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New Imagery Update for Google Earth

February 19, 2008

Got a report from a GEB reader in Spain that there’s been an imagery update for Google Earth. The first so far in 2008. I checked, and there certainly appears to be some significant new imagery in Spain. There’s a noticeable new area of imagery on the eastern edge of Spain covering Barcelona, which is copyrighted “Institut Cartográfic de Catalunya”. This imagery is not particularly high resolution – I would estimate about 1 meter/pixel. Not as good as Digital Globe which is 60 cm/pixel. There is also some new aerial imagery for several towns in Spain – according to the report I got: Valladolid, Leon, burgos, Avila, Segovia, Salamanca, Andalucia, and Cataluña. The imagery for these towns is very good quality, but there is no attribution for who provided the imagery. Much of this imagery is 20 cm / pixel or better resolution….quite good.
Here’s the list of areas determined to be updated/added so far (UPDATED 1645 EST):

  • Spain – Catalonia – including Barcelona; Valladolid, Leon, Burgos, Avila, Segovia, Salamanca,
    Andalucia, Cataluña, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Pamplona, Vitoria-gasteiz, Córdoba, and Gijon

  • England – Kent, Norfolk

  • France – Tours

  • Brazil – São Paulo

  • USA

    • Ohio, US – New state-wide coverage
    • Connecticut, US – New state-wide coverage
    • Portland, Oregon, US
    • Deleware, US – Updated imagery
    • Nevada, US – Some new areas
    • New Jersey, US – Many areas updated
    • Louisiana, US – Many areas updated
    • California, US – Areas east of LA have been updated, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo
    • Philadelphia, PA, US – The entire metro area
    • Salt Lake City Area, UT, US – City and surrounding area (including ski mountains – now summertime)
    • Denver, CO, US
    • Virginia, US – Norfolk, Newport News
    • Hawaii, US – Mona Kea (observatory now visible), Maui, Kauai
    • New York, US – Eastern part of Long Island updated
    • Massachusetts, US – Parts of Boston/Cambridge updated
  • Canada – Woodstock, Ontario; Vancouver (suburbs, not city)

  • Norway – Oslo

  • Iceland – Reykjavik

  • Russia – Parts of St. Petersburg

  • Belgium – Pascal says some images around Brussels have been reprocessed, but otherwise the same imagery. See his post.

  • Denmark – Roskilde

  • Azores – Terceira (the whole island), São Miguel (the whole island)

  • Australia – Sydney and surrounding areas (large area to northeast)

  • Romania – Bucharest

  • New Zealand – Auckland

  • South Africa – Remote areas have new high resolution from Cnes/Spot Image

[UPDATE 20-FEB Google has posted the full details at the bottom of this post. It looks like GEB readers found at least 80% of the new imagery. Thanks for all the help everyone!]
Usually with an imagery update for Google Earth there are many other areas around the world added. So, please report here if you find other areas with new imagery. Thanks to those of you who have already reported in with new locations. For those of you wondering, I’m cross checking with Google Maps by simply clicking on the “View in Google Maps” icon in Google Earth. The Google Maps imagery database hasn’t been updated with the new imagery yet.
I’ll update this post as I get the details. Also, if you are reading this with an RSS reader, you should go directly to this post to get the latest update as readers usually don’t re-load the post when updates are made.

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.

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Filed Under: Google Earth News, Sightseeing

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PLEASE NOTE: Google Earth Blog is no longer writing regular posts. As a result, we are not accepting new comments or questions about Google Earth. If you have a question, use the official Google Earth and Maps Forums or the Google Earth Community Forums.

Comments

  1. Marc B. says

    February 19, 2008 at 8:07 am

    The “eastern edge of Spain covering Barcelona” is Catalonia 😉 (oficial names for the same number of official languages: Catalunya in Catalan, Cataluña in Spanish, Catalonha in Occitan).
    In Desember I had a meeting with some Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya (ICC) managers. They were working in a new reprocessing of their aerial imagery.
    ICC is the official institution in Catalonia for Cartography and placenames.

