Darshana Rawal
Dr. DARSHANA RAWAL, working as a Akademische Mitarbeiterin in Hochschule für Technik Stuttgart. Recently, she has been occupied with the Data Security Project. She holds a Ph.D. in Geography, an M.Sc. in Geomatics, and a Master degree in computer Applications. She has amassed 18 years of experience in teaching and research. Information Science and Geospatial Technology are her areas of specialization. Her expertise lies in Disaster, Health, Sustainable Environment, and Urban Eco-systems, which includes City Planning, Infrastructure, Environment, and IT-based web development. GIS, Web-GIS, Crowd Sourcing and Participatory-GIS, Digital Image Processing, and various other subjects are all taught by her. She is a member of various international Societies and organizations, those are: Member of the GeoforAll 2023; Co-Chair of WG V/3 Open Source Promotion and Web-based Resource Sharing; Member of the International Advisory Editorial Board of the Geo-Progress Journal; Member of the Scientific Council for the section "Methodological and Technical Issues of Geographic Information and Spatial Analysis; of GeoProgress Journal; Member, UN Open GIS Initiative of OSGeo, Member, FOSS4G an Academic/Scientific Track (AT), First Prize for ‘Most Active Congress Contributor’ in XXIII ISPRS Congress, Prague, Czech Republic, 2016 and Excellence Award for a Project on” Use of MongoDB for Social Media Database Management” during International Geoinformatics Summer School at Wuhan University, China, 2015.
She was a Major contributor to handling an OSGEO Lab at the CEPT University from 2013 to 2021, She is also a Major Contributor to teaching an open source to the More than 100 Women Scientists who are the beneficiaries of the Women Scientist Scheme of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. She has also taken three major Winter/Summer courses on Geospatial Technology for Open Source GIS, where QGIS for GIS, SAGA for Remote Sensing, and POSTGRES and Geoserver for WebGIS are taught.
Sessions
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Introduction
Geospatial data has become an essential part of modern technological ecosystems, fuelling advancements in areas such as navigation, logistics, disaster management, and smart city planning. The capacity to capture and utilize accurate location information has significantly improved decision-making processes, resource allocation, and real-time situational awareness. However, as the use of geospatial data expands, so do the associated risks of storing, transmitting, and processing this information.
Blockchain technology offers enhanced security, transparency, and decentralization, which holds transformative potential for geospatial data sharing. The quality and trustworthiness of shared data have been damaged due to the lack of transparency and credibility of intelligent sources. The objective is to Geospatial data management is being revolutionized by blockchain technology, which provides a decentralized and tamper-proof framework for data provenance. Users can trust the data they access by using this immutable record of data lineage, which enhances traceability and establishes clear data ownership.
This paper introduces a combination of Blockchain technology (to ensure transparent data integrity) and cryptography (to provide data confidentiality) as a solution to these issues. We present a prototype implementation of this proposed scheme as well as corresponding experimental results obtained with an actual smart city data set. -
Technology Used
2.1 Blockchain
Blockchain technology has emerged as a promising avenue for addressing the security and integrity demands of sensitive data. By distributing information across a network of nodes, blockchains offer immutability, transparency, and decentralized governance. Yet, implementing a blockchain-based platform for geospatial data introduces several key challenges. Large datasets, complex retrieval requirements, and the computational overhead of blockchain transactions can complicate system design.
2.2 Cryptographic
Cryptographic methods, specifically AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) for symmetric encryption and RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) for asymmetric encryption, have long been used by industries to protect digital information. Efficient end-to-end encryption and secure key management are crucial for confidentiality and integrity in a blockchain context when combined with AES and RSA in a hybrid cryptosystem. Moreover, Proof-of-Location (PoL) protocols such as FOAM add a novel layer of authenticity by verifying the real-world coordinates that underlie each data entry, making it substantially more difficult for attackers to spoof or tamper with location records.
2.3 Web3 and Open Standard Protocols
The development of innovative geospatial applications and markets can also be facilitated by Web3. Open standards for consensus-driven mapping and proof of location are provided by decentralized platforms like the FOAM protocol, which enable the creation of thrustless geospatial data ecosystems. The geospatial space has several noteworthy Web3 projects, including Shamba, a decentralized geospatial data oracle, and Geodnet, a decentralized network for sharing and monetizing geospatial data.
2.4 Smart Contract
A smart contract is a contract that can be executed by itself, with code embedded with rules and agreements, and deployed on a blockchain. Transacting without intermediaries is assured through thrustless, automated, and tamper-proof transactions. The automation of data access control and the enforcement of predefined rules can be done by smart contracts, ensuring that data is shared only with authorized participants.
2.5 Used Technology in paper
In this paper, a comparative analysis compares the performance, computational overhead, and scalability of AES and RSA. Factors such as encryption/decryption speed, memory footprint, and transaction costs determine blockchain's suitability for large-scale geospatial datasets. A prototype system has been created to show the complete process, from encryption and blockchain-based storage to on-demand retrieval and secure decryption, while keeping sensitive location information confidential and intact.
- Data Integrity and Access Control
Web3 technologies, based on blockchain principles, are advancing the decentralized storage and processing of spatial data. Decentralized file systems like IPFS and Filecoin enable the distributed storage of large geospatial datasets, ensuring data availability and resilience. By removing single points of failure, these systems allow for efficient data retrieval and sharing.
In addition, blockchain enables the secure sharing of data between peers without relying on centralized authorities. By directly exchanging geospatial data between parties, there is no need to employ intermediaries, and there is a reduced risk of data tampering.
Blockchain technology, however, does not provide proper access control to data stored within the blockchain. Therefore, data stored within the blockchain needs to be encrypted in order to ensure that data can only be read by proper entities (access control).
4. Experiment
The objective of this paper is to combine blockchain technology and cryptographic techniques to guarantee data integrity as well as access control for geospatial data when storing and transmitting it. The research examines the architecture of how encrypted geospatial coordinates can be committed to a blockchain, ensuring immutability while maintaining controlled access. Smart contracts ensure that data-sharing policies are enforced and user permissions are validated, thereby decreasing the need for centralized intermediaries. The practical viability of this system has been evaluated by a proof-of-concept prototype that includes metrics like encryption/decryption speed, on-chain data overhead, and access latency.
A comparative analysis of centralized vs. is used in the research to evaluate the proposed framework. Security, scalability, and performance are the main concerns of decentralized approaches.
This involves analyzing various encryption techniques and quantifying the difference between on-chain and off-chain. The feasibility of large-scale geospatial datasets is tested within the constraints of blockchain networks through off-chain storage trade-offs. The study investigates the role of Proof-of-Location protocols in enhancing location authenticity and resilience against spoofing.
- Conclusion
To sum it up, this paper is aimed at offering a complete solution to the long-standing problem of securely managing geospatial data, covering everything from cryptographic confidentiality to blockchain immutability and location verification. The goal of the work is to demonstrate the technical feasibility and broader impact of integrating AES, RSA, and Proof-of-Location into real-world geospatial applications by combining them on a blockchain platform. The paper details the design and implementation of a system, demonstrates empirical results, and discusses future developments for scalability and regulatory compliance.