30.73° N/76.78° E
Jannat
Geospatial Researcher
Jannat.
WorkCapabilitiesBlogAboutContact me
Jannat Khosla

Geospatial researcher working across GIS, remote sensing, drone photogrammetry and GNSS surveying. Based in Chandigarh, India.

Chandigarh 160015, India

Pages
  • Home
  • Work
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
Connect
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Résumé (PDF)
Jannat Khosla
© 2026 Jannat Khosla - Chandigarh, IndiaDesigned & built by Tanish Mittal
Writing

GIS, remote sensing & field notes.

SEO-friendly, plain-English guides to the satellite imagery, indices and survey workflows I use, written to help students and early-career geospatial analysts.

Illustration for "Why Your GEE Water Area Total Is Wrong: Wular Lake"Latest
22 Oct 20266 min read

Why Your GEE Water Area Total Is Wrong: Wular Lake

A defensible Google Earth Engine workflow for measuring mapped open water at Wular Lake, with the scale, projection and threshold decisions made explicit.

google-earth-enginesentinel-2wetlandswater-mapping
Illustration for "Map Irrigation Canals in QGIS with Bhuvan WMS"
22 Oct 202610 min

Map Irrigation Canals in QGIS with Bhuvan WMS

Create a quality-checked canal inventory for the Krishna Delta by using Bhuvan web maps as reference imagery and topology-aware digitising in QGIS.

Read article
Illustration for "Map Mahanadi Sediment Plumes in QGIS with Sentinel-2 NDTI"
21 Oct 20268 min

Map Mahanadi Sediment Plumes in QGIS with Sentinel-2 NDTI

A practical QGIS workflow for screening relative turbidity patterns in the Mahanadi delta with Sentinel-2 surface reflectance, NDTI and careful water masking.

Read article
Illustration for "Measure Mangrove Area Reliably in QGIS: Bhitarkanika CRS Workflow"
20 Oct 20269 min

Measure Mangrove Area Reliably in QGIS: Bhitarkanika CRS Workflow

A practical QGIS workflow for calculating defensible mangrove polygon areas in Bhitarkanika, from checking CRS metadata to choosing ellipsoidal or projected measurements.

Read article
Illustration for "Mask Terrain Shadows in Sentinel-2 for Sikkim"
19 Oct 20268 min

Mask Terrain Shadows in Sentinel-2 for Sikkim

A practical Earth Engine workflow for separating terrain shadow from cloud shadow in Sentinel-2 surface reflectance before analysing Himalayan land cover.

Read article
Illustration for "Validate a Bengaluru Land-Cover Map in Earth Engine"
18 Oct 20267 min

Validate a Bengaluru Land-Cover Map in Earth Engine

A practical Google Earth Engine workflow for independently validating a Sentinel-2 land-cover map around Bengaluru, reading error matrices, and reporting credible accuracy metrics.

Read article
Illustration for "MODIS EVI Anomalies in GEE for Nilgiris Tea Landscapes"
17 Oct 20267 min

MODIS EVI Anomalies in GEE for Nilgiris Tea Landscapes

Use MODIS EVI and a seasonal baseline in Google Earth Engine to flag unusually low or high vegetation activity across the Nilgiris tea landscape.

Read article
Illustration for "Mangrove Moisture Screening in QGIS with Sentinel-2 NDMI"
16 Oct 20267 min

Mangrove Moisture Screening in QGIS with Sentinel-2 NDMI

A careful QGIS workflow for using Sentinel-2 NDMI to screen relative canopy-moisture patterns in Bhitarkanika, with cloud masking, aligned pixels and defensible change checks.

Read article
Illustration for "Stop Mixing Sentinel-1 Orbits in GEE: A Majuli Workflow"
15 Oct 20268 min

Stop Mixing Sentinel-1 Orbits in GEE: A Majuli Workflow

A practical Google Earth Engine workflow for making more defensible Sentinel-1 comparisons around Majuli by holding pass direction, relative orbit, mode and polarisation constant.

