Panjim from space By Nandkumar Kamat The Navhind Times
Sitting before my desktop at the Goa University, I can clearly watch on the screen the whole campus from space, including the tiled roof of our faculty enclave and all the landmarks. I can see the shadows of the transmission towers of the All India Radio at Bambolim. I can spot the vehicles parked in front of the palatial residence of the Minister of Town and Country Planning, Mr Monserrate near the Church Square at Taleigao. The Campal Lake appears as a large blue square and, close to it, one can follow the course of the Sant Inez nullah. What the Goa government considers a luxury to offer, despite having fancy projects on remote sending, today any citizen with a free downloadable software, can watch on the computer screen, from any place. This is a giant revolution on the Internet. I know that the satellite images on Google Earth are not real time, but these are useful. And they are updated periodically. Recently, the http://google.earth.com website has uploaded stunningly beautiful and breathtaking high-resolution satellite imagery of coastal Goa. The resolution is 10-15 metres, which is excellent even for research work. Interesting images can be downloaded as JPG files. The most striking and true-coloured untouched images released by Google Earth are of the island of Tiswadi and the talukas of Marmagoa and Bardez. Citizens of Panaji can now enjoy an exciting tour of their well-designed city from space. The elevation model gives three-dimensional rotatory terrain view. It shows the typical POrtuguese-influenced geometrical ground-plan of the city. All the roads and buildings of Panaji are clear in the images. The images show why Panaji is so vulnerable to flooding. The software automatically shows the elevation of any area when the pointer is moved over it. This is great for town planners, engineers and architects. The low-lying areas around the city indicate an elevation which is much below the tidal height of six metres. I was particularly impressed after tracking the origin of Panaji's Ourem Creek to the slopes of Alto Santa Cruz. The creek now terminates near the Bondir football ground. The Chamunda Complex has blocked the upstream portion of this creek. The Altinho hillock appears like a huge supine sculpture crowded with houses. AT its highest point, the hillock is 64 metres. The images show the hillock to be two km across (Alto Guimares to Conception Hill) and one kilometre wide. I discovered that the images are about eight months old. But with such an eye-in-the-sky, citizens would be able to monitor the surface development themselves. These images are a powerful tool in the hands of Goa's civil society. Now it can produce evidence of environmental degredation. Their creative and imaginative use can benefit the state. All students from Panaji's schools need to be given a demonstration by their geography teachers on the city from space. The Corporation of the City of Panaji can use these images for better drainage and traffic planning, and for conservation of open places. (ENDS * The Navhind Times, June 15, 2006 Page 5) _____________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. Goanet mailing list (Goanet@goanet.org)
