OS GEO Seminar held at SIG
SIG hosted a three day seminar-cum-workshop to promote Open Source GIS concept from 28th August 2008 to 30th August 2008, in association with Open source GeoSpatial and Indian Society of Geomatics. The inaugural session was held on 28th August 2008 in the morning session from 9 am to 3 pm. Internationally renowned scientists, namely, Dr P.S. Roy, Deputy Director, NRSA and Maj Gen Dr Siva Kumar, CEO of National Spatial Data Infrastructure, and Director, National Resources Data Management System (NRDMS), Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India graced the occasion.
Theme of the seminar was :-

• Open Source GIS is a new technology and has evoked much interest amongst IT and Geoinformatics students.
• It will be a competitive technology to the emerging markets and would have strategic effect on the future business models.

Geohorizon 2008
Geohorizon 2008-Geohorizon is a national level technical symposium conducted by the Society of Geoinformatics Engineers(SGE) ,a unique community of budding geomatic engineers and the Institute of Remote Sensing, Anna University, Chennai. Two SIG students, Ms.Richa Agrawal and Mr. L. Prasanna Kumar made the Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics proud by winning the following trophies:- Apart from these prizes, the student won the overall championship trophy and a scholarship of Rs 27000/-, recognized By Indian Geoinformatics Centre (ESRI’s first authorized learning centre).

Participation in Inter University Symposium
Mr. Rajarshi Bagchi and Mr. Rakesh R. Bhramar of 2006 – 2008 batch participated in ‘Geohorizon 2007',a National Level Technical Symposium on Geomatics at Chennai. They won the first prize in Informal Quiz, and also two second prizes in Technical Quiz and for their paper presentation on ‘ Effects of Aquatic Plants of the Mula and Mutha Rivers in the Ecological Life of Pune: - A Remote Sensing & GIS Approach'.

Convocation ceremony for students of the second batch (2005–2007) was ceremoniously held on 27th October 2007. Shri Suresh Prabhu, Member of Parliament, was the Chief Guest. Dr. V. Jayaraman, Director Earth Observation Centre, ISRO , Banglore, was the Guest of Honour, Padmashri Dr. S.B. Mujumdar, President and Founder Director, Symbiosis, presided over the function. Mr. Suresh Prabhu awarded Diploma Certificates to the students. Ms. Ranjana Pushkarna won the trophy for securing the first position. Mr. Phani Kishore won the trophy for securing the second position. Mr. Suseem Bhiwapurkar won the trophy for developing the Best Project. Mr. Suresh Prabhu released the e-magazine ‘Earth Gear’.

Convocation
Convocation for students of the first batch (2004–2006) was ceremoniously held on 12 th December 2006.Padma Shri Dr. P.S Goel, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences and Secretary, Department of Ocean Development, Government of India was the Chief Guest. Mr. Rajesh C. Mathur, President ESRI( India ) Pvt. Ltd was invited as the Guest of Honour. Padmashri Dr. S.B. Mujumdar, President and Founder Director, Symbiosis, presided over the function. Dr P.S. Goel inaugurated the Alumni web-page and distributed Diploma Certificates. Ms. Baljeet Kaur Sathi won a trophy for securing the first position, Mr. Pankaj Chaudhari won a trophy for securing the second position and also a trophy for developing the Best Project. Mr Rajesh Mathur released the first edition of our e-magazine ‘Earth Gear'.

Extra Curricular Activities
The cultural committee of students had organized cultural programmes comprising quiz competitions, and other cultural events, Teachers’ Day celebrations and musical programmes to encourage participants and nurture their latent talents. This activity worked very well as a stress buster and to build bonhomie. SIG students participated in a campaign to bring in awareness about environmental pollution at the famous Bhimashankar Reserved Forest on the eve of Mahashivaratri on 5th and 6th March 2008, in conjunction with the Forest Department of Government of Maharashtra .

Extension Activity
Awareness Programme- Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary A group of proactive students took part in the awareness programme held on the occasion of Mahashivaratri at Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary where they assisted the forest department for organizing the pilgrims. The students spread the word about cleanliness and protection of the forest area. The pilgrims were also told not to litter and to take part in cleanliness drive.

Social activities:
Students at SIG show consideration and identify their role in awareness and development of society, for which activities are organized, recent one being visiting old age homes in Pune. Students also paid a visit to Queen Mary’s Technical Institute for Disabled Soldiers. Efforts are made to make people aware of this emerging field and its prominence in decision making in society. This involved visit to students of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Khadki, of less privileged classes, imparting knowledge about the wide scope of the upcoming subject of Geoinformatics and its relevance to their curriculum.

