A number of farmers in India were going to have their land taken away. They would have been compensated, but now, thanks to Google Earth, they may get to keep the land, or at least receive more money for it.
24 villages have been affected by this decision, according to Tippu. Tech2.com puts the number at 45. Both reports support Tippu’s statement that activists are “using pictures of land in the village taken from Google Earth as a proof of it being fertile,” though.
“Activist Vaishali Patil said that the local officials had submitted a report to the state government about the land being infertile and low in production, but this did not show up on the satellite pictures,” the iTWire article continued.
It remains to be seen if the government will accept the Google Earth images as proof of the land’s fertility. Tippu reported that, “according to the government officials, you can get higher resolution images from Google Earth to identify waste land, but the images are for just one season. In order to identify the condition of the land, the images have to be for at least two seasons.”
The scales seem to be tipping in the farmers’ favor, however, judging from the amount of attention they’ve received. And if they save their farms, they’ll owe it all to Google Earth.
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Doug is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest eBusiness news.
