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)

Reply via email to