BiographyMr H Hemanth Kumar is currently serving as Chief Scientific Officer in Karnataka State Council for Science & Technology. He joined the Council in 1985 as Project Engineer and has a post graduate degree in Civil (structures) Engineering from Bangalore University. Area of Specialization: Geospatial Technologies, Spatial Data Infrastructure, Alternate Building Technologies, Watersheds and Minor Irrigation Tanks and e-governance. He is currently investigating the Karnataka Natural Data Management Systems (NRDMS) program, State Spatial Data Infrastructure project and VIS program besides few other projects. He has so far investigated more than 25 projects. Mr H Hemanth Kumar has written many research papers on Natural Resources Management, Non-organic solid wastes, web geoportal, use of GIS & RS for informed decision-making. He has published more than twenty-five Journal/ Conference papers and has delivered several keynote/technical talks in National/International conferences. He is member of a number of Expert/Technical Committees including the committee of Department of Science and Technology Government of India, National Biodiversity Authority, Department of Bio-technology, Kerala/Jammu & Kashmir/Odisha/Haryana Government Spatial Data Infrastructure, BBMP, BDA, Ministry of Human Resource Development, (MHRD), UAS Bangalore, Advanced Centre for Integrated Water Resources Management (ACIWRM), ATREE, Karnataka Watershed Development Department, National Data Registry, BIS, etc. He has organized/coordinated several International/National workshops/events. Mr Hemanth Kumar received Geospatial Excellence Award in the year 2014 by India Geospatial Forum for Karnataka State Spatial Data Infrastructure (KSSDI) project. His expertise in Geospatial Technologies is being utilized by several State/Central Governments and academic institutions in training and capacity building of staff/faculty/students. He aspires to spread the utilisation of geospatial technologies for decision-making in developmental planning.Abstract Karnataka Geo-portal for Watershed ManagementThe Karnataka State Council for Science & Technology (KSCST), Bangalore has been providing geospatial data, information and services to support the process of Local Level Planning under a joint project of NRDMS of Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, and the Government of Karnataka since 1992. Each District Database contains spatial and attribute data sets useful in local level planning processes in the sectors of Natural Resources, Demography, Agro-economy, Socio-economy and Infrastructure facilities. Respective Zilla Panchayaths and Line Departments have been depending upon these databases for meeting their data requirements. KSCST has institutionalized the geospatial technologies for informed decision-making by establishing district NRDMS centers in all the thirty districts of Karnataka. With increasing dependence of users, a need has been felt to speed up the process of discovery of and access to up-to-date spatial datasets. The Council with the support of Central and State Departments of Science and Technology developed a Geoportal to discover/ access and query on spatial data sets useful in the local level planning process through Karnataka State Spatial Data Infrastructure (KSSDI) Project in the year 2009. The portal has a centralized geospatial database on variety of spatial layers available to users for query and analysis. Recently watershed portal has added to Karnataka Geoportal to support monitoring of watershed projects. Karnataka Watershed Development Department (KWDD) an agency under Government of Karnataka is in-charge of running various watershed schemes/Projects, formulating policies, planning, organizing, coordinating the activities and implementing the watershed programs. KWDD uses data sets for planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Watershed Programs. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) Program (earlier known as Integrated Watershed Management Program - IWMP) is a flagship program of KWDD with a financial outlay of above Rs. 400 Crores per annum. KWDD has multi-disciplinary technical experts drawn from Agriculture, Horticulture and Forest Departments who are pooling their experience, expertise and technology in the Watershed Programs being financed under External, Central, State and District Sector Schemes. The Department currently has an in-house online Management Information System (MIS) for monitoring Watershed Programs by its Head Office. It makes use of existing cadastral and thematic maps available with other departments, from planning to implementation stages and tries to document all the activities with geo-tagged time-stamped photographs before, during and after the implementation of various program-based activities. However, they do not have an easy and timely access to geospatial data of right resolution and currency for use in planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation processes. KSCST felt the need for integrating KWDDs MIS with the web-based SDI approach of NRDMS-NSDI/ DST to provide standards-based online geospatial information services to end users in KWDD by utilizing the Karnataka State Geoportal already operational in the State. Towards achieving the above goal, the project Development of Geospatial Web Applications on Karnataka Geo-Portal for G-governance was launched by KSCST under the collaborative support of DST, Govt. of India and Govt. of Karnataka. On the launch of the above project, a user requirement analysis was taken up to understand and study the geospatial information needs of the KWDD to be accessed over the web. KSCST showcased the utilization of Geospatial Technologies by developing geospatial applications on the Karnataka State Geo-portal to evaluate watersheds in Belagavi Division of Karnataka under the Phase I and Phase II projects of PMKSY. Development and deployment of the State Geoportal for Watershed Management technology enables the users to query on various geospatial and non-spatial (attribute) parameters at cadastral/ beneficiary level for activities taken up under agriculture/ horticulture/ forestry sectors. The Geo-portal enlists a host of Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)/ International Standardization Organization (ISO) Standardsbased Web Services for accessing data sets to support Watershed Management. Crowd sourcing of data for data updating, mobile (smart phone) compatibility and online editing of data sets are some of the Technologys major highlights. The Geoportal provided tools to the end-users to monitor the progress/implementation of projects/programs of the government and allows adopting possible mid-course corrections through better and improved management practices through geospatial technologies. Now under KGIS program of Karnataka state and the inhouse portal of watershed development department, this activity will be streamlined to monitor the watershed projects of the department. This, in turn, will contribute to the economy by saving governmental staff-time, improving quality of decision-making, ensuring better transparency and accountability, and bringing in better delivery of outputs of government schemes and programs.