They still seem quite dated though. Lots of new buildings near me aren't there, and there's someone else in my parking space posted by devon at 8:19 AM on February 5, 2006
About time. Thankfully the Lancaster bomber over Huntingdon still lives on....
What's the story about this photo? posted by 327.ca at 8:34 AM on February 5, 2006
They've added two more zoom levels to the whole thing. It's not just the UK, though they have improved the coverage. More here. posted by cillit bang at 8:35 AM on February 5, 2006
odd, the aerial photo of my road looks like somewhere i would like to live rather that the overbuilt and overpopulated housing estate that it actually is. posted by tnai at 8:41 AM on February 5, 2006
Their US ones still pretty much blow though.
"Wildly inconsistent" would be my description. Some states like Massachusetts and Indiana have public domain statewide aerial photos, so those states have excellent coverage. The rest of the country seems pretty random. For instance, the little square in Connecticut that I live in has been very bad resolution since Google Maps was introduced. Yet just in the last couple of months, it was silently updated to current hi-resolution data that's not more than a year old. posted by smackfu at 8:49 AM on February 5, 2006
No improvement whatsoever in Central Edinburgh, where this is the best they can do. Hardly worth bothering with. posted by imperium at 8:53 AM on February 5, 2006
Neat, greycap. 327.ca, read here. posted by swell at 9:01 AM on February 5, 2006
The old photos of Buckingham Palace just happened to be taken during the changing of the guard, which was kinda cool. posted by wsg at 9:07 AM on February 5, 2006
I was disappointed to see Oxford still blurry as well, but the little corner of Summertown that I lived in 20 years ago was fortunately still hi-res, so I could see the park, & my house, but not the rest of the town. posted by jonson at 9:15 AM on February 5, 2006
Their US ones still pretty much blow though.
Depends. The ones of St. Louis are very good, but southern IL does blow.
The old photos of Buckingham Palace just happened to be taken during the changing of the guard.
It looks like this one is as well, but just before the start -- note the tourists gathering at the fence and on the Victoria Monument, and the unit marching in formation that's just crossing the road, with an mounted officer on the left.
I think Lizzy needs to do something more with that courtyard. Boring! Nice yard, though would it have killed them to clean the film before they scanned it? posted by eriko at 9:15 AM on February 5, 2006
I am not sure these are all satellite photos. I think they use regular aerial photography for the highest resolutions. posted by caddis at 9:20 AM on February 5, 2006
Ayrshire's still rotten (in resolution, ahem), except near the military base. I wonder why the best resolution is always near targets of military interest. posted by bonaldi at 9:20 AM on February 5, 2006
Thanks mate, good to see this posted by keijo at 9:21 AM on February 5, 2006
Wow, you can see individual cars and even people. Seems like much better then 1m resolution.
How long untill we get a constilation of sats snapping shots each saturday, so we get quickly-updating data automaticaly. That would be cool. posted by delmoi at 9:26 AM on February 5, 2006
Wow, these are much nicer. London Heathrow Terminal 4. Now boarding, British Airways Flight 001 to New York JFK. posted by eriko at 9:30 AM on February 5, 2006
Those Concorde pics are interesting and they mean those photos date to pre-2003. posted by smackfu at 9:41 AM on February 5, 2006
That's cool, I can now make out my parents' garden shed. The whole street was one big blurry mess before. posted by PurpleJack at 9:46 AM on February 5, 2006
New York and Boston can now be seen at that level as well. Very cool. posted by Saucy Intruder at 9:57 AM on February 5, 2006
Wow, smackfu, I live in the same square. I can see my house now -- and even the vegetable garden! I think the previous pictures of our area were from 1991. These are more recent (although not within the last two years, from clues I can see). These were taken during what seems like a godawful early winter, though, and the next town over's still enjoying a beautiful summer. posted by booksandlibretti at 10:01 AM on February 5, 2006
I'm assuming you've not been using google earth recently then...? I think this data was introduced there on 2nd December. posted by iain at 11:33 AM on February 5, 2006
Neat, greycap. 327.ca, read here.
Amazing. Thanks, swell and greycap. posted by 327.ca at 11:40 AM on February 5, 2006
Hmm, it seems like the photo of my neighborhood in Brooklyn has also improved.
I always wondered what was behind the tall fences at 140 Kent Avenue and now I know. I've made love here -- it was out over the water on those old concrete pilings... wow! (Note the interesting artefact of stitching the images together in that second one). posted by lupus_yonderboy at 12:03 PM on February 5, 2006
Finally, West London is something more than a green blurry blob.
At least on google maps. posted by slimepuppy at 1:00 PM on February 5, 2006
iain, I'm sure the Google Earth BBS knows that, but I certainly had no idea.
Yeah, they've brought Chicago up to the GE level of detail (I can see my friend's van in her driveway), but my hometown in Wisconsin is as blurry as ever. Fortunately, we have Windows Live, which gives us 1, 2, 3, no 4 views of our property from just a couple hundred feet. When I saw it I finally realized what the helicopter criss-crossing over town last summer was doing (I'm actually surprised I couldn't find myself working outside in any of the pics). Then again, they only did the city proper.