Read article
Illustration for "Sentinel-1 Terrain Effects in GEE for Western Ghats Forests"
14 Oct 20267 min

Sentinel-1 Terrain Effects in GEE for Western Ghats Forests

A practical guide to filtering Sentinel-1 GRD in Google Earth Engine, reading orbit and incidence-angle effects, and avoiding false forest-change signals in hilly Western Ghats terrain.

Read article
Illustration for "Sentinel-2 Bare Soil Index in GEE for Chambal Ravines"
13 Oct 20267 min

Sentinel-2 Bare Soil Index in GEE for Chambal Ravines

A practical Google Earth Engine workflow for using Sentinel-2 Bare Soil Index to screen exposed soil and gully-prone ravine edges in the Chambal landscape.

Read article
Illustration for "IMD Tmax Grids in QGIS for Heatwave Screening"
12 Oct 20268 min

IMD Tmax Grids in QGIS for Heatwave Screening

A practical QGIS workflow for turning daily IMD maximum-temperature grids into simple heatwave screening maps, with threshold logic, masking tips, and beginner mistakes to avoid.

Read article
Illustration for "Sentinel-2 NDSI Snow Mapping in GEE for Gangotri"
11 Oct 20267 min

Sentinel-2 NDSI Snow Mapping in GEE for Gangotri

A practical Google Earth Engine workflow for mapping seasonal snow around Gangotri using Sentinel-2 NDSI, cloud masking, elevation checks, and careful threshold validation.

Read article
Illustration for "Sentinel-2 MCI in QGIS for Chilika Algal Bloom Screening"
10 Oct 20267 min

Sentinel-2 MCI in QGIS for Chilika Algal Bloom Screening

A practical QGIS workflow for using Sentinel-2 red-edge bands and the Maximum Chlorophyll Index to screen possible algal bloom patches in Chilika Lake, Odisha.

Read article
Illustration for "EOS-04 Soil Moisture in QGIS for Hisar Drought Screening"
9 Oct 20267 min

EOS-04 Soil Moisture in QGIS for Hisar Drought Screening

A practical QGIS workflow for using ISRO EOS-04 surface soil moisture data to screen dry agricultural zones around Hisar, with validation cautions for beginners.

Read article
Illustration for "Sentinel-1 RVI in GEE for Punjab Wheat Vigour"
8 Oct 20267 min

Sentinel-1 RVI in GEE for Punjab Wheat Vigour

A practical Google Earth Engine workflow for using Sentinel-1 VV and VH radar backscatter to map wheat vigour in Punjab, including linear scaling, compositing, interpretation and beginner pitfalls.

Read article
Illustration for "Scaling Landsat Collection 2 in GEE for Delhi NDVI"
7 Oct 20266 min

Scaling Landsat Collection 2 in GEE for Delhi NDVI

A practical Google Earth Engine workflow for applying Landsat Collection 2 scale factors, masking QA_PIXEL flags, and building reliable NDVI composites over Delhi's Yamuna floodplain.

Read article
Illustration for "CGWB Groundwater Levels in QGIS for Jaipur Maps"
6 Oct 20268 min

CGWB Groundwater Levels in QGIS for Jaipur Maps

A practical QGIS workflow for turning CGWB groundwater level CSVs into cautious depth-to-water maps, using Jaipur and the dry Rajasthan fringe as the example area.

Read article
Illustration for "Landsat QA_PIXEL Cloud Masking in GEE for Chambal Ravines"
5 Oct 20267 min

Landsat QA_PIXEL Cloud Masking in GEE for Chambal Ravines

A practical Google Earth Engine workflow for masking Landsat Collection 2 clouds, shadows and cirrus using QA_PIXEL before mapping vegetation in ravine landscapes.

