BHASHINI–Survey of India MoU enables AI-driven creation of National Place Name Database covering over 16 lakh locations

Key facts

• The Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology signed an MoU with Survey of India to digitise, transcribe and standardise geographical place names using AI-based speech and language technologies.
• Survey of India, the national nodal agency for standardisation and maintenance of geographical names, will integrate BHASHINI’s speech-to-text and language processing capabilities to convert audio recordings into structured digital text for a validated Toponymy Database covering more than 16 lakh locations.
• The collaboration will support the National Geographical Name Information System by processing field-collected audio data into multiple scripts including local language scripts, Devanagari and Roman formats, ensuring consistency across national maps and governance platforms.