  2. Hugo Salgado says

    February 19, 2008 at 8:18 am

    Barcelona images are better now, but there’s a “hole” that was not there before. It’s a military facility in the top of Montjuic Hill. 41° 21′ 45”, 2° 09′ 52”

  3. Sam034 says

    February 19, 2008 at 8:26 am

    Eastern part of Ohio is in high resolution now.

  4. Jan Wesbuer says

    February 19, 2008 at 8:29 am

    San Sebastian, Bilbao, Pamplona & Vitoria-gasteiz are now highres too.

  5. Frank says

    February 19, 2008 at 8:36 am

    As I can see, theres new imagery of Bilbo (basque country), Terceira and Sao Miguel of the Acores Islands and i think parts of South Africa are also new.

  6. Roy says

    February 19, 2008 at 8:40 am

    Connecticut, New Jersey, Deleware, Philadelphia Metro, and a large area around Los Angeles have been greatly updated.

  7. James S says

    February 19, 2008 at 8:53 am

    Hi-res updates for Kent and Norfolk in England.

  8. AKB says

    February 19, 2008 at 9:06 am

    Oslo, Norway is updated. That annoying cloud is gone.
    Reykjavík, Iceland has also been updated to 2006/2007 imagery.

  9. alan says

    February 19, 2008 at 9:07 am

    Area centred around Woodstock in Southwestern Ontario, Canada is now high-res.

  10. Iñigo says

    February 19, 2008 at 9:26 am

    The imagery for the towns in Spain are from a company called Aerodata International Surveys
    http://www.aerodata-surveys.com/aerogrid.php
    Think Tours has got an update too 🙂

  11. Nymor says

    February 19, 2008 at 9:39 am

    São Paulo in Brazil has also changed.
    I was looking at the Formula 1 circuit there only 2 days ago and it’s seems it has now inherited “that annoying cloud” AKB mentioned above 🙁

  12. Martin says

    February 19, 2008 at 10:01 am

    Updates in St. Petersburg – Russia & Torshavn – Faroe Islands

  13. Roy says

    February 19, 2008 at 10:05 am

    I just noticed Salt Lake City and the area around it looks pretty new, but that could be just my eyes.

  14. James S says

    February 19, 2008 at 10:44 am

    Several updated European capital cities – Helsinki, Kiev, Bucharest and Riga.

  15. zell0ss says

    February 19, 2008 at 10:51 am

    Gijon and córdoba also have increasedresolution

  16. Tomy says

    February 19, 2008 at 10:59 am

    Update for Tours in France.

  17. Martin says

    February 19, 2008 at 11:07 am

    More updates in: Kopenhagen region including Roskilde – Danmark; I think some french citys like Metz, Nancy, Dijon and others had an update; South Afrika Northern and Western Cape region seems updated; Terceira – Azores Islands; Almeria, Alicante, Benidorm, Castellón de la Plana, Vigo, A Coruña, Gijon, Oviedo & Santander – Spain

  18. Mark says

    February 19, 2008 at 11:11 am

    I just checked the NJ imagery for my house and where I work. The data is certainly newer but appears to be lower res that the old imagery.

  19. Iñigo says

    February 19, 2008 at 11:13 am

    – Sydney and surrounding areas
    – Lousiana (I think?)

  20. twist3r says

    February 19, 2008 at 11:17 am

    Bucharest, Romania has image updated

  21. Jamey says

    February 19, 2008 at 11:23 am

    Updates to suburbs around Vancouver

  22. Tomy says

    February 19, 2008 at 11:24 am

    San Francisco Bay Area
    Portland, Oregon
    Denver, Colorado are also updated.

  23. Alex J. says

    February 19, 2008 at 11:34 am

    It seems like there are several other updated areas in Spain:
    1. The shoreline from Alicante to Javea.
    2. Vilareal area.
    Maybe Valencia as well, I’m not sure.
    In the USA, the area of Norfolk and Newport News in Virginia has been updated.
    The shoreline in Israel has been smoothed, I’m not sure whether there were any imagery updates in Israel. I believe there weren’t.

