Indian Space Research Organization’s National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) has updated its Google-Earth like satellite mapping tool Bhuvan. The new features include –
Open Source Bhuvan 3D: NRSC has released a platform and plugin independent 3D ‘globe’, Bhuvan 3D – based on WebGL. By default, the globe displays satellite imagery. Places can be searched for although its listings are not as comprehensive as Google Earth’s. Interestingly, satellite imagery for Sri Lanka is also viewable and although places are not named, fairly detailed street level views of some of the larger cities are clearly visible. Certain overlays such as Administrative boundaries, Road and Rail, Panchayat boundaries, Sub Basins, Basins and Rivers can be added to the map. The user can choose to view the globe as maps instead of satellite imagery to make better sense of the overlays.
The platform has also released 3D models of certain buildings. Currently, the list is limited to the Karnataka High Court, Clock Tower, Cyber Towers, Indian Bureau of Mines and NBSS & LUP. While the initiative is interesting, its lacking compared to Google Earth which currently lets anyone add 3D models of any architecture.
Disaster Management: NRSC has updated its disaster management tool to include an Early Warning System for rainfall triggered landslides. It currently covers 3 routes, Rishikesh-Badrinath, Chamoli-Okhimath and Rudraprayag-Kedarnath. A user can play an animated time series visualization to gauge the risk over time. Data about other landslide hazard routes in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are also available.
Currently, Disaster Management Information Support also provides data about cyclones, droughts, earthquakes, floods and forest fires.
State Viewer: NRSC also introduced a State Viewer in this update. The customized view displays information using various selectable overlays, including ones for district/village/mandal boundaries, soil details, census data, disaster specific datasets, polling booths, forest details, groundwater prospects and land use among other things. Large scale detailed maps of certain urban and rural areas are also displayed, although the lack of detailed labels undermines their utility. Only Andhra Pradesh is currently viewable through the state viewer, although the page layout suggests more states will be added soon.
Online Shape File Creation: This feature enables users to use tools to add areas like buildings, lakes and parks; straight lines like highways, streets, canals and pedestrian paths and points of interests like restaurants, postal boxes and monuments to the map. The user can also download the edited map data. Registering with Bhuvan is necessary to use this feature.
2D Enhancements: Bhuvan 2D has also been updated and now supports raster data, swipe and remove options for user added layers and Data of Pass for High Resolution datasets.
GIS Viewer: The GIS viewer can now be used to generate interactive online maps based on Choropleth and Point data from text files. The values need to be sorted by latitude and longitude values, the census 2011 code or name with classification.
Related:
– Bhuvan Upgraded: Mapping Tool, 2.5D City Models, Better High-Res Imagery & Others
– Bhuvan Goes Mobile, But Not On Play Store
– India’s “Google Earth” Bhuvan Upgraded: Disaster Services, Tourism Info, High Res