Read article
Illustration for "Sentinel-2 Shoreline Mapping in GEE for Pamban Coast"
4 Oct 20267 min

Sentinel-2 Shoreline Mapping in GEE for Pamban Coast

A practical Google Earth Engine workflow for extracting a Sentinel-2 waterline around Pamban and Rameswaram, with cloud masking, NDWI thresholding, vector export, and field-aware cautions.

Read article
Illustration for "India-WRIS River Gauge CSVs in QGIS for Monsoon Hydrographs"
3 Oct 20268 min

India-WRIS River Gauge CSVs in QGIS for Monsoon Hydrographs

A practical guide to turning India-WRIS and National Water Data Portal river level CSVs into mapped station layers, monsoon hydrographs, and QA-ready flood-season notes in QGIS.

Read article
Illustration for "Using Survey of India Open Series Maps in QGIS"
2 Oct 202610 min

Using Survey of India Open Series Maps in QGIS

A practical guide for Indian GIS learners on bringing Survey of India Open Series Maps into QGIS, choosing the right CRS, georeferencing scans, and checking accuracy before digitising.

Read article
Illustration for "Resourcesat AWiFS NDVI Composites for Drought Screening"
1 Oct 20268 min

Resourcesat AWiFS NDVI Composites for Drought Screening

A practical QGIS workflow for using Resourcesat AWiFS NDVI time composites to screen agricultural drought stress across Indian crop belts.

Read article
Illustration for "Mapping Loktak Lake Open Water with Sentinel-2 MNDWI"
30 Sept 20267 min

Mapping Loktak Lake Open Water with Sentinel-2 MNDWI

A practical Google Earth Engine workflow for mapping open water in Loktak Lake using Sentinel-2 surface reflectance, MNDWI, cloud masking and area summaries.

Read article
Illustration for "Burn Severity Mapping with Sentinel-2 NBR in GEE"
29 Sept 20267 min

Burn Severity Mapping with Sentinel-2 NBR in GEE

A practical guide to mapping post-fire impact with Sentinel-2 surface reflectance, NBR and dNBR in Google Earth Engine, written for Indian GIS students and analysts.

Read article
Illustration for "Mapping Rice Transplanting with Sentinel-1 VH in GEE"
28 Sept 20267 min

Mapping Rice Transplanting with Sentinel-1 VH in GEE

A practical Sentinel-1 Google Earth Engine workflow for spotting rice transplanting signals in monsoon and samba paddy landscapes, with notes on VH backscatter, filtering, validation and beginner mistakes.

Read article
Illustration for "Bhuvan LULC 50K in QGIS for Urban Fringe Screening"
27 Sept 20268 min

Bhuvan LULC 50K in QGIS for Urban Fringe Screening

A practical guide to using NRSC Bhuvan Land Use Land Cover 50K web services in QGIS for screening urban expansion around Indian city edges.

Read article
Illustration for "IMD Gridded Rainfall in QGIS for Monsoon Anomaly Mapping"
26 Sept 20269 min

IMD Gridded Rainfall in QGIS for Monsoon Anomaly Mapping

A practical QGIS workflow for turning IMD daily gridded rainfall NetCDF data into district-scale monsoon anomaly maps, using Kerala as a worked example.

Read article
Illustration for "CartoDEM in QGIS for Slope Screening in the Himalaya"
25 Sept 20269 min

CartoDEM in QGIS for Slope Screening in the Himalaya

A practical CartoDEM and QGIS workflow for Indian students who want to screen steep Himalayan terrain, create slope and hillshade layers, and avoid common DEM mistakes.

