Bhuvan Portal

• 16 Feb 2021

Why in News

Recently, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and MapmyIndia have partnered to come up with an indigenious geospatial portal known as ‘Bhuvan’.

• This is in line with the above discussed new guidelines for the Geo-Spatial Sector in India.

Key Points

• Geospatial Portal (Bhuvan):
  
  • It is a type of web portal used to find and access geographic information (geospatial information) and associated geographic services (display, editing, analysis, etc.) via the Internet.
• The Collaboration:
  
  • MapmyIndia’s database will be connected with ISRO’s high-end satellite catalogue and earth observation data, which it generates through a constellation of its satellites.
  • The collaboration will enable them to jointly identify and build a holistic geospatial portal utilising earth observation datasets, Navigation in Indian Constellation (NavIC), Web Services and APIs (application programming interface) available in MapmyIndia.
    
    • API is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other.
    • It is a computing interface that defines interactions between multiple software intermediaries
• Significance of the Portal:
  
  • True Maps:
    
    • Its services will reflect the true borders of the country as per the information available from Government of India.
  • Protects Privacy:
    
    • By using MapmyIndia maps and applications instead of the foreign map apps, users can better protect their privacy.
    • As foreign search engines and companies claim to offer ‘free’ maps, but in reality, they make money by targeting the same users with advertising, by invading the user’s privacy and auctioning private location and movement data. However there is no such provision of advertisement in MapmyIndia.
  • Atma Nirbhar Bharat: Being an Indian platform, it is well aligned with the government's Mission of Atma Nirbhar Bharat.
• MapmyIndia:
  
  • About:
    
    • It is an Indian technology company that builds digital map data, telematics services, Global Information System and Artificial Intelligence services.
    • It is an alternative to Google Map, which covers as many as 7.5 lakh Indian villages and 7,500 cities.
  • Database:
    
    • The database has a road network connected by 63 lakh km and the organisation claims to consist of the most exhaustive digital map database of the country.
  • Use:
    
    • Almost all the vehicle manufacturers in India who come with built-in navigation systems are using MapmyIndia.
  • Other Products:
    
    • App called ‘Move’ that provides real-time traffic updates and navigation.

Navigation in Indian Constellation (NavIC)

• About:
  
  • It is an Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
    
    • IRNSS consists of eight satellites, three satellites in geostationary orbit and five satellites in geosynchronous orbit.
  • It works just like the established and popular U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) but within a 1,500-km radius over the sub-continent.
  • It has been certified by the 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a global body for coordinating mobile telephony standards.
• Objective:
  
  • The main objective is to provide reliable position, navigation and timing services over India and its neighbourhood.
• Potential Uses:
  
  • Terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation;
  • Disaster management;
  • Vehicle tracking and fleet management (especially for mining and transportation sector);
  • Integration with mobile phones;
  • Precise timing (as for ATMs and power grids);
  • Mapping and geodetic data capture.
• Other Global Navigational Systems:
  
  • BeiDou/BDS (China)
  • Galileo (Europe)
  • GLONASS (Russia)
  • Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) (Japan)

Source:IE