Study of open source web map rendering software for rendering Bhuvan High Resolution Satellite data

Recent advances in Open Source mapping software are opening up new possibilities for online visualization of satellite data. Bhuvan, Indian Geo-platform of ISRO, hosts multi-temporal, multi-sensor and multi-resolution satellite data over internet and is used for various remote sensing applications. Serving satellite images over internet with good quality and faster response is essential for better user experience and increases the use of satellite data online. Map rendering software is generally used for serving satellite data as web map tiles over internet. This software will process satellite images and generate fixed size tiles based on parameters like zoom level, projection and area of interest. In this study, we explore open source map tile rendering software Mapnik and MapServer. The overall implementation process for hosting satellite data as web map tiles is discussed in detail. Using these two software, satellite data is published with different re-sampling methods as map layers. The published map layers are compared for web tile quality and performance under different load conditions. We also discuss various possible methods for improving the performance of tile creation and rendering.