Read article
Illustration for "NISAR GUNW in QGIS for Mining Subsidence Mapping"
24 Sept 20268 min

NISAR GUNW in QGIS for Mining Subsidence Mapping

A practical guide to using NISAR geocoded unwrapped interferograms in QGIS, with a Jharia Coalfield workflow for line-of-sight displacement, coherence masking and beginner quality checks.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of the Aravalli hills and farmland near Alwar, Rajasthan
6 Jul 20267 min

NDVI Thresholds for Land Cover Classification: What the Numbers Mean

Fixed NDVI thresholds borrowed from global studies routinely misclassify Indian land cover because soil background, monsoon phenology, and sensor differences each shift values by 0.1–0.2 or more. This article explains what NDVI actually encodes and how to build a more defensible classification workflow for India's ecologically diverse landscapes.

Read article
RISAT-2B SAR: Bands, Modes and Applications for Indian Users
5 Jul 20267 min

RISAT-2B SAR: Bands, Modes and Applications for Indian Users

RISAT-2B is ISRO's X-band SAR satellite that complements Sentinel-1 for Indian applications, this article breaks down its imaging modes, frequency trade-offs, and where it genuinely outperforms C-band sensors for flood mapping, crop monitoring, and coastal work.

Read article
SAR Backscatter for Soil Moisture: Sentinel-1 Methods Explained
4 Jul 20266 min

SAR Backscatter for Soil Moisture: Sentinel-1 Methods Explained

A technical walkthrough of how Sentinel-1 C-band SAR backscatter is used to estimate soil moisture across Indian agricultural land, covering the physics, key retrieval algorithms, and practical pitfalls.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of the Doon Valley, Dehradun
3 Jul 20266 min

Flow Accumulation and Stream Order from DEM in QGIS: Step by Step

A step-by-step QGIS walkthrough of flow accumulation and stream ordering from a DEM, covering sink filling, flow direction, and common mistakes that silently break watershed delineation in Indian study areas.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of farmland near Bathinda, Punjab
2 Jul 20267 min

Estimating Crop Yield with SAR and Optical Data Fusion in GEE

Cloud cover during India's kharif season makes optical-only yield models unreliable. This article shows how to fuse Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 data in Google Earth Engine to build a cloud-robust crop yield estimation workflow.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of the Kosi river in north Bihar
1 Jul 20267 min

Flood Depth Estimation from Sentinel-1 SAR: Methods and Limits

Flood extent mapping from Sentinel-1 SAR is now routine, but translating backscatter into actual water depths is far harder. This article breaks down the main methods, hydraulic model fusion, DEM differencing, and their real limits, for Indian flood contexts.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of farmland near Kurukshetra, Haryana
30 Jun 20266 min

GRACE-FO vs GRACE: What Changed for Groundwater Monitoring

GRACE-FO introduced laser ranging and improved accelerometers over its predecessor, but instrument upgrades and a one-year data gap create real methodological challenges for anyone building long-term groundwater depletion records over India.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of Ahmedabad and the Sabarmati, Gujarat
29 Jun 20267 min

SUHI vs RUHI: Separating Surface and Air Temperature in UHI Studies

SUHI measures radiative skin temperature from satellites; conventional UHI measures screen-level air temperature. Conflating the two leads to flawed mitigation policy in Indian cities where ground-truth met data is scarce.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of the Ganga between Rishikesh and Haridwar
28 Jun 20267 min

RTK vs PPK GNSS: Choosing the Right Mode for Drone Surveys

RTK and PPK both deliver centimetre-level GNSS accuracy for drone surveys, but the right choice depends on your data link reliability, terrain, and post-processing workflow, a decision that matters especially across India's varied field conditions.

Read article
Ground Sampling Distance Explained: How GSD Affects Map Accuracy
27 Jun 20267 min

Ground Sampling Distance Explained: How GSD Affects Map Accuracy

Ground sampling distance (GSD) sets the resolution ceiling for every drone survey output. This article explains the GSD formula, application-specific thresholds for Indian projects, and the most common field mistakes that make datasets unusable.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of Bengaluru's road network
26 Jun 20267 min

Network Analysis in QGIS: Shortest Path and Service Area Tools

A practical guide to network analysis in QGIS covering shortest path routing and service area tools, with India-specific data preparation steps, a Nagpur worked example, and guidance on the QNEAT3 plugin for isochrone generation.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of the Ganga plain around Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
25 Jun 20266 min

Exporting Large GEE Results to Google Drive Without Hitting Limits

GEE exports silently fail at scale because of pixel count limits, file size constraints, and Drive storage quirks. This post explains spatial tiling, key export parameters, and when to switch from Drive to Cloud Storage for large-area workflows.

