The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh released the New Application services of Bhuvan – Geospatial platform of ISRO, in an event organized in New Delhi today. The event was organised on the occasion of National Remote Sensing Day which is celebrated on the birth anniversary of Prof. Vikram Sarabhai. The Minister also released 6 documents and 2 brochures related to Bhuvan. The 6 unique documents on Bhuvan platform for public knowledge include User Handbook, Geospatial content standards, Geospatial Content, Software Specification Description, Outputs and Products and Mobile Applications.
The 2 informative Brochures on Bhuvan that were released today include Bhuvan platform – Gateway to Indian geospatial products & services and Ministry-wise Geospatial Applications on Bhuvan platform. A series of Bhuvan Application Services that are diversified and relevant for many ministries were also released. These new application services include 1m Satellite images for more than 300 Cities in the country, Varieties of Applications for Forest and Environment sector of MOEFCC – Depiction of ENVIS centre database “CRIS” to highlight various environmental parameters, Toll information system for NHAI – A national database of national highways and Toll plazas, Geotagging and controlled crowd sourcing application for AP Housing Corporation Ltd., which has enabled geotagging of 3.8 million houses in AP with field photos and important attributes of housing in AP, Islands information system for developmental decision making for Border Management, MHA, Live link of the GIS databases of North East Region (NER) that showcases tools for better planning and development of NE States, A new tool on Bhuvan, enabling Data Discovery and Metadata display for the ease of navigation by the user community, Cultural heritage sites of the country and its management on geospatial platform – National database for Ministry of Culture & Archaeological Survey of India among others. One application on 3D city models/ views with Extrusions of the buildings and virtual city models was also released.
This would be a useful tool for Smart City program of the Government. Other applications include Horticulture area mapping and assessment for Mango, Banana and Citrus fruits – A National Mission of DAC, MOA, Bhujal database and visualization – Country wide ground water maps, with state-wise access to the online services for drinking water and recharge structures, Geospatial tools for the Schools – GIS for class 9 and class 10, including neighbourhood mapping tools for school children as part of School Bhuvan, GAIL pipeline surveillance and monitoring system, pilot scale implementation for 640 km stretch in Gujarat. E-governance model for image and geospatial based techniques, Mobile smart phone applications for varieties of crowd sourcing applications – Particular focus is on “Clean Ganga” Mission of MOWR. The tool “Bhuvan Ganga” now available on public domain for people to participate in providing vital information for Clean Ganga project.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Jitendra Singh said the “Bhuvan is India’s Google for India”. He also said it is in line with the ‘Make in India’ vision of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. He said that a ‘Hall of Space” can be opened in National capital Delhi on line of “Hall of Nuclear Energy” that is being set up in Pragti Maidan in Delhi. This will help in the dissemination of activities related to the technologies related to the space and people of India specially youth can get benefit from it.
The Minister said that for any technology to be sustainable, it has to be economically viable as well as socially relevant. He said that the space technology is being used for the benefit of society specially during natural disasters. The ISRO is also earning huge income by launching satellites for foreign countries. “India has entered into an era of space marketing,” he said. He said that in future we will see that space technology will be used at a large scale and across departments and ministries, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Prime Minister takes a keen interest in science and due to this, during the last one year the Department of Space has achieved many milestones. He complemented the space scientists for their efforts and achievements.Dr Y. V. N. Krishnamurthy, Scientific Secretary, ISRO, Shri S. Srinivasan, Member Finance, Space Commission, Dr V.K. Dadhwal, Director, National Remote Sensing Centre and other senior officials of Department of Space were also present on the occasion.