Bhuvan: ISRO takes on Google Earth with might

BANGALORE, INDIA: India couldn't have asked for a better gift than ISRO's (India Space Research Organisation) 'Bhuvan', especially when its sixty-second birthday is just round the corner.

Neither could have ISRO sought for a better occasion for the launch of its much awaited and ambitious project, than on August 12, the 90th birth anniversary of Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space programme.

‘Bhuvan’, which means earth in Sanskrit, is not just the Indian version of Google Earth and Wikimapia. The remote sensing 3D image portal something more than that – a strong answer to such mapping application websites. It is really a powerful tool as the Minister of State in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan called it.

This venture of ISRO is by all means a giant leap into satellite imagery of geographical regions, that too not so long after its successful space venture Chandrayaan -1. Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), a part of ISRO, has a lead role in designing and developing ‘Bhuvan’.

Bhuvan will allow users to have a closer look at any part of the subcontinent, barring sensitive locations such as military and nuclear installations. The site, among other things, offers tools to measure horizontal, vertical and aerial distances.

The content for Bhuvan has been developed using data provided by seven Indian remote sensing satellites including Resourcesat-1, Cartosat-1 and Cartosat-2. Bhuvan will focus on rural and thematic applications like wasteland mapping, terrain profile and weather details.

Bhuvan will be able to produce very local information which will be specific to only to India. This information available from this mapping system will be useful in addressing very local problems like floods, famines, infrastructure development, education and much more

Down the lane it is all set to give Google Earth a tough ride. How? Here is the answer: 

Source: Wikipedia

Unlike the other two, Bhuvan allows you to zoom far closer than the aerial view from a chopper. If Google Earth shows details up to 200 metres distance and Wikimapia up to 50 metres, Bhuvan will show images up to 10 metres, which means you can easily see details up to a three-floor high building and also add information.

Bhuvan will use the data recorded by the Indian satellites only. While other mapping sites take four years to update, Bhuvan will be upgraded every year. Unlike the other two webmaps, Bhuvan will focus only on the Indian sub-continent.

The information on Bhuvan will be layer wise and the options of viewing filtered information will be available. Inputs from a lot of local players, like farmers, fishermen and likes who know the local area in and out, will also being integrated in Bhuvan. This is for the primary reason to make it of more use to the general public.

All said apart, a doubt lingers in the corner of many minds that will Bhuvan also fall in the hands of terrorists, similar to what happened with Google Earth during the recent Mumbai attack.

However, such fears haven’t stopped any technology innovation till date, nor it would in future, after all every coin has two sides, which are never the same.

So, What could be next in line from ISRO? Any guesses...Nothing less than an unmanned mission to Mars in the next decade! So buck up India.