The huge imagery update which came out for Google Earth on June 2nd is now available in Google Maps. There are DigitalGlobe satellite photos for random places all over the world, most of England is now at high resolution (50 cm/pixel), and many other places as well. Google mentioned during a conference last week that there was more data added in this update than existed in all of Google Earth before a year ago. Read below for the details on the imagery from Google.
New high resolution:
Canada: Whistler, BC; Waterloo & Toronto, Ontario; Nanaimo, BC; and
Fort Saskatchewan, AB
England: Base 50cm coverage of nearly entire country, and Avon
Germany: Cities/Regions of Greifswald, Trier, Köln, Stuttgart, Bonn,
Oldenburg, Rostock, Saarbrücken, Hamburg, Hannover, and Ritterhude
Austria: Villach region
France: Cities of Caen, Dijon, Metz, St Etienne, Toulouse and Rouen
Spain: Valencia
Andorra
US: Imperial County (CA); Yellowstone National Park (WY);
Galveston/Houston (TX); Peterborough (NH); Cheyenne (WY); Burke, Wake,
and Cabarrus Counties (NC); Racine and Kenosha Counties (WI);
Washington, DC; St Paul (MN); and the State of Alabama
Japan: City/Regions of Kochi, Asahikawa, Koriyama, Miyazaki, Nagano,
Utsunomiya, Akita, and ToyamaLarge DigitalGlobe (60cm) update includes areas in Sudan, expanded
Africa, Australia, Mexico coverage and smaller areas of coverage in
Asia, Polynesia, South America, Canada, Europe, Middle East plus some
interesting islands in Antarctica and Greenland.Updated Imagery:
Americas: Bogotá, Columbia; Mission Viejo (CA, US); Hillsborough County (FL, US)
EU: Dublin, Ireland
Middle East/Africa: Beirut, Lebanon and Tripoli, Libya
Asia: Hong Kong and Manila, PhilippineUpdated 3D Terrain (Google Earth only):
Western US 10m, Canary Islands 10m
Related:
About Frank Taylor
Frank Taylor started the Google Earth Blog in July, 2005 shortly after Google Earth was first released. He has worked with 3D computer graphics and VR for many years and was very impressed with this exciting product. Frank completed a 5.5 year circumnavigation of the earth by sailboat in June 2015 which you can read about at Tahina Expedition, and is a licensed pilot, backpacker, diver, and photographer.
The Mission Viejo, CA update both in GE and Maps was a step backward. The area of Ladera Ranch, where I live now shows empty lots. The previous imagery showed the houses. Also, the terrain update for this area is too old, because the terrain got graded and reshaped for the housing development. So the 10m elevation data shows the pre-grading elevation while the imagery shows the post-grading landscape. I’m disappointed, especially since the imagery update went backwards in time.
Dear Frank,
I’d like to thank you for your very informative blogs over the past few years. I really enjoy your updates on the latest Google Earth and related technologies.
Just out of interest, what do you do for a living on a day to day basis? Is the Google Earth Blog just hobby or a career?
Keep up the good work!
Pete.
Thanks for the update.
Pratheep
Strange, I can’t see the Bogotá, Colombia update in GMaps yet. Maybe it’s not out to all their servers yet?
Pete, Google Earth Blog is responsible for the bulk of my business-related income at this time. Believe it or not, between Adsense, other sponsors, and some consulting work – the income is not bad. Most engineers would be happy to have it as a salary. And, the monthly expenses to run the blog are well below my daily ad revenue. 🙂
For Austria it is much more, than Villach region. It is the region around Spittal, Lake Millstättersee, Gmünd, part of Maltatal, Bleiberg, Kremsbrücke…
Great news! 🙂
Though I’m still wondering how long would it take to have my country shown at a decent level of zoom in Google Earth? I’m talking about Romania. It’s frustrating for me ’cause I can’t precisely spot locations…
It’s been a pity the update for Catalonia (Spain). The new render cover all the territory with “high resolution” pictures, but the former ones -not covering all Catalonia- had a better resolution.
How accurate is lat/long info in Google Earth? I ask because if you go to the Greenwich Observatory, by definition 0° longitude, my placemark there shows it as 0° 0’4.61″W
How can that be?
Alan
Alan, the coordinates in Google Earth are not wrong. This is due to the choice to use the WGS84 coordinate system used by GPS. Check out this blog entry which explains the issue:
http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2006/02/why_google_eart.html
Hi Guys
Why is there a huge chunk of maps grey out over north Lebanon, is it possiblr to have these removed.
Many Thanks omar
what in the hell do you mean, mission viejo ca is in developement and cant be seen by your prograhm this place has a lot of life and is growning???!!!
Please can you tell me how to get view on villages blato and Vela Luka (on island Korčula) vith the same resolution as village Smokvica, immediately next to Blsato
Thank you in advance
I live on the outskirts of Orgiva, Andalucia, Spain.
No matter what I do or try I cannot get Google to show the directions to my house. It sends everybody up and adjacent hill some 100 metres to the east!
And similarly, if I look at the spot heights around my farm it show the river bed [actually sime 20-309 metres BELOW my house as the same height or even higher.
I have also noticed many inaccuracies in say the marking of ‘lodgings’ in the Google Maps of Granada. Dona Lupe, Paradaor nd Hotel America are all some 500 metres North east of where they ACTUALLY are.
Why is this? Is it Google? Is it the built-in inaccuracy I recall reading about?
With interest,
John