India rival to Google Earth

Rachmilievitch

Indian space agency Isro to roll out a rival to Google Earth

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/...cle5182639.ece

"Bhuvan will use a network of satellites to create a high-resolution, bird's-eye view of India – and later, possibly, the rest of the world – that will be accessible at no cost online and will compete with Google Earth."

Haylo

That is pretty impressive, I'll keep my eyes open for further developments!

__________________
The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful - E.E. Cummings, poet (1894-1962)

snonymous

Interesting. Please post the weblink as soon as you get to know of it, assuming it materialises. Given Indian red tape, this may not be anytime soon!

artisticanurag

sounds very interesting...Im am happy but i think we should first compete with US traffic system and civic amenities etc... we would have more satisfied youth then ! They would prefer staying in India resulting India's growth.

__________________
Anurag Sahu (Ricky)

Rock & Delhi
When Ricky Plays Critic
Unveiling India

edwardseco

Good penetrating comment..

artisticanurag

Thanks edward, your provably the first one to like what i say.

Moving on to the topic - Yes i think it is very debatable why we are spending money on these advancements. The government aims to achieve recognition and some momentary capital out of these stunts. It however neglects the larger interest of citizens. Surprisingly we are said that it doesn't not have enough revenue to feed the poor, it however cant make a proper system to make resources properly utilized, it cant even rectify a mere traffic system. What are we trying to achieve here ?

I am starting a new topic inside “ Delhi” about how prepared Delhi is for 2010 common wealth games.

shashank.aggarwal

Anurag, you will be glad to know that you are not the first one to raise this here. Thread after thread has gone into such discussion, and finally everyone ends up agreeing that these things are necessary. And then again after few months a new member comes and raises the question, and then thread after thread of discussion, but the same conclusion, so its better you look for those threads. Because I am in no mood to get into this. Again.

__________________
Spineless

Travelogue - Around India

dipydoo

I lived through the days when the SLVs and ASLVs with the Apples and IRSs ended up in the ocean one after the other. Similar questions were asked that too quite publically by many. The same was done for the Insat programme too.

But over the years these programs have given fruit. The insat satellites now are used to predict weather conditions that u do not hear about fishermen lost at sea and boats missing. They have advanced communication to the extant that mobile penetration is extremely high. The benefits of these were drawn years after the first steps.

People are poor but there are no famines, no large scale starvation, no food riots. Things are difficult but do give credit esp when you are dealing with a billion people. The major problem in India is that of delivery rather than availability of funds.

The youth are never satisfied! (I was young too, once)

Nick-H

Let's stick to the what, rather than the whys and wherefores. please.

This is a thread about maps (or closely allied), in the mapping section of the forum.

Any more posts that are way off-topic on this one
will be deleted.

Cayle

Am I the only one who notices the irony in a program to give out high resolution mapping of India to all comers when foreigners are not allowed to buy topo maps from the Survey of India?

Having said that, I'll be trying out Bhuvan as soon as it come out.

__________________
Blog - http://ayearinindia.wordpress.com/
Panoramo Photos - http://www.panoramio.com/user/1275355

DrHeckleAndMrSnide

If it is anything like the massive power generation projects they keep announcing every now and then, it will be some time coming.

As far as the argument on whether it's worth spending money on such
programs in the face of extant corruption/poverty etc in India, I'd like to argue that it would in fact help the anti-corruption crusaders. A 10 m resolution would help them to have conclusive evidence in case some contractor claims to have fulfilled the allocated [say road or infrastructure] contract and pocketed the money without any work actually.... think of it like a giant CC TV network accessible to the lay public.... I think it will be a boon to fight corrupt underdevelopment.

__________________
If at first you don't succeed, try management

shahronakm

Nice project. Hope it goes online soon.

Ronak.

__________________
My Picture Gallery

nyraghu

It isn't just foreigners --- the SoI doesn't sell topographical maps of restricted areas to Indians too. In fact, when I was at the SoI Map Sales Office in Dehradun earlier this month, I met an engineer from a construction company building a power project near Srinagar (Garhwal), who had come with an official request for several topo maps. They gave him all but the ones of the restricted areas. When I asked him what he was going to do about those, he said he'll get them from the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited who, being a relevant governmental organization, had all of them.

Like many others, I too feel harassed by the map situation in India. Even the District Planning Maps for all the districts in Garhwal were not available at the SoI; I could manange to buy only the Dehradun and Tehri Garhwal ones. The much lauded US Army U502 series is still not detailed enough. For instance, on a recent trek in Garhwal, I found that most of the campsites and small villages I passed were not marked in the U502 maps, leave alone on Google maps. I wouldn't mind spending on the Garhwal maps from Leomann or the Swiss Foundation for Alpine Research, but I don't know if they are any more detailed than the U502 maps. The only remedy seems to be to buy a good GPS receiver, and add place marks on existing maps such as the U502 ones.

In any case, I expect the ISRO project under discussion will also be subject to the same constraints as the SoI in making maps of border areas public.

Raghu.

__________________
colorless green ideas sleep furiously

Dilliwala

Can I give a 'typically desi' answer?
Bhuvan is being created SO THAT YOU FOREIGNERS HAVE A WAY AROUND the SOI restrictions.
And Raghu is right - the restrictions have nothing to do with nationality.

Aah, one of my favouritest topics under the sun, the SOI.

That engineer cud still get them for his organisation - if he went the official route of sending a request to HQ, the letter he handed to the sales office is not good enough. Of course that wud take a month or more too, getting processed thru HQ.

A pity you cudn't get the others (Dehradun and Pauri Garhwal only actually). Whenever I'm passing thru next I'll see if they are available and get hold of them for you. You do know that DPMs are not much use as trekking maps though.

Cayle

Down here in Bangalore, they do, so I get around them using U502 maps, google earth and wikimapia.org. Do these SOI fellows even know of these other resources? I’m surprised they have not blocked GE as the resolution of some areas around here is far greater than the usual 1:50000 series topo maps.

On the other hand... I sent my driver to the SOI office in Koromungala one day to try and buy some selected maps. They did not want to sell him any. I suspect that they suspected he wanted them for smuggling/poaching. Next time, I'll sweet talk a more upper class neighbor into trying.

There is good daytrip trekking to be had around Bangalore, you just have to persevere in finding it; and the bloody SOI is an obstacle rather than a help.


I want them of Garhwal purely for vicarious travel. It would be great to have a map handy while reading Corbett.