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):
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Spain – Catalonia – including Barcelona; Valladolid, Leon, Burgos, Avila, Segovia, Salamanca,
Andalucia, Cataluña, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Pamplona, Vitoria-gasteiz, Córdoba, and Gijon -
England – Kent, Norfolk
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France – Tours
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Brazil – São Paulo
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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
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Canada – Woodstock, Ontario; Vancouver (suburbs, not city)
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Norway – Oslo
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Iceland – Reykjavik
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Russia – Parts of St. Petersburg
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Belgium – Pascal says some images around Brussels have been reprocessed, but otherwise the same imagery. See his post.
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Denmark – Roskilde
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Azores – Terceira (the whole island), São Miguel (the whole island)
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Australia – Sydney and surrounding areas (large area to northeast)
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Romania – Bucharest
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New Zealand – Auckland
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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.