Read article
Landsat Surface Temperature: Retrieving LST from Band 10 Step by Step
24 Jun 20267 min

Landsat Surface Temperature: Retrieving LST from Band 10 Step by Step

A step-by-step technical walkthrough of Landsat LST retrieval from Band 10, covering DN-to-radiance conversion, brightness temperature, NDVI-based emissivity estimation, and where calibration errors cost you several degrees Celsius.

Read article
Sentinel-2 Atmospheric Correction: DOS vs Sen2Cor vs ACOLITE
23 Jun 20267 min

Sentinel-2 Atmospheric Correction: DOS vs Sen2Cor vs ACOLITE

Choosing the wrong atmospheric correction method can silently bias every NDVI, land cover, or water quality result you derive from Sentinel-2. This article compares DOS, Sen2Cor, and ACOLITE against the aerosol and humidity conditions typical of India and South Asia.

Read article
Random Forest vs SVM for LULC Classification: Which Wins in GEE?
22 Jun 20266 min

Random Forest vs SVM for LULC Classification: Which Wins in GEE?

A direct comparison of Random Forest and SVM for LULC classification in Google Earth Engine, using Indian landscape challenges, class imbalance, monsoon cloud cover, and spectral confusion, to show where each algorithm actually wins.

Read article
Mapping Reservoir Storage Changes with NDWI and Landsat in GEE
21 Jun 20266 min

Mapping Reservoir Storage Changes with NDWI and Landsat in GEE

A step-by-step guide to mapping seasonal reservoir storage changes across India using NDWI and Landsat imagery in Google Earth Engine, with honest notes on turbidity, cloud shadow, and threshold validation.

Read article
NDVI Time-Series Analysis in GEE: Detecting Seasonal Crop Cycles
20 Jun 20267 min

NDVI Time-Series Analysis in GEE: Detecting Seasonal Crop Cycles

A technical walkthrough of building NDVI time-series workflows in Google Earth Engine to detect kharif, rabi, and zaid crop cycles across Indian agricultural landscapes, covering collection setup, cloud masking, and phenology curve extraction.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of farmland mosaic near Ludhiana, Punjab
19 Jun 20267 min

Resourcesat-2A LISS-IV Explained: Bands, Resolution and Use Cases

A practitioner-oriented reference explaining Resourcesat-2A LISS-IV's spectral bands, 5.8 m resolution, and how it compares to Sentinel-2 and Landsat for India-specific mapping workflows.

Read article
SAR Coherence for Landslide Mapping: Sentinel-1 Methods Explained
18 Jun 20267 min

SAR Coherence for Landslide Mapping: Sentinel-1 Methods Explained

SAR coherence change detection lets disaster managers map monsoon landslides in the Himalayas and Western Ghats even under total cloud cover. This article walks through the full Sentinel-1 SLC processing workflow in SNAP and explains where the method succeeds and fails in Indian terrain.

Read article
DEM Vertical Accuracy: SRTM vs ALOS vs Copernicus Compared
17 Jun 20267 min

DEM Vertical Accuracy: SRTM vs ALOS vs Copernicus Compared

A technical comparison of SRTM, ALOS AW3D30, and Copernicus DEM vertical accuracy across India's diverse terrain, with a decision framework for watershed delineation, flood mapping, and landslide modelling.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of irrigated farmland near Karnal, Haryana
16 Jun 20266 min

Crop Water Stress Mapping with Sentinel-2 NDWI and NDRE in GEE

NDVI lags crop water stress by days that cost yield. This article shows how to map early stress across the Indo-Gangetic Plain using Sentinel-2 NDWI and NDRE in Google Earth Engine, with step-by-step GEE code.

