Next year, India will launch its first mapping satellite, allowing a full re-mapping of the subcontinent nation in about 18 months of work. India has had access to satellite data, but always from other countries. Having control over its own geography is a useful development tool; according to the Surveyor General, ‘‘We will now be able to generate these images on our own and several users, particularly those planning highways, the river-interlinking project and such development activities, will benefit."