ISRO's Bhuvan to beat Google Earth

Bhuvan's edge over Google Earth :

* Google Earth's Zoom levels up to 200 mt - ISRO's Bhuvan Zoom levels up to 10 mt
* Google Earth: Single layer information - ISRO's Bhuvan: Multi-layer information
* Google Earth: Images upgraded every 4 years - ISRO's Bhuvan: Images upgraded every year
* Google Earth: No alternate viewing options - ISRO's Bhuvan: Options of viewing on different dates
* Google Earth: Uses international satellites - ISRO's Bhuvan: Uses Indian satellites



And finally the day has arrived. We have covered ISRO's Bhuvan development right from the day it was announced and after ~4-5 months of delay, ISRO has finally launched Bhuvan.isro bhuvan

"Bhuvan, an ambitious project of ISRO was started to take Indian images and thematic information in multiple spatial resolutions to people through a web portal through easy access to information on basic natural resources in the geospatial domain. Bhuvan showcases Indian images by the superimposition of IRS satellite imageries on 3D globe. The degree of resolution showcased is based on the points of interest and popularity, but most of the Indian terrain is covered upto at least 5.8 meters of resolution with the least spatial resolution being 55 meters from AWifs Sensor.



Bhuvan Features :

* Visualise 2D and 3D image data along with rich thematic information on Soil, wasteland, water resources etc.
* Fly to locations ( Flies from the current location directly to the selected location)
* Heads-Up Display ( HUD) naviation controls ( Tilt slider, north indicator, opacity, compass ring, zoom slider)
* Navigation using the 3D view Pop-up menu (Fly-in, Fly out, jump in, jump around, view point)
* 3D Fly through (3D view to fly to locations, objects in the terrain, and navigate freely using the mouse or keyboard)
* Drawing 2D objects (Text labels, polylines, polygons, rectangles, 2D arrows, circles, ellipse)
* Drawing 3D Objects (placing of expressive 3D models, 3D polygons, boxes)
* Snapshot creation (copies the 3D view to a floating window and allows to save to a external file)
* Measurement tools (Horizontal distance, aerial distance, vertical distance, measure area)
* Shadow Analysis (it sets the sun position based on the given time creating shadows and effects the lighting on the terrain)

How to Download & Install Bhuvan? :

for download u need to register at isro's site
REGISTER HERE

for plugin CLICK HERE

All said and done, the product is very well timed - we are close to celebrate India's independence day and Bhuvan is one crown that ISRO will be known for in the coming years.