ESRI INDIA USER'S CONFERENCE 2007
ESRI India, the country's leading GIS solutions provider and ESRI Inc hosted
the 2nd ESRI Asia Pacific User Conference on 18th and 19th January 2007 at
Hotel Intercontinental and Hotal Taj Palace, New Delhi. Over 1500 participants
attended the meet, which was spread over two days. These included senior
officials from user organizations with profiles ranging from Government
users, and academicians to private sector GIS and related consulting firms. Students of Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics participated keenly in this event. For them it was a peep into the corporate world connected with the GIS domain where they were given an opportunity to get the feel of the real GIS world. Mr. Ashish Arora from SIG presented the paper on ‘Development plan for a Township using GIS for Indore Development Authority’ and won the first prize.

MAP INDIA 2007
Map India is an Annual International Conference and Exhibition in the field of geographic information technologies like GIS, GPS, Aerial Photography and Remote Sensing. Map India aims to provide a common platform for the convergence, sharing and use of technologies and experiences in the Geospatial domain. The 11th Annual Conference of Map India was held at International Convention Center at Hyderabad, India from 22nd January to 25th January 2007. The conference evoked an overwhelming response from the students of the pioneer batch of Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics. The participants presented their papers covering a wide gamut of geospatial topics. In all 6 posters were presented by students of SIG.

Participation in International Conferences
Students of SIG participated keenly in Second ESRI Asia-Pacific User Conference on 18th and 19th
January 2007 at New Delhi . For them it was a peep into the corporate world connected with GIS domain, where they had an opportunity to get the feel of the GIS applications. Mr. Ashish Arora of 2005 – 2007 batch presented a paper on ‘Development Plan for a Township Using GIS for Indore Development Authority' and won the first prize amongst contestants comprising Ph D scholars and students from different universities including delegates from abroad. Over 1500 participants who attended the meet comprised senior Government officials, academicians and private sector GIS operators.
Our students participated in the first ever ‘Map World Forum' conference held at International Convention Center at Hi-tech City of Hyderabad from 22nd January to 25th January 2007. SIG students presented multifarious geospatial topics of utility to the society with six posters and two paper presentations. SIG students participation in the conference was much appreciated by delegates including those from foreign countries.

Geospatial Information and Technology Association (GITA) – SIU Student Chapter
A new chapter in the annals of SIG was opened, when GITA of USA approached us to establish a GITA-
SIG Student Chapter in order to provide excellence in education and information exchange on the useand benefits of geospatial information and technology in telecommunications, infrastructure, and utility applications. Ours is the only Student Chapter in India.

Convocation ceremony for students of the second batch (2005–2007) was ceremoniously held on 27th October 2007. Shri Suresh Prabhu, Member of Parliament, was the Chief Guest. Dr. V. Jayaraman, Director Earth Observation Centre, ISRO , Banglore, was the Guest of Honour, Padmashri Dr. S.B. Mujumdar, President and Founder Director, Symbiosis, presided over the function. Mr. Suresh Prabhu awarded Diploma Certificates to the students. Ms. Ranjana Pushkarna won the trophy for securing the first position. Mr. Phani Kishore won the trophy for securing the second position. Mr. Suseem Bhiwapurkar won the trophy for developing the Best Project. Mr. Suresh Prabhu released the e-magazine ‘Earth Gear’.

Map India 2006 , New Delhi Map India is an Annual International Conference and Exhibition in the field of geographic information technologies like GIS, GPS, Aerial Photography and Remote Sensing. Map India aims to provide a common platform for the convergence, sharing and use of technologies and experiences in the Geospatial domain. The 10th Annual Conference of Map India was held at Hotel Taj at New Delhi, India from 31st January to 2nd February 2006. The conference evoked an overwhelming response from the students of the pioneer batch of Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics. The participants presented their papers covering a wide gamut of geospatial topics. In all 14 papers were presented by students of SIG which in itself was sufficient to make their presence felt.

Co-Curricular Activities


These co-curricular activities help them to:

Industry Exposure SIG believes in the importance of giving its students extensive corporate exposure alongside invaluable academic inputs to ensure their holistic development. The extensive corporate interface ensures this perfect mix of business acumen and academic intellect. Summer Internships provide an opportunity for students to apply academic knowledge to real time business problems. Guest lectures and seminars give students a chance to interact with representatives of the corporate world and learn about latest management practices. Live projects and workshops ensure optimal exposure to first hand knowledge of business processes, while still in college. The mentorship program offered by the institute is unique and enables students to blossom under the guidance of corporate.
Every year industrial visits are organized by the institute to make the students aware of the current industrial scenario. Such trips help students grow from fundamentals to the practical knowledge of various geo-spatial technologies. This provides an opportunity for interaction and learning beyond the confines of a classroom. This year three industrial have been organized by the institute. These include the visits to Government sectors, such as Survey of India and the visits to corporate sectors such as Reliance Infocom, Rolta and Fugro.
The field visits are organized by the institute to make the students compare the attribute data with the ground data to get better accuracy. Field visits were organized to Survey of India also to enable the students understand how the data is been collected and processed.