Thiruvananthapuram, Friday, February 05, 2010: The one day workshop of Google Earth aimed to prepare a detailed map of Kerala began here today amidst concern from police intelligence chief.
According to a note sent to the government by the state Intelligence chief, Additional Director-General of Police, Siby Mathews, says most countries, including the US, have used sophisticated techniques to keep away from prying eyes details of their vital locations.
Officials say it could expose sites of strategic assets like Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and the Southern Naval Command.

‘‘It’s dangerous for our security. Besides strategically important places like VSSC, Southern Naval Command, Cochin Ship Yard, and Southern Air Command, we have several sensitive locations like Guruvayur and Sabarimala temple spread across the state.

According to the hosts, the mapping party is aimed at popularising Google’s mapmaker service with the popular tagline ‘Map Your World’. The mapmaker service allows the users to become ‘citizen cartographers’ and improve the quality of maps and local information.

At the venue, participants will learn how to map different places, draw roads, add categories and discuss other features. Experts will make presentations and enlighten the gathering. Cartographers from Google are also expected at the event.

The organisers hope to increase the user community, presently a handful in Kerala, and make the state, particularly its capital city, “a better mapped place” with relevant local information such as roads, schools, hospitals, banks and other important places entered by local users.