NEW DELHI: The city administration is taking the help of ‘Google Earth’ to locate 107 untraceable ‘lost’ water bodies out of total 1012 waterbodies in Delhi. However, they have failed to locate them so far.
The Geographic Information Systems Department is taking the help of Google Earth application to map and trace the water bodies. “The lost waterbodies seemed to be lost forever as it is still untraceable despite the use satellite imaging and mapping,” said a senior government officer.
The officials are also focusing on 905 traced waterbodies and are trying to map their exact location with the help of Google Earth.
“We get a rough idea of all visible waterbodies and it makes things easier during physical assessment,” he said.
The city administration has physically assessed around 100 waterbodies mapped them and from Wednesday onwards, they have set a target to verify 100 waterbodies every week. Interestingly, physical assessments of these waterbodies are done for the first time. “We would hopefully be able to complete the process in next one and half months and file the final report,” said S D Singh, director of Delhi Parks and Gardens Society.
When asked about the use of Google Earth application, he said that the Geographic Information Systems Department is using it.
Recently, Survey of India, the official mapping agency of the country, had alleged that Google continued to pollute the web with classified material despite being warned against it.
The Competition Commission of India had also received a complaint that there is “alleged abuse of dominance by Google” and a probe is on into the matter.
“During Google’s Mapathon 2013 exercise, they managed to cull a lot of classified data and we had approached them to refrain from doing so when we came to know about it,” said a top official. Instead of abstaining, Google polluted the Internet with the coordinates of classified locations on the map.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, which is probing into the complaint made by the organisation, also sought help and asked for all the documents and evidences wherein Google released all the locations on its map.
The CBI on July 28, 2014 registered a preliminary enquiry against Google following the complaint.