National Symposium on NAKSHA and LandStack unveils road map for digital overhaul of urban land records

One of the main agenda items is a comprehensive review of the NAKSHA pilot programme, which uses advanced aerial and feature-extraction technologies to map urban land parcels.

The Department of Land Resources (DoLR), under the Ministry of Rural Development, will host a pivotal National Symposium on NAKSHA (National Geospatial Knowledge-based Land Survey of Urban Habitations) and LandStack on December 3, 2025 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi. The event is part of the larger GeoSmart India 2025 Conference & Expo and marks a significant push to transform urban land governance across India. 

The symposium will gather key stakeholders — policymakers, experts from Survey of India, State revenue and land-record officials, and private-sector leaders — to deliberate across six intensive sessions aimed at shaping the future of urban land administration. 

NAKSHA Pilot Review and Plans to Scale Up

One of the main agenda items is a comprehensive review of the NAKSHA pilot programme, which uses advanced aerial and feature-extraction technologies to map urban land parcels. So far, NAKSHA covers over 157 cities across India, with the goal of creating accurate, GIS-integrated databases of urban land parcels. 

Participants will discuss technical challenges — such as ensuring mapping accuracy in dense, congested urban environments, aligning new aerial surveys with existing cadastral maps, and verifying ground reality — as well as lessons from early implementation. (Geospatial World)

Building a Unified Digital Land Ecosystem: LandStack

A key focus of the symposium will be on developing LandStack, envisioned as a unified, national-level digital land-information ecosystem. Sessions will tackle the architectural design, core data layers, integration of cadastral maps with geospatial and administrative records, and the use of federated data models under national standards to enable seamless data exchange across ministries, states, and municipalities. (Press Information Bureau)

Such an integrated system aims to eliminate siloed land-records databases, reduce duplication, avoid inconsistencies, and enable transparent, real-time access to land data — thereby supporting urban planning, infrastructure development, disaster management, taxation, and governance. (Geospatial World)

UrPro Card: Toward Trusted Digital Property Documents

The symposium will also discuss the proposed UrPro Card — a single, trusted digital property document that can serve as a legal, transferable, and universally acceptable proof of property ownership. Officials will debate how to align existing legal and institutional frameworks across States/UTs so that UrPro Card can be integrated into property registration systems, mutation records, property-tax frameworks, building-permit systems, and other urban governance processes. (Press Information Bureau)

This move, if implemented nationwide, could significantly simplify property-related transactions, reduce disputes, improve transparency, and provide citizens with secure and portable proof of ownership.

Technology Demonstration, Interoperability and Future-Ready Mapping

As part of the event, there will be live demonstration of a WebGIS platform and cloud-based geospatial services. Discussions will examine how emerging technologies — such as AI / ML, 3D mapping, LiDAR, real-time satellite or aerial imagery, and cloud geospatial services — can be leveraged to ensure transparency, accuracy, and accountability in urban land governance. (Press Information Bureau)

This marks a shift from legacy land-record systems to a modern, digital, and interoperable ecosystem that supports urban planning, infrastructure development, disaster resilience, property transactions, taxation, and more. The effort reflects a “whole-of-government” approach to land governance, streamlining processes and making them citizen-centric. 

With NAKSHA and LandStack, India aims to bring urban land governance and records into the 21st century — critical for realizing the broader vision of a developed, transparent, and future-ready “Viksit Bharat.”