  24. techguy says

    February 19, 2008 at 2:24 pm

    FINALLY A SAN FRANCISCO UPDATE…
    THX GUYS

  25. mb says

    February 19, 2008 at 3:20 pm

    Parts of Long Island NY have newer imagery. My roof went from red to black and my swimming pool shows up.

  26. chris says

    February 19, 2008 at 4:19 pm

    Still no high resolution cover for most of Wales. But it’s there in Virtual Earth, and worth a look, so what is stopping GE?
    Also still no high resolution for much of Scotland, but Virtual Earth too is limited there.
    London remains in deep winter shadows, and continuing to check for new imagery elsewhere inthe UK.

  27. Jay K says

    February 19, 2008 at 6:51 pm

    I wish they would update the street maps. My neighborhood is over 4 years old now, and they have recent enough image, but really old street plans.

  28. Bigbewo says

    February 19, 2008 at 7:26 pm

    Looks like the whole of Sydney has received a high res update which i approx a year old judging by construction and road works in my local area. This high res update stretches up the NSW coast to Newcastle which is about 2 hours away from Sydney.
    Looks like I have got some exploring to do

  29. shams says

    February 19, 2008 at 9:10 pm

    I THINK BANGLADESH IS NOT UPDATED FOR LONG TIME

  30. Luke W says

    February 19, 2008 at 10:13 pm

    I am once again very disappointed. No noticeable updates for Melbourne or Victoria at all. That’s twice in a row now.
    But ironically, Google has done a fantastic job with Sydney. I’m glad the licencing issue was fixed and the high-res imagery now shows things such as the Lane Cove Tunnel.
    Now if only Google’s commitment to Sydney was the same as Melbourne, I would be happy.

  31. Bogdan says

    February 20, 2008 at 12:45 am

    Star City, east of Moscow, high resolution.

  32. BZ says

    February 20, 2008 at 5:12 am

    w00t!!
    unfortunately, this update’s imagery for newport news/norfolk is still older and lower-res than the stuff that’s available on microsoft’s virtual earth.
    🙁

  33. io says

    February 20, 2008 at 7:32 am

    Update the Canary Islands in spain, please

  34. David Santos says

    February 20, 2008 at 9:17 am

    Jordan in middle east and part of some countries around also have new imagery.
    I’m sure about Jordan because i saw it 3 days ago and now it’s different, but i thing that update includes Sinai peninsula, south of Israel and Syria

  35. chris says

    February 20, 2008 at 3:54 pm

    Fly over England now at around 500km and you will see a patchwork of coverage often fitting administrative boundaries, which indicates that those authorities are the source of the images, much of them now at a good high resolution. But it’s tricky to spot the updates without local knowledge, and you have to wonder why GE are not more up front about updates.
    Some examples worth a look are Avon (around Bristol), Calderdale (around halifax), Nottinghamshire, and, maybe the best images, Portsmouth.
    The new images of Kent look like early May 2007, and the countryside is yellow with blooming oil seed rape in the drive for bio fuel, and you can even spot the odd cricket match in progress.
    Anywhere else as colourful?

  36. Pasi Savolainen says

    February 20, 2008 at 5:18 pm

    Weird, parts of St.Petersburg (Russia) is very, very old imagery now (Prospect Veteranov part, near Pulkovo airport). It used to be newer, though lower resolution (a little bit noisier)
    Also I don’t know if there’s some problem with my linux client, but in Barcelona, where castle of mont juic should be, there is just a black outline. weird.

  37. Someone says

    February 20, 2008 at 8:53 pm

    Updated meaning more modern around Troy, MI Area. I see newer roads after much construction that used to be around. Older images were from 2005, Not sure when these are.

