ISRO Bhuvan Reaches Remote Villages In India Where Google Earth Can't

[David James]

ISRO Bhuvan Reaches Remote Villages In India Where Google Earth Can't


Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) created "Bhuvan" in 1999 - a software application to let users explore the 3D representation of the Earth, a la Google Earth. The application was available only in 2D until now and according to Indian Express, a new 3D mode has now been enabled. The scientists say that the move will bring Bhuvan at par with Google Earth. The official Bhuvan portal : Bhuvan - Gateway to Indian Earth Observation | ISRO offers both 2D and 3D versions of the application, including 'Pocket Bhuvan' which is accessible from Smartphones and offeres navigation like Google Navigation.

[Varanasi, As Seen In ISRO, Bhuvan]


Bhuvan was launched in 2009 to mark the 90th birth anniversary of Vikram Sarabhai and the site's currently maintained by Hyderabad based National Remote Sensing Center. Himanshu Pandya, a scientist at the Space Application Center (SAC) says that the biggest advantage ISRO Bhuvan has over Google Earth is that it's enabled to map even the remotest corner of the Indian territory.

We tried launching Google Earth on our Macs and found that both 2D and 3D buttons would lead to downloading of file called 'bhuvanShellUrl.asp'. We later learned that the application has been optimised for IE6 on Windows XP. That didn't surprise us, given the reluctance Government has in upgrading to the latest operating system. But, IE6? Seriously ISRO?

We'd request our readers who're forced to use Windows XP & IE6 at work or college to test the application for us and share your feedback. We'd like to know your opinion on whether the service is at par with Google Earth. We're especially interested in knowing whether Bhuvan can really reach where Google Earth can't.

Go!

ISRO Bhuvan Reaches Remote Villages In India Where Google Earth Can't | CrazyEngineers

 

[soumya1989]

go isro go

go isro go

 

[PANTHERA TIGRIS]

i tried bhuvan twice , last time some 1 year back , it was kind a difficult to start ! they may have an excellent database but it is not very easy to work with ! hope it is better now !

 

[kurup]

I also tried to use Bhuvan a number of times. The experience was pretty pathetic.In no way it comes anywhere near Google Earth.

 

[cloud]

Well. I'm not expecting the Bhuvan to give user experience as better as Google earth in next decade. Google earth itself was not that good a few year ago(i. e. slow loading of maps etc). But since we already have the products in market with much better user experience, I think we need to bring in some Good IT company such as Infosys or TCS into these kind of role(similar to what US army has contracts with IT companies to develop their S/Ws, a few multi billion dollor IT companies actually make their half of revenue from US army's order alone). These IT companies can actually manage to hire people from yahoo/MS/google, even if they don't have the capable people for such solutions. A few million dollars of contract with such companies will make the Bhuvan or as such any other Indian sites much better and competitive. But our babus/govt IT dept. people will not let go that easy and safe money. (most of them can hardly use any programming lang, work is done by hardly 5% of people, thats why the results). What needs is a bit of reform where the IT is concerned.

 

[Brahmos_2]

I also tried to use Bhuvan a number of times. The experience was pretty pathetic.In no way it comes anywhere near Google Earth.

Download & install Bhuvan's .exe file...Its much better now.

http://bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in/bhuvan/PDF/BhuvanSetup2.0.exe

 

[livingdead]

last time I tried, it did not work.. the software was made by some other company it seems.