Seven days after it was launched, Isro’s answer to Google Earth gets nearly 23,000 downloads a day
Touted as India's answer to Google Earth and Microsoft's Virtual Earth, Bhuvan — a geoportal that allows users to explore a virtual world for free in a 3D environment, with specific emphasis on India — is receiving phenomenal response. Just seven days after it was launched on August 13, nearly 23,000 people from 70 countries around the world have been downloading it daily — amounting to156,000 downloads till date.
"Around 100 people have been registering with us every minute during peak hours, and 35 to 40 people have been registering to download this application every minute since the launch," V Jayaraman, director, National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), told Business Standard.
A 20-member team from NRSA (a part of Isro) had a lead role in designing and developing Bhuvan under the direction of Jayaraman and Isro Chairman Madhavan Nair.
"We wanted to showcase India's geo-capabilities. Bhuvan remains a visualisation tool. However, it's not a new idea. We have been deliberating on it for some time, having played around with thematic data for years. Our data products are being sold both in India and abroad. So we have a lot of experience in this space. We are only building on it," asserts Jayaraman.
Bhuvan, meaning Earth, allows users to view satellite imagery, value added information like the National Agricultural Drought Monitoring System (NADAMS), output of flood studies for certain areas, thematic information (wastelands, soils, watershed,water resources related maps), base layers (administrative boundaries, transport layers, water bodies, etc), and census information.
It's mandatory to register to use Bhuvan. The basic version of Bhuvan is free. Once you register and log in, you will be asked to download a Bhuvan plug-in. Once you successfully register, you will land on the Bhuvan 3D client page. The main window shows a globe, and you can navigate with your mouse or use the Heads-Up Display (HUD) option available on the right top corner. Double right click to zoom in, and double left click to zoom out (or use your mousewheel). Right click, hold and drag to pan.
Bhuvan is an initiative to showcase this distinctiveness of Indian imaging capabilities, including the thematic information derived from such imagery which could be of vital importance to the common man, with a focus on Indian region, says Jayaraman.
It displays satellite images of varying resolution of India’s surface, allowing users to see things like cities and important places of interest looking perpendicularly down or at an oblique angle, with different perspectives and can navigate through a 3D viewing environment.
The degree of resolution showcased is based on the points of interest and popularity, but most of the Indian terrain is covered up to at least 5.8 metres of resolution.
Comparisons are odious but cannot be avoided with Google Earth and Microsoft's Virtual Earth. "These comparisons are a media creation," says Jayaraman. "Hats off to the remote sensing capabilities of these two companies. However, I must say that when it comes to India, we have very high-resolution images. We do not put this up on the website due to security concerns," he adds.
For instance, if Google Earth shows details upto 200 metres distance and Wikimapia upto 50 metres, Bhuvan can show images up to 10 metres, which means you can easily see details up to a three storey building.
But then, while Google Earth works on a downloadable client, Bhuvan works only on Windows and within Internet Explorer. "We will definitely get it to work on Linux and open source browsers in the long term. This is a beta version, and we support open source," says Jayaraman.
There are some other bugs in this beta version that are being ironed out. For instance, in the current version, you cannot add your own data (which you can do on Google Earth).
Users say the globe is slow to load. Besides, much of the data that ISRO says can be seen is not easily viewable. Jayaram admits to the bugs and says: "It's a work in progress, and the loads of feedback that we're getting will help us improve this product in the coming days."
Over time, he adds, many more unique functionalities will be added to this tool to address the common man's problems, particularly in the rural set-up of India and addressing natural resources management issues.