  38. Matt says

    February 20, 2008 at 10:28 pm

    I don’t know if I’d call it a “great” update for New Jersey- the coverage looks HORRIBLE in some places!

  39. Knowledgeum says

    February 21, 2008 at 8:49 pm

    Large areas central BC have been updated, not just around the metro vancouver area.

  40. maps2lj says

    February 22, 2008 at 7:24 am

    “Updates in St. Petersburg – Russia” : Russia – Parts of St. Petersburg???
    This is DOWNDATE! Now Google Earth (beta-version 4.2.0205.5730) shows very old satellite map of St. Petersburg (2003-2004 years). And earlier there was a same map, as on Google Maps (august 2007). It refers to “updating”? Tell please, that it: lie, a mistake (bug) or ” the new information policy for beta-testers “?

  41. Ol Peculier says

    February 25, 2008 at 11:38 am

    The area around Scarborough, UK was updated last time round but worth a mention, although it’s also superb in Virtual Earth birds eye view, why Scarborough gets this and other nearby, and much bigger, towns don’t is strange.
    But strangly satisfying 🙂

  42. Gordon Reed says

    March 1, 2008 at 5:51 pm

    Would it be possible to target Hilo, Hawaii. I am interested in the University of Hawaii-Hilo, my daughter attends the school and I would really like to see some of the sites she emails me about. Thank you, Gordon Reed

  43. Cliff says

    March 5, 2008 at 12:09 pm

    Images of Milton Delaware USA appear to be from 2005, last time I looked, a few months back, they were from Jul 2006.

  44. ellen woods says

    March 6, 2008 at 9:07 am

    i would love to see my town londonderry improved on the map =D

  45. Fred says

    March 6, 2008 at 3:44 pm

    The New Jersey update stinks. The resolution is absolutely horrible. Guess I’ll have to use TerraServer or something else. It would have been better if you left it how it was before.

  46. Pete M. says

    March 7, 2008 at 10:46 am

    The NJ update is of less resolution than what had existed before.
    The original images for NJ were from a 2002 flight by the State of NJ. Not sure what the source for the current images is, but they are not as detailed. Also do not think they are much more current than 2004 or so. I had a new garage added and relocated the driveway around 2004, neither of which shows up on the current images in GE.
    Go to https://njgin.state.nj.us/NJ_NJGINExplorer/index.jsp and you can download georeferenced MrSid files of the NJ 2002 files.
    Hey GE what are you thinking? You gave us great stuff here in NJ and now you take it away.
    Not happy

  47. art says

    March 7, 2008 at 11:59 am

    The New Jersey data is a REDUCTION in resolution, as has been noted before. It looks awful. Even worse, there are registration errors. My neck of the woods is off by about 15 meters. My models are all misplaced now, the road layer jumps off the road when roads cross on to the new images and the seams across images look terrible. The “new” imagery is still five years old, so what’s the point?

  48. sean mcnulty says

    March 7, 2008 at 12:29 pm

    how do I get up to date images on Google Earth or can anyone tell me how often they are updated, thanks,
    72tr6r.

  49. Dan says

    March 9, 2008 at 4:01 pm

    Why doesn’t this site report changes in imagery in Michigan? the last 3 major updates were all overlooked by this site.

  50. rick says

    March 16, 2008 at 12:57 am

    When possible, please update area around Kyogle, NSW, Australia.

  51. guo says

    March 19, 2008 at 2:36 pm

    Hello,
    Wonder what year is that satellite map for BeiJing China? or how old of that map?
    I really appreciate any help from you.
    Thanks.

  52. Sam says

    March 20, 2008 at 6:43 am

    Hi,
    Google Earth has missed the capital city of Laos, Vientiane and only has about 30% coverage, also the images are at least 5 years old do you know when they will update?

  53. Pietarilainen says

    March 24, 2008 at 4:57 am

    Dear Google Earth team, the latest “update” of parts of St. Petersburg (Russia) is actually rolling back to the very outdated pictures. Current edition shows really ancient pictures (much more elder than previous pictures available before the “update”), so, relevance of current pictures goes to zero!!! Could you be so kind to replace these outdated pictures with really newest ones, thank you in advance!

