Information Madness

Everyone in the Indian blogsphere is talking about ISRO's Google Earth competitor Bhuvan Maps. Bhuvan is a web-based tool like Google Earth which gives better 3-D satellite imagery of India (thats what they claims but I haven't seen the result) than is currently being offered by Google Earth. Bhuvan currently only offers images taken between one and three years ago even over India. It combines satellite imagery from various sensors onboard IRS (Indian Remote Sensing) satellites and transposes them on a 3-D globe.

As it keeps updating its database with more recent and higher resolution images, Bhuvan eventually promises to offer real-time data and images. Currently Bhuvan Website is in beta and requires you to register to the site to view Bhuvan ISRO maps. But I have found a way so that you don't have to register to the site and still can access Bhuvan Maps without Internet Explorer.

How to install Bhuvan - Get Started

1. You can download the browser plugin from here directly. It basically installs the TerraExplorer on your computer. This is a 10.7 MB setup executable file(exe) which requires 1-2 minutes to download in an 1Mbps broadband connection.
2. You can select Run to install the plugin to your computer.
3. Now Download the SkyGlobeLB.fly file from below
   SklyGlobeLB.fly
   and save it on your desktop.
4. Now open up your TerraExplorer that you just installaed and click on File-->Open and point it to the SkyGlobeLB.fly file you downloaded on your desktop.
5. Voila!! Now you can see the Bhuvan ISRO Maps.