New Delhi, Nov 11 (IANS): With the aim to reach one million developers in the next three years, leading Geographic Information System (GIS) software and solutions provider Esri India on Thursday launched ArcGIS Platform as-a-service (PaaS) that includes maps and location tools for building apps and innovative solutions.

With a full range of SDKs, APIs and low-code options, the platform will reduce time to market and promote creative design, enabling an open location-focused PaaS for software developers, businesses and organisations that need to bring maps and location services into their products, solutions and systems.

"Industry estimates suggest that by 2023 India will surpass the US to become the leading country with largest number of developers. This launch is our attempt to empower India's developer community so that they can build world class software solutions and systems right here in India and be able to deliver these globally," Agendra Kumar, Managing Director, Esri India, said in a statement.

"With the launch of ArcGIS platform as-a-service, Indian developer community and start-ups will have easy access to the most comprehensive, high-quality set of location services, data and mapping tools to bring their ideas to reality," Kumar added.

With this launch, developers in India will be able to get seamless access to Esri India's leading geospatial technology and capabilities. The developers can also access these services using their preferred APIs -- including open-source mapping libraries as well as Esri's web and native APIs.

This will allow them to speed up the development of apps, helping them to accurately monitor service usage, deliver enormous value and reduce time to market.

The launch of ArcGIS Platform will offer a full suite of developer tools and resources -- from technical documentation to software development kits (SDKs), sample source code, reference guides and virtual sandboxes, required for testing and developing new applications and products.