Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Government on May 27 launched two transformative digital platforms – ‘Know Your DIGIPIN’ and ‘Know Your PIN Code’ – marking a significant step towards the modernisation of addressing system and geospatial governance.
The platforms were launched in alignment with the National Geospatial Policy 2022, which envisions the development of an advanced geospatial infrastructure to support digital governance and public service delivery, reported IANS. “The launch of these two applications reflects our Government’s unwavering commitment to digital transformation and precision governance. DIGIPIN, in particular, will redefine how we perceive addresses, ensuring that every citizen, even in the remotest part of the country, is digitally locatable and serviceable,” said Vandita Kaul, Secretary, Department of Posts.
Open-source system
The DIGIPIN (Digital Postal Index Number) is an opensource, interoperable, geocoded, grid-based digital address system developed by the Department of Posts in collaboration with IIT Hyderabad and NRSC, ISRO. It is a cornerstone of the Department of Posts’ vision to offer Addressas-a-Service (AaaS) – an array of services associated with address data management to support secure and efficient interactions between users, Government entities, and private sector organisations. The ‘Know Your DIGIPIN’ portal enables users to retrieve their DIGIPIN based on precise geolocation, and input latitude and longitude coordinates to fetch corresponding DIGIPINs and vice versa.
This initiative simplifies location mapping, enhances logistics and emergency response, and ensures last-mile delivery, especially in rural and underserved areas.
The DIGIPIN system, officially reviewed and adopted by the Thematic Working Group on Address under the National Geospatial Policy 2022, is now available to all ministries, state governments, institutions for integration into their workflows, and users for their own use, said the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications.
Leveraging GIS
Incorporating DIGIPIN as an additional address attribute enables the leveraging of GIS capabilities, laying the foundation for future GIS-based digitalisation of service delivery across various organisations in a cost-effective manner. DIGIPIN will enhance location accuracy across multiple sectors by providing precise geographic coordinates, ensuring accurate service delivery and reducing emergency response times.
