GIS Survey for PMC Drainage Lines — DGPS Survey and KML File for Smart City
If you are a contractor executing drainage work for the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), you have probably been asked for something that was never part of the job a few years ago: a GIS survey of the drainage line, handed over as a KML file the corporation can upload into its Smart City data system.
It is a simple requirement once you know what it means — but it stops payments and completion certificates when nobody on site has a DGPS machine or knows what format the corporation actually wants. This post explains what PMC is asking for, how the survey is carried out, and what you receive at the end.
Call now — +91 96577 17268Tap to speak to a surveyor directly.What PMC is asking contractors for
In plain terms: the corporation wants to know where your drainage line physically is, in real-world coordinates, in a file its GIS software can read.
The submission is usually expected to include:
- The alignment of the drainage line — the pipe or drain, captured as a line with real coordinates from start to end
- The chambers and manholes along it, captured as points
- Levels where the department asks for them — ground level, invert level, and depth at each chamber
- A KML (or KMZ) file of the above, commonly handed over on a pendrive, so the ward office can upload it directly into the Smart City / GIS portal
The exact format and the level of detail can vary between departments and ward offices. Some ask only for the line and the manholes; others want the full attribute table with sizes, materials and invert levels. Always confirm with the engineer signing off your work — and if you can, get it in writing before the survey team goes to site.
Why the corporation wants drainage lines in GIS
For decades, Pune's underground network lived on paper drawings in different offices, some of them decades old and none of them agreeing with each other. The moment a road is dug for a new utility, that guesswork turns into a broken sewer line.
Putting every line into a single GIS layer means the corporation can see the real network on a map — plan desilting and repairs, avoid cutting a live line during other work, and design new networks against what is actually in the ground. That is the whole point of the Smart City data push, and it is why this requirement is only going to spread to more departments, not fewer.
For you as the contractor, the practical reading is simpler: the GIS data is now part of the deliverable, like the measurement book. Work that is executed perfectly but not handed over in GIS format can still sit unclosed.
How the survey is done — DGPS along the alignment
We survey the line with a DGPS (Differential GPS) machine, which fixes each point against satellite and correction data to give real-world coordinates accurate to a few centimetres — not the few metres a mobile phone GPS gives you. That accuracy is what makes the data usable in a corporation GIS layer at all.
On site, our team walks the executed line and captures:
- Every manhole and chamber as a coordinate point
- The alignment between chambers, so the line plots correctly on the map
- Invert levels and depths where required, along with chamber details
- Start and end points, junctions, and connections to the existing network
Because the readings are taken directly in a real coordinate system, there is no scaling or guesswork afterwards — what we capture on the ground is what appears on the map. If you want the background on the instrument itself, we've written about what a DGPS survey is and when it's used.
The one thing worth planning for: survey the line before it is backfilled and the road is restored, or at least while every chamber is still traceable. Locating a buried line afterwards costs far more time than surveying it on time.
What you receive
| Deliverable | What it's for |
|---|---|
| KML / KMZ file | The submission file — opens in Google Earth and uploads to the corporation's GIS |
| Data on a pendrive | Handed over ready to submit at the ward office |
| Point and chamber data | Coordinates, chainage, levels and chamber details |
| CAD / shapefile / Excel | On request, when the department or your consultant asks for it |
We hand over the KML in the form the corporation expects, and if it comes back with a correction from the ward office, we sort it out with you rather than leaving you to argue it alone.
Call now — +91 96577 17268Tap to speak to a surveyor directly.Where this commonly goes wrong
A few patterns we see repeatedly on PMC drainage work:
- Handheld GPS or a phone app. The coordinates drift by several metres, the line lands in the wrong place on the map, and the file is rejected. This work needs a DGPS.
- Surveying too late. Once the trench is closed and the road is redone, chambers get missed and the line has to be reconstructed from memory.
- Missing attributes. The line is correct but the invert levels, diameters or chamber IDs the department wanted aren't in the file, so it goes back.
- A KML that doesn't open cleanly. Exported from the wrong software or with broken geometry, it fails on upload — usually discovered at the counter.
- No copy kept. Keep your own copy of the KML and the raw data. If the file is misplaced at the office, resurveying is on you.
Who this applies to
This is most relevant if you are:
- A contractor executing drainage, sewerage or stormwater work for PMC and asked for GIS data at handover
- Doing similar work for PCMC, a nagar parishad or another local body moving its network onto GIS
- A consultant or PMC-empanelled agency who needs the survey done and delivered under your name
- Maintaining or extending an existing line and asked to map what is already there
The same DGPS survey and KML deliverable covers water supply lines, stormwater drains and other underground utilities — the drainage line is simply where most contractors meet the requirement first. Full details of what's included are on our GIS Survey for Drainage Lines page, and it sits alongside the L-sections, cross-sections and corridor surveys we already do for government contractors.
Common questions
How long does a drainage line GIS survey take?
It depends on the length of the line, the number of chambers, and how much of the site is accessible and traffic-free. Tell us the approximate length and the chamber count and we will give you a straight answer on time and cost before we start — not after.
What if the line is already backfilled?
We can still survey the chambers and manholes and map the alignment between them. It is a workable second-best. Doing it before backfilling is always cleaner, cheaper and more accurate.
Can you give the data in a format other than KML?
Yes — CAD, shapefile or Excel alongside the KML, whatever your department or consultant asks for.
Do you work across all PMC wards?
Yes, across Pune and PCMC, and on infrastructure work well beyond the city limits. We have been surveying in this region since 2007, including for PMC, PCMC, NHAI and Indian Railways.
Who does the survey?
Our own trained survey team with our own DGPS equipment. The work isn't handed to a third party, which is why we can answer for the accuracy of what we submit.
Get your PMC GIS survey done
If a ward office has asked you for GIS data or a KML file of a drainage line, call and tell us the length of the line and where it is. We will tell you what the survey involves, what it costs and when we can be on site.
Call now — +91 96577 17268Tap to speak to a surveyor directly.You can also send us the site details and we will call you back.