19 million domestic tourist visits in 2024, up 17.51 per cent on 2023 [9]. ASI's ticket records show about 56.6 million visitors to 145 centrally protected ticketed monuments in 2024-25; the Taj Mahal led with 6.26 million domestic and about 0.65 million foreign visitors, and the Qutub Minar drew 3.20 million domestic visitors [9]. Ticketing is becoming digital: in January 2026 ASI enabled online booking for over 170 centrally protected monuments and museums through the ONDC network, so visitors can bypass physical queues [14].
NDMA's guidelines for cultural heritage sites list over-crowding among the human-induced hazards that site risk assessments must consider [10]. Crowd management at heritage sites relies on knowing visitor numbers by time and place, comparing them with the safe capacity of gates, paths and galleries, and acting before thresholds are reached.
Business problem
Ticket data usually arrives as daily totals by site, so managers see how many people came, not where and when they bunched together. Peaks on holidays and long weekends are predictable but are rarely planned for with data. Within large complexes, a few gateways, viewpoints and galleries carry most of the load, and staff have no live view of where crowding is building.
Our solution
- A footfall dashboard that brings together ticketing data by time slot, entry gate counts, parking occupancy and, where installed, counting sensors, all placed on a map of the site's zones and gates (live tracking and monitoring).
- Zone-wise safe capacity values agreed with the site authority and shown as thresholds on the dashboard.
- Peak-day forecasts from past footfall, holidays and event calendars, so staff, shuttles and queue lines are planned in advance.
- Heatmap views of crowding and dwell time by zone and hour for after-action review.
Benefits
- Earlier warning of crowding at gates and zones, supporting the over-crowding risk assessment NDMA asks for [10].
- Better use of the timely data created by online ticketing (industry development) [14].
- Staff and amenities deployed where and when visitors actually are.
- A clear record of footfall patterns to support decisions on timed entry, routes or visitor caps.
Privacy & data security
- Crowd analytics use counts, not identities. Ticketing data is aggregated by time slot and gate, and any camera or sensor input is configured to count only.
- Visitor names, phone numbers or payment details from ticketing systems are not needed and are not ingested; where a client provides them, they are masked or pseudonymised before analysis.
- Visitor ticket and app data is personal data under the DPDP Act, which requires consent limited to the stated purpose and erasure once the purpose is served [17].
5. Digital Tourism Maps, Trails and Apps
The Ministry of Tourism's Incredible India Digital Portal is a one-stop platform covering discovery, planning, booking and travel, with destination information delivered through videos, images and digital maps, and a booking feature that includes monuments [8]. The Indian Culture Portal adds virtual walkthroughs and 360-degree tours of monuments [1]. These national channels depend on accurate, consistent map data about destinations, routes and amenities, which states and site managers are best placed to supply.
Good tourism cartography goes beyond a pin on a map. Heritage trails link monuments into walkable or cyclable routes with interpretation at each stop. Accessibility maps show ramps, step-free routes, toilets, drinking water and resting points. Offline maps matter in places with weak mobile coverage, and the same data can be published to partner platforms.
Business problem
Visitors assemble a trip from separate websites, ticketing apps and signboards. Many lesser-known monuments, trails and local crafts near a famous site are unmapped or mapped inconsistently, so visitors cluster at the best-known landmark. Accessibility information is rarely available in a usable form, and maps in brochures, apps and signage often disagree.
Our solution
- Field verification of points of interest, routes, amenities and accessibility features using the My GLOBEIR app, with GPS location and photos for each feature.
- Printed and digital destination maps, themed heritage trails and accessibility maps designed by our cartography team.
- Web maps and mobile apps with offline maps, points of interest and interpretation content, built through our WebGIS and web mapping and mobile GIS services.
- Clean, standard data feeds that state tourism departments can share with national and partner platforms [8].
Benefits
- One authoritative map dataset for brochures, signage, apps and websites.
- Trails that encourage visitors to see more of a destination and spend more locally.
- Accessible information for older visitors and people with disabilities.
- Map content ready to feed national platforms that already offer digital maps and monument booking (industry example) [8].
Privacy & data security
- Visitor apps collect location only with consent, for the features the visitor uses, as the DPDP Act requires consent to be specific and limited to the purpose [17].
- Location used for in-app navigation can stay on the device; any analytics sent back are aggregated and do not identify the visitor.
- Field staff location in the My GLOBEIR app is collected for work purposes only, with background tracking optional, opt-in and shown by a persistent notification.
6. Climate and Disaster Risk to Heritage
Climate stress on heritage is widespread. A 2025 peer-reviewed global study found that 80 per cent of UNESCO World Heritage sites already experience harmful heat and moisture disturbance, and that nearly 19 per cent are threatened on more than one key material such as stone and wood [11]. For natural World Heritage, the IUCN World Heritage Outlook 4 rates climate change a high threat for 43 per cent of sites, the most severe threat globally [12].
NDMA's National Disaster Management Guidelines for Cultural Heritage Sites and Precincts (2017) provide a template for risk assessment, risk reduction, preparedness and post-disaster recovery. They recommend GIS mapping and a comprehensive database of sites and precincts that can be integrated with hazard maps at national, state and district levels, 3D mapping of sites of international significance so that post-disaster assessment and reconstruction are possible, and geo-tagged photographic documentation of site attributes [10]. The government also notes that conservation programmes now include preventive conservation against environmental and ageing-related deterioration [1].
Business problem
Heritage agencies and site managers often do not know which of their sites sit in flood plains, landslide-prone slopes, high seismic zones or cyclone-exposed coasts, or how rainfall and temperature trends are changing around them. Without a mapped exposure profile, mitigation budgets are spread thinly, and after a disaster there may be no accurate record to guide damage assessment and repair.
Our solution
- Overlay of the heritage inventory with flood, landslide, earthquake, cyclone and coastal hazard layers, and with rainfall and temperature trends, through our environmental remote sensing service [10].
- An exposure profile for each monument that combines hazard, condition and significance to rank priorities.
- Satellite-based monitoring of change around sites, such as erosion, waterlogging, vegetation growth and new construction, with AI and machine learning used to flag change for review.
- 3D documentation of priority sites (see section 1) to support post-disaster assessment, and map products for site disaster management plans and emergency teams.
Benefits
- A ranked view of which sites face the highest exposure, so mitigation and monitoring go where they matter most.
- Direct support for the GIS database and hazard integration that NDMA's guidelines call for [10].
- Baseline records that make post-disaster assessment and accurate repair possible [10].
- Evidence for climate adaptation planning, as global studies show climate stress is already widespread (industry evidence) [11][12].
Privacy & data security
- Hazard and exposure analysis uses site, terrain and climate data; it does not require personal data.
- Detailed site models and vulnerability assessments can be sensitive, so access is limited by role and logged, and distribution follows the client's policies.
- High-resolution hazard and terrain products are stored and processed in India in line with the geospatial guidelines [16].