BRIGHTENED IMAGERY - some welcome evidence that dark patches of imagery in the UK have been brightened, although it's hard to check exactly when this happened. More to do in Ireland, however, including parts of the Dec 2011 update.

Some areas of Port of Spain, Trinidad have been updated to remove the cloud cover...

Baton Rough, LA

East of Al Hasa, Saudi Arabia

North-South Strip Libourne, France

Saint-Germain-sur-Moine, France

Germany, Diedorf

Bourgoin-Jallieu, France

Bosnja Herzigowina, Doboj
Italy, Molfetta, Terlizzi
Norway, Tinnoset, Gransherad (from 2005, but I am sure it wasn't there before)

Linz, Austria

Innsbruck, Austria

Homs, Libya

Buin-Zahra and east of Malayer, Iran

Nort-South Strip west of Mashhad, Iran

North of Hudishi, Pakistan

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!

very funny, braggarts :)

Does Google have any plans to update the imagery for Charlotte, North Carolina? I ask this because it has been nearly two years (April 2010) since Charlotte was last updated. Atlanta, Georgia was recently updated to October 2011 as well as several other areas in the south, so I would expect the Charlotte region to be updated soon as well. Thanks.

@ Michael T.
I guess google has no plans which imagagery they will update or not. It depends on which of the satellite swaths they can order for cheap. (GeoEye or DigitalGlobe)
In other cases they take imagery from contract partners who provide areal pictures. e.g. the new contract partner in Germany is Geobasis-De. They also provide new georef. data for Germany.
Lets they, Google takes what it can get.

And even if they have a plan, they will not let us know about ;)

Mannheim, Germany

@ Michael T. You should be thankful that imagery for Charlotte is only two years old. I suggest that you check out some comparable cities outside the US to see how fortunate you are.

@Michael T.: Other cities have 10 years old imagery with a very low quality. You have 2 years old crystal clear satellite imagery. You are very lucky!

Thanks for the comments. I have looked at other places around the world and they are not that great looking and are way outdated so I am lucky in that regard. I asked the question mainly because I use google map maker to map roads and there have been several roads built or realigned in and around Charlotte since the 2010 imagery and if the imagery were more recent it would make it easier to map the new roads in the area and to have them reviewed faster.

KML - the LatLong blog mow features the new imagery and gives a link to a KML , but this does not seem to contain the latest update, only that from 7 December. Anyone else had this experience?

@Chris, yes, the current update isn't visible yet. They always give the same KML reference because it's a network link. Sometime soon (I would guess on Monday) they will move the Dec 7 to the 'past updates' list and make the Jan 9 update the most recent one. They just have to add that update to the system first. When they do it will show up automatically using the link they provided. Normally, they make this post after the network link was already update. This time they made the post early, apparently.

@ Munden - thanks, and this is the first time I have noticed that the LatLong post came before the automatic update in My Places (after saving aprevious updates KML).

The Google Earth people have made an error. The January 11th KML update is the same as the Dec 7th :-(
How do we inform them of the error?

Danny, you are right :(

And the error is inside their KMZ they provide.

http://mw1.google.com/mw-earth-vectordb/Imagery_Updates/01-11-2012_Imagery_Update.kmz

So its not just a wrong Network-Link. :(
Just wait,...

As they propably try to correct the error the kml file doesn't show anything under current update date for now.

any news about kml file ?

KML - a KML apparently with the 11 January updates has arrived automatically in My Places (and should now be linked from the GE Gallery and LatLong) .... however, with the 11 January update checked in My Places, no red boundaries show in GE, and thus nothing matches the list in LatLong.

Anyone else have this experience, and are GE having problems?

Well, it is nothing wierd that 0 bytes sized file does not work.

If you notice the red network symbol on the January 11th folder after you try to activate the file, that will point to something wrong with the link. That would indicate that some network communication error is occurring .. or something at least that breaks this connection.

Regarding the two items mentioned --

If you notice the red network symbol on the January 11th folder after you try to activate the file, that will point to something wrong with the link. That would indicate that some network communication error is occurring .. or something at least that breaks this connection. This is why the January 11th folder is empty.

The reason you're seeing the Dec 7th entries is because you have the 'Previous Updates' folder selected. This will automatically select the first one in the list, Dec 7 in this case. De-select that folder and those polygons will disappear.

I have cleared all of my cache and try again and still appears red on January 11th folder.. I have no problem with my network connection.

CORRECT KMZ NOW ONLINE!!!!!

@ Andreas Moller - CORRECT KMZ ?? Still seems to be problems. For example: red lines outlining updated coverage of Augsburg and Mannheim are indistinct, and there is no identification of the "high resolution satellite imagery" advertised in LatLong for the UK and in many other countries checked.

Perhaps the latter is intentional, but GE never explains, and further info welcome.

I dont know what you mean with indistinct.
For me the red lines are corrent ;)

Example for south-west Mannheim (Germany):
http://img7.imagebanana.com/img/4vv3qohp/mann.jpg

I guess its just a mistake that they mentioned UK. I tested some samples and all countrires which were mentioned, got a red shape. In absence of UK.

Greatz, Andreas

@ Andreas - indistinct = less visually prominent than in previous KMZs, although the boundaries around both updates are quite convoluted in places. I will make further checks elsewhere.

The latest Google Lat-Long Blog of Imagery updated countries lists new imagery for countries like Papua New Guinea & Marshall Islands.
Well excuse me Google Earth people, but the latest KMZ "DOESN'T" show me where this has occurred.

What's going on Google?!

@ Andreas, Danny T - KMZ : checks on 18 counties in Europe west of the former USSR listed in LatLong as receiving high res satellite imagery updates on 9 January indicate that the KMZ only shows such updates (excluding aerial high res) in four of the countries - France, Ireland, Romania, and Serbia. Checks were from c.200 miles alt from where any significantly sized updates should show.

Looks as though the KMZ is seriously deficient, but I would be pleased to learn that I had missed something.

KMZ - regrettably there are no signs that Google have moved to correct the deficient 9 January KMZ, and of course no obvious way of getting a dialogue with GE (unless any CEB reader knows how). Let's hope the problems do not reoccur with the next update KMZ.

What happened with the correct KMZ file?

you need to update your imagery. It's been 28 Days

navigation controls in the upper right corner onto the map, similar to how to access Street View in Google Maps.

They also provide new georef. data for Germany.