[UPDATED several times]
Google has just released new imagery for Google Earth (exit GE and re-load it if you had it turned on over night). Most of the UK is now in high resolution. It appears there are many new strips of DigitalGlobe satellite photography in many parts of the world. I expect the full list wil contain many more countries. I’m working on gathering details and will summarize them here. So, re-load this post today to get the growing list. Also, check the comments below for other details from other GEB readers.
See below for the official update.
- Germany now looks much better thanks to special color mapping techniques which were used for Switzerland previously!
- UK updated – Most of England is now in high resolution.
- Parts of Greenland
- Antarctica – some strips of high resolution down here
- Parts of Canada with new high resolution, big area around Toronto
- Catalonia part of Spain
- State of Alabama
- St. Paul, Minnesota
- Puerto Rico has more high resolution
- Iran has lots of new DigitalGlobe satellite strips
- New Zealand has some new coverage
- Parts of Russia
[UPDATE] Google has just posted more details – read them below
From Google’s post
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 Terrain:
Western US 10m, Canary Islands 10m
More details coming! By the way, you can use the new handy “Google Maps” button in GE 4.1 to compare the new imagery in Google Earth. It hasn’t been pushed to Google Maps yet. Special thanks to María who first alerted me to the update this morning by E-mail and with this post (Spanish).
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.
Zone of carinthia, Austria is updated too.
Regards
I noticed Russia has some new imagery, Germany how looks more green, and Pacific islands are now covered.
There are even more new high resolution cities in europe:
Andorra
France: Dijon, Metz, Rouen, Caen, Toulouse, Saint Etienne
Germany: Hamburg, Stuttgart, Hannover, Rostock, Oldenburg, Gera, Saarbrücken, Neunkirchen, (Munich Airport)
the region around Klagenfurt (Austria) including parts of Italy and Slowenia
Well, while on the one hand it is true, that Germany now seems to be looking better at first sight (and at larger scale), on the other hand it seems to look more coarse if you zoom in. It may be just a feeling (since I have not saved any screenshots before for comparison), but the color optimization may have been good for “green” areas of countryside but not so for populated areas.
Ans by the way: What really really still is missing is the island of Heligoland (54.18°,7.89°)!
Holy sh**
the new German imagery is amazing. Thanks Google!!!
Part of Guinea (near Conakry) and part of Zapopan (Jalisco, Mexico)
:o)
region around heidelberg, germany, still has the same images but the coloring has gotten better… more contrast and natural colors….
thnx frank for letting us know!
Glad to finally hear some news. Not too much for Melbourne, Australia. There is a new layer of aerial photography over and around the CBD at the same quality as before. The new imagery is also minus clouds and cloud shadows which is good news but it should be at least par to Sydney’s imagery. (Have a look at http://www.whereis.com, search for Melbourne, Victoria and have a look at the very high resolution imagery they have there. Huge difference between them and Google Earth.) Having a look at the MCG and Telstra Dome, it looks like it was taken maybe October 06. The Eureka Tower is completed.
Sydney: Looks like no updates (but bare in mind super high resolution was added earlier this year including the mega high resolution Australia Day Google Flyover photos.) Some areas though are really (and I mean really) out of date. I’m talking 2004. The Theme Park Wonderland is still there intact and the new M7 freeway is still just grass.
Brisbane / Gold Coast: Looks like Brisbane CBD photography is updated because The Gabba grandstand now circles the whole ground. Confirmed this with Digital Globe data layer. No update for the Gold Coast.
Canberra, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin and Hobart: Looks like no updates but I may be wrong. I’m a Melburnian so I’m not the best person to notice changes in other cities.
But the Digital globe 2007 layer highlights many areas around Australia with yellow squares where there is currently no high resolution photography. Maybe these updates are still being processed. Can someone clarify?
I don’t see the supposedly updated imagery for Manila, Philippines. It’s still the image from 2004.
Pikes Peak has new photo. No longer covered in clouds but it’s a winter picture with lots of snow. Also Pueblo, CO has now high res photo for the first time.
