Just about four years ago, Google Earth caused a paradigm shift in the way we imagined and visualised our planet. In those early days of GE, many of us had to wait in anticipation as to when our house would be viewable in high resolution. Today, almost every inch of our planet is available at the 0.65m resolution.

Last week the Indian Space Research Organisation launched the beta version of its home grown virtual globe - BHUVAN which literally translates from Sanskrit into English as - my home or my abode. It aims at making available to all, most of the geospatial data collected at federal expense. Many of the layers are in place and more will follow. This beta release has generated quite some criticism - ranging from the question of the very need of such a service by a government department to the quality of visual data presently available and off course the quick and easy (though unfair) comparison with Google Earth. Most of these screamers have missed the term 'Beta' and have forgotten the early days of their own experimentation with Google Earth.

The question of need of 'Bhuvan' or for that matter any 'nationally' developed virtual globe has multiple answers, the best being the question - why not? Bhuvan will contain more India centric information than other virtual globes and being a product from the national space agency, will carry with it a stamp of authenticity and information accountability - else someone could just gift hard fought territory to your neighbours, blame it on a cartographic error and later tender an apology.

Finally, does ogling at ones house at a very high resolution (that is what a first time user of any virtual globe does) serve a bigger purpose than getting reliable information about the surroundings of your home?