Digitising Indian Maps

The Government of India and Microsoft Research India have signed a memorandum of understanding for research collaboration under which the first project will concern a geographic information system to put India’s vast collection of satellite images, remote sensing data and other information about the country's terrain in digital form. This will make it available to the public in an easily understandable form. Microsoft Research India has recently opened a centre in Bangalore that will accommodate scientists to work on technologies for emergent software markets such as India, multilingual systems and other specialities. The new research centre will fund projects in India's universities. It has already committed a combined funding of US$ 250,000 to seven institutions, including four Indian Institutes of Technology, for various projects. Microsoft has a software development centre in Hyderabad where it employs more than 1,500 programmers, eventually to rise to 3,000.