A Short Term Course (STC) on “Big Data Analytics for Urban Planning and Management” was organised by IIT Roorkee during 6th - 10th June 2016. 43 participants from different background including Architecture & Planning, Civil Engineering and Computer Science and Management disciplines participated in the STC. Mr. Gyanendra Kumar, Assistant Professor from Civil Engineering Department, Dronacharya Group of Institutions, Greater Noida attended the STC.

The short term course focused on the collection of big data which could not be stored in the excel sheet.

Day 1: 6th June 2016

The workshop was inaugurated by Dr. S. P. Gupta, Deputy Director, IIT Roorkee in the august presence Dr. Anil Kumar Roy, CEPT University, Dr. Ajith Kaliyath, National Institute of Urban Affairs, Dr. Ajay Katur, TARU, Dr. Manuranjan Parida, MoRTH Chair Professor, Dean SRIC. Coordinator of the STC Prof. (Ms) Harshit S Lakra introduced keynote speakers to the participants. Dr. S. P. Gupta explained the importance of the course in research and planning perspective. He then threw light over the topics to be covered in the STC.

The next session was a hands - on session in which online taxi service problem was analysed with the help of computer software.

Day 2: 7th June 2016

Dr. Ajay Katur started the session with “Big Data and Disaster Management” in which he explained the disaster management and its important aspects. He led stress on the integration of the big data into maps.

All distinguished faculty assembled in Architecture Lab and helped the participants in analysing big data. They introduced the Open Source Software for analysis and planning the outcome of the given data.

Day 3: 8th June 2016

Dr. Mukesh Kumar Barua, Dept. of Management Studies, IIT - Roorkee conducted a session on Data Representation Techniques in the form of Pattern, Standard Deviation, Category Data and Numerical Data. Data analysis methods were discussed for getting a productive result. He said that big data is defined by 4 V’s i.e. Volume, Veracity (Uncertainty), Variety and Velocity.

He described data mining methods i.e. Clustering and Classifying. He discussed case studies. Prof. Harshit took the next session. She defined “Big Data Governance and Equity” in which she emphasised on that kind of policy intervention which are needed in planning and managing the urban resources and infrastructure. She discussed the good governance methodology for taking effective decision and action.

Day 4: 9th June 2016

Prof. M. Parida conducted the session in which he covered travel time studies using GPS data from Urban Bus Operations. He described travel time studies and its importance while planning road network. He said that there are many methods to estimate travel time i.e. Conventional Method which includes Floating Car Method, The Follow Car Method, Licence Plate Matching Techniques, ITS Probe Vehicle Techniques, Cellular Geo - Location and Emergency and Non - Traditional Techniques. Case study of BRT in Ahmedabad was also discussed.

Dr. Durga Toshniwal, HOD of Computer Science Department, IIT Roorkee continued the session defining some excellent techniques for interpretation i.e. Descriptive means insight into a past data which can be done by clustering technique and will be useful for the future planning, Predictive Technique carried out to find out the future possibilities and can be achieved by decision tree method and Prescriptive Technique i.e. planning on the basis of complaints.

Dr. Toshniwal started hands - on session on Data Mining with the help of a software WEKA which helped the participants to analyse big data by observing the step by step process.

Day 5: 10th June 2016

The Session on “Energy Management for Neighbourhoods” was conducted by Dr. E. Rajshekharan, IIT Roorkee in which he explained the energy preservation and conservation in the building. He defined the actual consumption of the building and how to save the energy with respect to neighbourhood and how to conserve energy and use when and where it is needed. The appliances should be used in such a way so as to save sufficient amount of energy without affecting the productivity of the item.

Valedictory Session

During Valedictory Session, Prof. Harshit took feedback and suggestions from the participants. All the participants were handed over the certificates. It was very valuable and educative course for all the participants.

Some Glimpses: