Google Earth better watch out. It’s got competition. India jumped into satellite imagery waters with the launch of ‘Bhuvan’ (Sanskrit for Earth), a virtual globe-mapping application website like Google Earth. Excited, you ask? That’s an understatement. I’m ecstatic. This application marks a milestone for India and can put it happily chugging up the road to developed country status.
When Google Earth was released in 2005, people were awe-struck. Google gave every individual with internet access the privilege to see what astronauts see. We were give access to see our world from space; to view continents, countries, states, cities, villages and even our homes from a completely fascinating top view. We were given wings and could fly around the world to see what the streets of Paris and New York look like, and fly back and see the tops of our own houses; all this while sitting in front of our computers. To me, this represented a part of our future. A glimpse into the enormous strides and greater privileges our children would get to witness. Also, a glimpse into one’s finiteness and how we could wrap our whole world onto our computer screens. Today, it’s earth, tomorrow it could be our galaxy and, dare I say, beyond.
Google Earth shrunk our world and presented it to us with neat packaging and great features. Today, India has gone beyond that giving us rich features including superior zoom capability of 10 meters (as opposed to Google Earth’s 200 meters!), multiple views from different angles apart from the default top-down perpendicular view, thematic information on soil, wasteland, and water resources, and special emphasis on the Indian terrain.
This is what I’ve heard, from news reports. Of course, actual implementation remains to be seen. As with a lot of things Indian, there are those blasted glitches and potholes. Getting Bhuvan to actually work on your computer seems to be a bit of a mystery and online reviews will vouch for that. But we’re getting there. I still stick to rooting for ISRO. Bhuvan is a giant feather in the organisation’s cap and this Independence Day I earnestly pray that the application will deliver all that it claims to and more.
I completely agree with you Sumira. When is "Bhuvan" scheduled to launch? Once implemented and launched, I am sure it is going to take India to a different league in terms of technology.
ReplyDeleteHey Kumudh. Thanks for being the first one to comment on my blog. Keep em rollin! And by the way, Bhuvan was launched on 12th August.
ReplyDeleteHi Sumira, Congratulations on the blog and keep up the great writing.
ReplyDeleteYeah..keep blogging..Hoping to see more blogs from u.
ReplyDeleteInformative:-)
ReplyDeleteKeep it up.