  54. Vitaliy says

    March 28, 2008 at 3:24 pm

    About St. Petersburg. Do you call it “update”? Are you kidding us? This so-called “update” is just step back to the PREVIOUS version of that map. I am an active member of Wikimapia project and I remember that map very good. For example, the Sennaya Square (http://wikimapia.org/#lat=59.926958&lon=30.318489&z=16&l=1&m=a&v=2) before reconsruction and so on. We don’t need such “improvements”, please return to at least previous version (about 2007 I presume) or to a really new version.
    P.S. I see some similar comments here but there is no reaction at all 🙁

  55. David says

    March 30, 2008 at 4:49 am

    Area of Ninole, Hawaii 96773 replaced with older image. Previous image was taken between April-August 2005. Current image is early 2004. Wish there was a way to correct. Also the Zipcode doesn’t register correctly.

  56. Lillian Williams says

    April 19, 2008 at 10:22 am

    Google Earth has not been updated for YEARS. I have checked MY address in Texas, My children’s addresses and a friend in Southern California. This is also true of the Premium Version. Why bother even having this if its old ?

  57. Kathy says

    April 19, 2008 at 11:26 am

    I would like to know when an update will be done for West coast Florida. It is 4 years old. All of the images pre 2004 hurricane season on the west Coast of florida. VERY old informaton!!!! The area has changed!

  58. eu_tourist says

    May 6, 2008 at 1:07 pm

    It seems Bucharest, Romania, doesn’t have a street map, not mentioning subway stations. It’s a capital of a EU state anyway. I was there and I found very embarrasing not having any Google Earth support. When will be available a detailed map of the city?

  59. Nick says

    May 12, 2008 at 12:51 am

    Took a look at Machu Picchu- resolution has degraded so badly NO detail can be seen- noticed it for other places too-going backwards, guys…

  60. rocket says

    May 16, 2008 at 9:36 am

    Melbourne now has hi-res imagery from Werribee to Frankston and up to Craigieburn.
    Although GE keeps loosing it if scanning the hi-res for too long. Everything goes low res.
    Have to restart to get the hi-res back.
    Running version Google Earth Plus 4.3.7191.6508 (beta)

  61. some dude says

    June 12, 2008 at 4:32 am

    The imagery around melbourne and coastal Vic Australia is soo out dated i think its like 5 years old or something ! That sucks !
    Plese Google your our only hope ! FIX IT !!!!

  62. Smithy says

    June 16, 2008 at 9:42 am

    Please Google update Costa Blance and the East Coast of Spain, It has not been updated since August 15 2004 !!!

  63. Zeeshan Shaikh says

    June 27, 2008 at 5:03 am

    I m very disapointed about Asian countries updates, Map shown in Google earth of Dubae, Pakistan & india are from 2002. Please i realy request to administration team of Goggle earth to load the latest map of asian countries.

  64. azrin says

    July 5, 2008 at 9:19 pm

    please update sabah,malaysia map year 2008.

  65. Glenn says

    July 22, 2008 at 3:37 am

    When are the satelite maps of South Africa going to be updated, they are +/- 2 years out of date ???

  66. brianjcrook says

    September 19, 2008 at 9:39 am

    Prestwick in scotland is still around 10 years old. Any updates on the horizon?

  67. Steve says

    October 5, 2008 at 3:12 am

    Nearly all of Oahu, State of Hawaii are imagery from 2004.

  68. Lauren says

    October 31, 2008 at 3:50 am

    Any updates for the Gold Coast coming up the images are at least 4 years old in Upper Coomera and Dreamworld

  69. Timoz says

    December 17, 2008 at 2:49 am

    any updates on Cairo, Egypt. alot of things changed since long time ago. kindly update google earth with recent Cairo City locanted in EGYPT (north – East Africa) Thanx.

