During the first half of 2009, ISRO(Indian Space Research Organisation) will come up with better answer for Google Earth with the announcement of the launch of its IRS(Indian Remote Sensing) image portal which will provide online maps based on GIS(Geographical Information System). Mr. G Madhavan Nair, ISRO Chairman, who was here to attend the inaugural function of the 28th INCA(Indian National Cartographic Association) International Congress on Collaborative Mapping and Space Technology, announced the launch of "Bhuvan", meaning earth which is equivalent to Google Earth, but will be much more precise.
This will provide the latest information on our natural resources and very accurate maps of the region with the latest picture. This will be more beneficial for the people of the country. The software and infrastructure necessary for the service is being established, though most of the information will be online, precision data will be given to selected users only. This service will have mapping of the entire earth, both in terms of the upper land surface and the exotic minerals down below.
Bhuvan will have the capacity to zoom upto 10m while Google earth currently zooms upto 200 m and Wikimapia upto 50 m. Unlike the other two, Bhuvan will focus only on the Indian subcontinent. With Bhuvan, it will be able to produce very local information which will be specific to only to our own country. This information available from this mapping system will be useful in addressing very local problems like floods, famines, infrastructure development,education and much more.
The information on Bhuvan will be layer wise and the options of viewing filtered information will also be available. Inputs are to be taken from a lot of local players, say farmers, fishermen etc will be integrated in Bhuvan. This makes it of more use to the general public. Also while other mapping sites take four years to update, Bhuvan will be upgraded every year. This will be able to give an image from only 10 meters away.
The ISRO Chairman expects the service to start in the coming six months and hopes that it will become an important tool to get valuable and updated information to the people. ISRO has also decided to launch an information portal under the name "Bhu Sampada". According to ISRO chairman, the launch of these two portals will provide new dimension to mapping technology of India. The portals will be capable of providing satellite images and thematic maps to the users. These collected data can be utilised for development purposes. This will be India's answer to current mapping tools like Google Earth and Wikimapia. So lets Wait and Watch!!!
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