India: Isro satellites to map 500 AMRUT cities

Lending a hand to the government’s smart cities programme, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will begin mapping 500 cities next month, highlighting the features that are expected to help urban planners devise master plans for them, reports Live-Mint.

To be developed by the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), the maps will use satellite images to show features such as land use, water bodies, geomorphology, urban sprawl, wastelands and floods hazards. The maps will be hosted on Isro’s geoportal website Bhuvan.

“Nearly 2,500 town planners across India have been trained to use the information that will be provided on the Bhuvan portal for master plans,” V.K. Dadhwal, NRSC's director told Live-Mint.