Virtual India’s Bhuvan

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Bhuvan, India’s mapping application website has been launched.

Working on similar grounds as Google Earth and Wikimapia, Bhuvan is a geoportal that provides medium to high resolution satellite imagery of virtually the entire India.

When compared to the rest, this web-based 3D mapping tool, which is a product of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is said to have better zooming properties.

“This would provide a user with images having resolution up to 10 metres. The degree of resolution showcased is based on the points of interest and popularity, but most of the Indian terrain is covered up to at least 5.8 metres of resolution with the least spatial resolution being 55 metres.”

It is also said that “the user can also navigate through 3D viewing environment. One can “fly” to destinations of choice and even draw 3D objects such as placing of expressive 3D models, 3D polygons and boxes. The site also offers tools to measure horizontal, vertical and aerial distances.”

The images on the site are a combination of satellite imagery from various IRS sensors taken “sometime within the last three years during different seasons.”

But to browse the website, one has to create an account and download “the Bhuvan Plug-in”.

A few days old into the World Wide Web, Bhuvan has a long way to go. As a common man we can hope that it would be a rich and useful source in addressing very local problems including water issues and infrastructure development.

Lifestyle Change Climate

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Tackling climatic change has been an ongoing process world around; but who could have imagined that the rich and the wealthy can be one of the causes?

According to a study conducted by researchers at Princeton University, rich people and their lifestyles account for a major chunk of the carbon emissions globally.

“Instead of simply considering carbon emissions on a national or per capita level, the Princeton team proposes a more granular system of climate accounting that would examine the range of individual emissions within countries. Thanks to economic growth, there are well-off people in almost every nation in the world.”

The current data says that the world average for tons of carbon dioxide emitted a year per individual is about five tons. Here, while each European produces about 10 tons a year, Americans alone produce twice that amount.

A researcher noted that most of the emissions come from lifestyles that involve airplane flights, car use and the heating and cooling of large homes. “And the study doesn’t take into account the carbon that is embedded in imports and exports in global trade. But big developing nations like China – with its rising middle class – won’t be let off the hook either.” Writes Times.

It has been estimated that in 2008, half of the world’s emissions came from just 700 million people.

Wonder, what one will do, if pleasures and comfort are taken away from life.

Father, My Father

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“I love my daddy. My dad is the best,” you say proudly and so is the story of dads, the world around. Dad, papa, father, no matter how you address him even in your mother tongue, he is the guiding force in a healthy family. The Father’s Day is far gone, but the cards and news stories keep the day alive, and the reasons for me to write.

Thanks to Sonora Smart-Dodd, we have an exclusive day – the third Sunday in June – to honour not only our fathers but also those who are our father figures.
Though legend says that a Babylonian youth named Elmesu carved the first known Father’s Day card in clay with a special message that wished his father good health and a long life, it was Sonora’s efforts that bore fruit.

Sonora’s father William Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran and widower raised his six children single-handedly. For Sonora, it was hero worship. On Mother’s Day, in 1909, when she was listening to the sermons at the church, she got the idea to have a Father’s Day observation.

The following year Sonora convinced the local churches and celebrated Father’s Day honouring her father on his birthday. She also encouraged the concept of roses – a red rose was worn for fathers who were still living and a white rose to honour the dead.

With time, Father’s Day has been much commercialised and you have an option to choose from a variety of cards and gifts. Interestingly, a National survey (US) shows the evolution of the Father’s Day gift, from Old Spice and leisure suits to DVDs and plasma TVs.

Her interest and efforts paid off well, as the then US President proclaimed it a law; and President Richard Nixon in 1972 established a permanent national observance of Father’s Day on the third Sunday of June. Today Father’s Day is a universal concept and celebrated across countries.

Do You Miss Zoozoos

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This morning I received an e-mail forward on the “making of ZooZoo”, the vodafone ad campaign, a second time in a week. I could not stop myself but go chasing the zoozoo related news. Here, is my writeup…

They appeared as the sweet animations we would love to watch again and again. Fresh out of the box and in between the IPL matches, Zoozoo, the dwarf egg-heads, successfully walked straight into the hearts of the viewers. In a short span of time, the new brand ambassadors of Vodafone have become the stars with fan following on the World Wide Web.

Interestingly, these characters from Vodafone ad campaign are real people.
Vodafone’s new brand ambassadors came alive through Ad-filmmaker Prakash Varma of Nirvana Films, who directed the commercials for Ogilvy and Mathers (O&M). “The practical aspect of how they would talk, gesticulate and emote was very important. It took me three weeks of pre-production work to understand how it would work,” said Prakash in an interview.

Today, the zoozoos are celebrities in various social networking sites and have a great fan following.

“According to data available here Advertising Age U.S., which tracks the top viral video advertisement (video clip that gains widespread popularity through the process of Internet sharing – e-mail or Instant messaging, blogs and other media sharing websites) campaigns of the world by number of views, has the Vodafone Zoozoo campaign right at the top.

For the week of May 11, the Vodafone Zoozoos top the chart at 1.45 million views, way ahead of the second placed campaign. This is the second week in a row that the Vodafone Zoozoos have topped this chart.

Last week, the Zoozoos entered the chart at number one, the first time in the world any campaign has done that on its debut.

This also marks the first time any ad campaign from India has ever appeared on this chart of the most viewed viral ad campaigns of the world, let alone tops it,” reported Sakaal Times.

That’s not all; it has wooed People for Ethical Treatment for Animals (PETA) too. “The popularity of this ad campaign proves that there are many creative ways to convey a message without using animals. Animals used in films are often treated as little more than props, and many suffer terribly behind the scenes.”

Vodafone has won the first of PETA’s 2009 Glitterbox Awards, for taking advantage of humane alternatives to the use of real animals in their ZooZoo ads.

It has been rightly observed, “If Hutch made Pug the ‘national’ dog, ZooZoos are the new youth icon.”

Do you miss them?