【Lina Romay】

The Lina RomayBombay High Court is planning to put Google Maps to unique use. It has announced that old and new map images will be compared to assess the environmental damage caused by real estate development in Mumbai city.

The court was hearing public litigations against various construction projects that are allegedly encroaching upon mangroves and wetlands in and around the city, Hindustan Timesreported. The court said: "The ideal thing to do would be to take an old Google map image of an affected area and compare it with a new one."

Google Maps offers satellite imagery, street maps, and 360° panoramic views of streets. Much of the available satellite imagery is no more than three years old and is updated on a regular basis.

Contrary claims, meanwhile, stated that some amount of mangrove destruction was inevitable during the setting up of new highways, and even a portion of the proposed airport at Navi Mumbai. Since these projects are in public interest, a compensatory replantation would be carried out, the report added.

Interestingly, a recent study by the state government had revealed that mangrove felling had in fact dropped by 80% in the last one year.

Over to Google Maps now for a clearer picture on this.

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