Uh, is it just me or has Alabama gotten really blue suddenly? 😉
I was just looking round England there and it occurred to me to have a look for the Glastonbury Festival site. Of course, it’s all just fields at the moment, but you should try and get a shot of the site during festival time, as I’m sure it will look impressive viewed from above 🙂
Parts of the West of the island of Singapore are now in hi-res. Looks like the imagery is from Nov 2006. I’ve posted more details here:
http://www.singeo.com.sg/?p=130
Cheers
Singeo
Still most of Wales is not included… Such stunning mountains and its all low resolution.
A friend of mine who live in Tequila (Jalisco, Mexico) have confirmed the updating of Tequila too :o)
Wow!
I’m from Greenland, at the moment living in austria, and i never imagined they’d once put nuuk (my hometown population ca. 15,000) into high res! However vienna, austria (where i currently live) still has the image dating from 2003 where half the city is under clouds.
Thanks for nuuk google earth!
Uka
Google Earth Needs to upgrade the resolutions of the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia the Martinsburg area am tired of looking at a blur
The imagery in my area (inner northern Melbourne, Australia) was not updated, but has shifted to match my GPS coordinates. Previously was about 10m out.
Its nice that theres high res coverage now of most of England (including Leicestershire where I am)
But its old, really old! Atleast 5 or more years old!
I am very please with the updates although very disappointed at the age of the images especially in England. My old school still has images from probably six years ago as the history classrooms still haven’t appeared on the outside.
When are they going to update El Paso, TX the aerial imagery was taken in March of 2002.
Ouray, Colorado and nearby areas also now have aome better resolution.
Any imagery updates of Athens Greece in the near future would be apreciated much
I thank you very much!!
in southern england, half of basingstoke, and all of winchester is still in low res. sigh.
Hey dudes! Valencia, a spanish city in the west coast of Spain (where the 32nd America’s Cup is happening now), has now better imagery, I guess is now about 25 cm per pixel. Thx orwellian boys.
The “special color mapping techniques” do *not* improve the images in Germany (IMHO). It may look better with a very low zoom level, but as soon as you zoom in especially to habitated areas, the images look overexposed and blurred. You can see the difference by switching to Google maps where there still are the old colors.
I really would prefer the previous coloring, or maybe have the new mapping at certain zoom levels only.
Hi
I have sent this E-mail from Iran.For many times i have tried to download google earth,but each time i failed.Google earth show me this massage”this product is not available in your country” what is the problem? Why google earth can not be download in my country?
why can’t they get some hi-res imagery of Normandy France already…other than the Gold and Sword beach area. 63 years later and it still gets no respect.
You have no idea how many of us WWII buffs are looking for this.
Updated imagery of the northern half of Bucharest, Romania
Little part of Guatemala in Central America got some update too.
I live in El Centro, California and use google earth a lot for work purposes. I notice recently that there is imagery that is older then the one the had before. I don’t know the reason why you have done that and if you can place back the newer imagery or give me and understanding why you would replace newer imagery with an older one.
Thank,
John
Does anybody know when is google planini to improve thre images in former Yugoslavia. For egzample; I live im Mostar (poulation of 110 000) and it izsalmost invizible while , some townos much smaller can be seen very clearly? PS: I vanted to ad some building, the stadium and the “old bridge” that is part of the UNESCO heritage, but there is no sense. Thanks, and sory for my bad English.
There’s new high-res image over the area of taiping, part of Perak, Malaysia. That’s Ok, but i hope that GE covers more area in Klang Valley, the most populous area in Malaysia. Area of Klang, Shah Alam, Rawang and Seremban are not yet covered while in Kuala Lumpur the hi-res image dates back to early 2004.
South east england(Kent)is well coverd but it looks at least 4 years ago when photos taken.
How many times they update their image database for google earth?
Has anyone developed, and is maintaining, a listing of the known Google Earth RESOLUTIONS around the world ??
– Las Vegas Strip = 3″/pxl
– Western USA states = 10m/pxl
– England = 50 cm/pxl
– – – etc.
Thanks!!
Cann’t see Durgapur, West Bengal, India – N23.29.51-E87.19.39 for very low resolution. Nearby locations are better.
kindly please say why iranian people couldn’t download the google earth?
this is the question of many iranians.
thanks in advance
hi,
i try to upload 3d model into google earth, but i cannot place the model to the exact location (Sungai Petani, Malaysia) because the image is too blur. Any solution or suggestion to fix this problem.
thanks
Nice sharing , huge thanks.