Read article
Optical vs SAR Flood Mapping: Choosing the Right Satellite Data
15 Jun 20267 min

Optical vs SAR Flood Mapping: Choosing the Right Satellite Data

SAR or optical imagery for flood mapping in India? This article breaks down the decision logic, cloud cover, terrain, timing, and use case, with evidence from Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 studies across Indian flood-prone regions.

Read article
Detecting Saltwater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers with Remote Sensing
14 Jun 20266 min

Detecting Saltwater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers with Remote Sensing

A practical walkthrough of how satellite sensors, InSAR, and EMI surveys detect saltwater intrusion in India's coastal aquifers across Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Odisha, and where each method's limits lie.

Read article
Mapping Urban Heat Islands with Landsat LST in Google Earth Engine
13 Jun 20267 min

Mapping Urban Heat Islands with Landsat LST in Google Earth Engine

A practical GEE workflow for mapping urban heat islands using Landsat 8 LST in Delhi NCR, covering NDVI-based emissivity estimation, Band 10 brightness temperature conversion, and the full LST retrieval formula.

Read article
GNSS Jamming and RTK Surveys: What Field Teams Must Know
12 Jun 20267 min

GNSS Jamming and RTK Surveys: What Field Teams Must Know

GNSS jamming and spoofing are growing threats to RTK and PPK surveys in India. This guide explains how interference breaks carrier-phase positioning and what field teams can do to detect and recover from it.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of east Delhi around the Ghazipur landfill
11 Jun 20267 min

Drone Surveys for Waste Quantification: Methods and Accuracy

A technical walkthrough of drone photogrammetry workflows for legacy waste quantification in India, using the Bandhwari landfill survey as a case study, covering GCPs, GSD, and realistic volume accuracy.

Read article
Watershed Delineation in QGIS Using SRTM DEM: Step by Step
10 Jun 20266 min

Watershed Delineation in QGIS Using SRTM DEM: Step by Step

A step-by-step QGIS workflow for watershed delineation using free SRTM 30 m DEM, covering sink filling, flow direction, flow accumulation, stream extraction, and pour-point snapping, with India-specific guidance on where the process commonly fails.

Read article
Mapping Soil Salinity in GEE: Indices, Datasets and Code
9 Jun 20265 min

Mapping Soil Salinity in GEE: Indices, Datasets and Code

A practical guide to mapping soil salinity in Google Earth Engine using validated spectral indices, Sentinel-2 and Landsat datasets, and code patterns tuned for India's Indo-Gangetic Plain and coastal deltas.

Read article
Landsat Band Combinations: Which to Use and When
8 Jun 20267 min

Landsat Band Combinations: Which to Use and When

A practical reference guide to Landsat 8 and 9 band combinations, natural color, false color, agriculture, and more, with Indian landscape contexts including the IGP, Punjab croplands, and Deccan scrub.

Read article
Sentinel-2 Cloud Masking: SCL Band vs. s2cloudless Compared
7 Jun 20267 min

Sentinel-2 Cloud Masking: SCL Band vs. s2cloudless Compared

A technical comparison of Sentinel-2's built-in SCL band and the s2cloudless ML model for cloud masking, with a focus on Indian monsoon conditions where cloud cover disrupts agricultural monitoring and flood mapping.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of farmland near Hisar, Haryana
6 Jun 20266 min

Red Edge Indices for Crop Stress Detection: Beyond NDVI

Red edge indices like NDRE and CIre detect crop stress weeks before NDVI saturates, here is how to apply them on Sentinel-2 imagery for Indian wheat and rice fields.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of the Brahmaputra around Majuli, Assam
6 Jun 20267 min