  70. parvez jaffery says

    December 26, 2008 at 12:56 pm

    please can you update jhelum city in pakistan,its still same as were few year ago

  71. irfan says

    January 4, 2009 at 1:48 pm

    please set the imagery of city jhelum in pakistan i am waiting for long time please let me see my city please

  72. Yahyah Jalaal says

    January 19, 2009 at 3:28 am

    Images are of Nov 2006. How can I see latest images. If not atleast 6 months old. Please do keep updating.

  73. Simon Ward says

    January 21, 2009 at 9:19 pm

    Hmm, I’m not too sure about updates for Sydney Australia. I live in the outer North West of the city, and the images are about twenty months old.

  74. Craig Aitken says

    May 3, 2009 at 10:39 pm

    Cairns Australia updated sept 08 great resolution.
    16° 53.792’S
    145° 43.787’E

  75. Pat Purnell says

    May 18, 2009 at 2:00 pm

    When will views be updated for Du Quoin, Illinois or Southern Illinois in general. The view we now have is from July, 04.

  76. Naim says

    June 11, 2009 at 11:42 pm

    Dhaka, Bangladesh image is more than 2 years old. There are lot of new things in Dhaka. Please update the image for Dhaka and rest of bangladesh.

  77. SR says

    August 4, 2009 at 12:30 pm

    The images in Souyh Africa is more than 7 years old
    wil it ever be updated. Complete new suburbs have been built. 29″ 5′ 00.36S 26″ 12′ 48.42 E

  78. Steve says

    August 10, 2009 at 5:54 am

    They’ve since updated the Honolulu area to 2008 imagery which is very nice but the rest of the island of Oahu are still using the same old images from 2004. That’s a LONG time ago.

  79. CLIVE PYGOTT says

    August 19, 2009 at 11:03 am

    My postcode, Shifnal in Shropshire, England, has been “downdated”. My complete road of 10-11 year old houses was visible in completed state until recently. It is now shown as a building site. Is this progress?

  80. Alexandros Martinez says

    August 31, 2009 at 12:53 am

    Can you do new imagery updates from the following cities: Redondo Beach, CA, Manhattan Beach, CA, Hermosa Beach, CA, San Pedro, CA, Los Angeles, CA, El Segundo, CA, and some more nearby cities (Lawndale, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Culver City, Santa Monica, etc.)? The view we all have is still using the 2007 image instead of the September 2009 imagery.

  81. A.K.ARORA says

    September 17, 2009 at 11:16 am

    Can I have the latest satellite images of Port Blair town in A& N Islands, India

  82. Rafiq says

    October 25, 2009 at 3:08 am

    Dhaka, Bangladesh image is more than 2 years old.
    Please update.

  83. alan hills says

    December 25, 2009 at 9:53 pm

    I live in western australia and the latest updates of images seem to be 2004/2005

  84. Ubaid says

    April 15, 2010 at 8:00 am

    pls update latest map of western india, ast image is 6 yrs old

  85. Patrick says

    September 17, 2010 at 10:19 am

    Hi all,
    This area at our wedding venue is still showing images of 2005!
    30°46’42.31″S
    30°23’55.03″E
    Does anyone have the actual link to google that will let us know when these will be updated ?
    Thanks,
    IzotshaCreek.co.za

  86. wabsir fred says

    May 6, 2011 at 1:16 pm

    I would like an update of one region/ area i.e kakungulu which is found in uganda entebbe.
    how can i be advised.
    thanks

  87. ravi says

    June 30, 2011 at 9:22 am

    PL UP DATE SOUTH TAMILNADU NOW IT IS IN 2002

  88. BHUPAL SUBBA says

    August 5, 2011 at 9:39 am

    LET your team may update sikkim

  89. zafar eqbal says

    January 11, 2012 at 10:53 am

    The North Bihar maps are still old especially National hihway 57. It is going to be very important route. some of the images are updated till 2011. Bit some laces are old one. kindly update north bihar images.



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