Personally, I like the effect that competition is having. Terraserver didn't change once in -- what? -- four or five years? Despite promises. posted by dhartung at 1:05 PM on February 5, 2006
Dunsfold Park has been updated. For those of you who don't know, it's where Top Gear is filmed. Although the photo predates the current incarnation as there's no markings on the test track and the roof of the hangar doesn't have the logo. posted by bruzie at 1:19 PM on February 5, 2006
double-deckers! posted by matkline at 1:31 PM on February 5, 2006
the faceless grey trolls from Redmond add aerial photos now posted by marvin at 1:40 PM on February 5, 2006
I seem to recall my neighborhood in Indianapolis having greater resolution. As in I could see car blobs, but not make out the cars. Now its hard to make out the car blobs. Maybe I'm just remembering it wrong.
I do find the Indiana higher resolution image thing kind of amusing since it makes the state look grey compared to the rest of the country. Until you zoom in a little bit it almost looks like the whole state is a city, but that couldn't be further from the truth. posted by Phantomx at 1:45 PM on February 5, 2006
I didn't see this until after I posted my last comment. The 'birds eye' view that Windows Live has is pretty neat. But the above shots of my house still suck.
But I was talking about GEarth (I pronounce it 'girth') in my previous post. posted by Phantomx at 1:50 PM on February 5, 2006
The non-functionality of Windows Live Local in Safari is maddening. It doesn't even say it's not supported. It just doesn't work. Even the help and about items don't do anything. posted by smackfu at 1:52 PM on February 5, 2006
smackfu- use Mac Firefox. posted by marvin at 2:08 PM on February 5, 2006
They are cool, but I agree about the datedness. My house is clearly visible but all the hard work I've done in the garden isn't. posted by rhymer at 2:15 PM on February 5, 2006
You have to have boundaries between images, especially over cities. I imagine there are a lot of places where you can see these effects. posted by StephenB at 2:28 PM on February 5, 2006
This is very cool - just moving flats and really interesting to see sat pics of the surrounding area. posted by laukf at 2:34 PM on February 5, 2006
Google pinpointed the house next door as my address. Heh! For once, I know more than Google. posted by Cranberry at 2:36 PM on February 5, 2006
The ones over central london now appear to be 2-3 years old instead of 10+. You can see the ring-fence around an almost-completed pedestrianised north side of Trafalgar square. posted by polaroid at 4:04 PM on February 5, 2006
The Redmond Trolls also manage to label London's St James's Park "St James Square", which in reality is the little green dot above Pall Mall. posted by cillit bang at 4:47 PM on February 5, 2006
The ones over central london now appear to be 2-3 years old instead of 10+
Other keys -- Paternoster Sqaure is under construction -- the pavement looks about half done. There's no Congestion Charge "C"s in the roadways, as far as I could tell. The Millenium Bridge is open and full of people. posted by eriko at 6:09 PM on February 5, 2006
The reason much of the aerial photo resolutions are inconsistent in the US is that the highest-resolution data are available only for the 133 most-populated urban areas. At least, that's for images from the USGS, which is the source for the vast majority of orthoimagery available online.
Oh this still sucks. Damn Google. I want my money back... oh hang on... posted by keno at 7:31 PM on February 5, 2006
Yay, Honolulu happens to be one of those 133 urban areas, and newly updated. At maximum zoom, you can see individual gravestones in Punchbowl. posted by flod at 9:42 PM on February 5, 2006
I think that is the coolest cemetery I have ever seen. posted by Phantomx at 10:41 PM on February 5, 2006
This cemetary in Sydney always amazed me (I wonder what the price per plot might be these days) when I walked by on the coast trail. Nice view, even if you can't enjoy it when you're dead. posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:51 PM on February 5, 2006
Scroll around -- there's lots of perspective fun. posted by eriko at 5:37 AM on February 6, 2006
Just went flying over Paris for a while. God, I love this thing... posted by CrunchyGods at 6:26 AM on February 6, 2006
London looks great, but you still can't see Stonehenge. posted by darren at 7:43 AM on February 6, 2006
polaroid, I'm pretty sure that's Buckingham Palace. Trafalgar Square is over here, on the opposite end of the Mall. posted by Boo! at 8:04 AM on February 6, 2006
Someone wanna click the "Sim City" link four up, pan right, and tell me wtf is going on there in the water?
Did Chicago build an artificial lake-bottom for the boats? posted by five fresh fish at 10:48 AM on February 6, 2006
I think you are looking at the border between two separate photos, if I understand your question correctly. posted by caddis at 12:35 PM on February 6, 2006
Having found a couple of boats that are cut in half by the demarcation between dark grey and water, yes: two separate photos. But I'm still curious: the bouy system is obviously patterned and intended for docking all those boats -- and there is no sign whatsoever of that system having existed in the bordering photos, despite the cut-in-half boats and such.
My best guess is that Chicago dropped a ton of construction debris into the lake to build a shallow, sheltered harbour near downtown, for the benefit of the boat owners. posted by five fresh fish at 1:01 PM on February 6, 2006
Many places take out their mooring buoys in winter. posted by caddis at 3:24 PM on February 6, 2006
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posted by wakko at 7:59 AM on February 5, 2006