SAR Flood Mapping with Sentinel-1: How It Works and Why It Matters for India

SAR flood mapping with Sentinel-1 works through microwave backscatter contrast between water and land, and with India's new ISRO-Jal Shakti MOU, it is moving from research into operational policy. Here is how the technique actually works, step by step.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of the Indira Gandhi Canal command area near Suratgarh, Rajasthan
6 Jun 20267 min

How GRACE Satellites Measure Groundwater Loss Beneath Your Feet

GRACE and GRACE-FO satellites measure tiny changes in Earth's gravitational field to track groundwater depletion from orbit, a method now central to water-resource monitoring in India and globally.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of the Western Ghats around Kodagu, Karnataka
6 Jun 20266 min

Reading NDVI: turning Sentinel-2 into vegetation insight

NDVI turns red and near-infrared bands into a simple measure of how green and healthy vegetation is. Here is how I compute and read it from Sentinel-2 and Landsat in my Punjab and Delhi NCT work.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of Roorkee and the Upper Ganga Canal, Uttarakhand
29 May 20267 min

GCPs and GNSS: how to get drone maps to line up

A practical guide to ground control points and GNSS for accurate drone maps, drawn from my UAV photogrammetry work at IIT Roorkee using Emlid Reach RS3 and Trimble DA.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of Delhi along the Yamuna
21 May 20267 min

Buffer analysis and zonal statistics in QGIS, explained

A practical guide to buffer zones and zonal statistics in QGIS for measuring environmental footprint, grounded in my Delhi NCT industrial impact work with Sentinel-2 indices.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of Chandigarh's sector grid and Sukhna Lake
13 May 20266 min

QGIS vs ArcGIS Pro: which GIS tool should you learn?

An honest practitioner comparison of QGIS and ArcGIS Pro for GIS and remote sensing work, with cost, workflow, and practical advice for students in India.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of Mumbai and its harbour
5 May 20267 min

NDWI and NDBI explained: mapping water and built-up land

A plain guide to NDWI and NDBI: the formulas, band pairs, and how I read them alongside NDVI to map water, moisture, and built-up land in India.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of farmland near Sangrur, Punjab
27 Apr 20266 min

Groundwater depletion in Punjab: what 25 years of satellite data reveal

Punjab grows much of India's grain but is draining its aquifers fast. Here is how Landsat NDVI and NDWI change maps over 2000-2025, paired with groundwater data, expose the stress.

Read article
Landsat satellite view of the Sundarbans delta
19 Apr 20266 min

Sentinel-2 bands explained: a practical beginner guide

A plain, practical guide to Sentinel-2 bands, their 10/20/60 m resolutions, and which bands to use for NDVI, NDWI, and NDBI, with free Copernicus access.

Read article
Aerial survey drone flying over a landscape, illustrating UAV photogrammetry from flight planning to orthomosaic generation
11 Apr 20267 min

Drone photogrammetry step by step: from flight plan to orthomosaic

A field-tested guide to UAV photogrammetry, from flight planning and ground control to processing an orthomosaic, DSM, and point cloud, drawn from my survey work at IIT Roorkee.

Read article
Student working on a laptop at a desk while studying, representing learning GIS and remote sensing to start a career in India
3 Apr 20267 min

How to start a career in GIS and remote sensing in India

A practical roadmap to break into GIS and remote sensing in India: degrees, QGIS and ArcGIS, Python, Google Earth Engine, Esri and IIRS/ISRO certifications, projects, and where to find jobs.

Read article
View of Earth from space with glowing connected lights, evoking Google Earth Engine planetary-scale cloud processing of satellite data
26 Mar 20267 min

Google Earth Engine: cloud remote sensing for everyone

Google Earth Engine puts decades of satellite data and planetary-scale processing in your browser. Here is what it is, why it matters, and how to start.

Read article