Bhuvan is ISRO's new eye in the sky

AHMEDABAD: Imagine if you could count the lions in Gir or fishermen could locate fish shoals in the sea, just by the click of a mouse. Space

Applications Centre of ISRO has just made that possible by an innovation called 'Bhuvan'.

'Bhuvan', meaning 'earth', is the addition to the numerous scientific innovations by SAC and is a satellite mapping tool, just like Google Earth or Wikimapia, but allows you to zoom far closer than the aerial view from a chopper. If Google Earth shows details down to 200 metre resolution on the surface and Wikimapia to 50 metres, Bhuvan will have image resolution down to 10 metre, which means you can easily see details up to a three floor high building and also add information.

Announcing this at the 28th International Congress on Collaborative Mapping and Space Technology of the Indian National Cartographic Association (INCA) at Gandhinagar recently, ISRO chairman Dr G Madhavan Nair said: "Bhuvan will use the data recorded by the Indian satellites only. The prototype of Bhuvan will be ready by the end of November and ISRO is hoping to officially launch the service by March next."