Post By Aakash

Dear Friends,

The common man can now view sharper pictures of any part of the world on their personal computer using satellite images with ISRO today unveiling 'Bhuvan', its version of Google Earth. Minister of State in the PMO Prithviraj Chavan launched the beta version of the geoportal www.bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in at a day-long workshop of the Astronautical Society of India on "21st Century Challenges in Space -- Indian Context."

The new web-based tool allows users to have a closer look at any part of the subcontinent barring sensitive locations such as military and nuclear installations. The degree of resolution showcased is based on points of interest and popularity, but most of the Indian terrain is covered upto at least six meters of resolution with the least spatial resolution being 55 meters, an ISRO official said.

So, now ISRO joins the fray of 3D map software - joining the likes of Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth (bet you didn't know this one). For a long time, India's ISRO has been a market leader in remote sensing technologies (mapping the earth using satellites), but it dropped the ball a few years back when commercial companies such as DigitalGlobe and GeoEye (with its path-breaking IKONOS earth observation satellite) started offering higher resolution imagery than what ISRO could offer. With launches of new satellites in the CARTOSAT series, ISRO is back in the fight. Bhuvan offers a highest of 6m resolution pictures, which means ISRO is holding back the highest quality imagery it can provide. Quite possibly, Bhuvan is a marketing tool to show potential customers of ISRO's technical capabilities. But hey, 6m is still a lot better than Google Earth! Moreover, Google Earth images are usually a few years old; given that CARTOSATs are new, ISRO's Bhuvan would be providing more up-to-date images.

REGARDS, AAKASH E-member (E- club)