[UPDATE Sept. 1: Google has released the official list of locations (and KML file) with new or updated imagery – see here.]
Just got a report – and verified – there is a bunch of new satellite imagery in Argentina. It’s a little early for the next monthly update, but I guess Google has some reason for an update. No idea yet how big this update is. The update for Argentina includes lots of medium resolution Spot Image imagery.
The new imagery is not yet available in Google Maps (as usual), so you can verify whether imagery you suspect is new by looking (and zooming in) on the same area in Google Maps. Use the “View in Google Maps” option to zoom immediately to the same spot. If the imagery doesn’t look the same up close, then that area is new. Google has updated Google Maps with the new imagery as well, so we can no longer easily verify new imagery. Leave a comment below if you have found something new and I’ll add it to the growing list below.
NOTE: For those of you disappointed with new imagery which has clouds or lower resolution, don’t forget the new Google Earth ‘Historical Imagery’ mode which lets you view imagery previously available. You can go back to better imagery if needed. However, there does seem to be several examples of poor imagery (clouds, reduced resolution, color changes) added to the base layer with this update.
New and updated imagery [UPDATED 28-AUG 0910 ET]:
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Argentina – large areas of medium resolution Spot Image imagery. Thanks to Gerardo Paz!
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Poland – Auschwitz in high res – Thanks ‘BeadieJay’, Warsaw – and areas north and south.
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Germany – Around Hannover (north and south), “harz” mountains, areas around Hamburg, villages east of Itzehoe, South of Cuxhafen, near Bremen (NW), Cloppenburg and “more”; thanks to “MontyPython”. Frankfurt – Thanks ‘Thilo’
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Chile – Santiago (can’t confirm this one) – Report by JP; found new section west of Valpraiso (green).
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France – many areas in northern France (Cherbourg, Cholet, Lavel, Chaumont, and Pau, Clermont-Ferrand, Figeac). Thanks ‘Steven’
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USA – Ugly green is back in Arizona for Mount Hopkins/Mount Wrightson – Thanks for report by ‘Steven’ – now have to complain to Google again. San Mateo County, CA (updated imagery, different coloration) – Thanks ‘GT’; Travis County, TX; Minneapolis; – Thanks ‘Roy’
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Serbia – Begrade (late-July 2009 imagery) – Thanks ‘barakuda’
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Peru – Lima (many clouds – reduced quality) – Thanks ‘Auquicu’
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Finland – south of Espoo (bad quality with clouds), eastern part of Helsinki, Western Kirkkonummi – Thanks ‘Rauski’
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China – Shanghai – many areas – Thanks ‘Marc’
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Mexico – Much of southern Mexico now has medium resolution Spot Image imagery. – Thanks ‘Thilo’.
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New Zealand – Several areas including Christchurch, Wellington – Thanks ZNO
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Sweden – Gothenburg – (dark and oversharpened – bad quality) – thanks ‘MrCharlie’
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Bosnia and Herzegovina – Sarajevo, Beograd – thanks ‘12345’
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Antarctica – Ross Island, areas near Dry Valleys. New imagery, but coloring is kind of inconsistent – thanks ‘Tom’.
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Brazil – São Paulo, Santos, São Vicente, Guarujá and Praia Grande also changes to Joinville and Guaramirim. – Thanks ‘Tiago Carraro’
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UK – Huddersfield, Bradford – Thanks Damien and Chris
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Russia – Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Monino – Thanks ‘Munden’.
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Guam – Thanks ‘Munden’
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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.
Auschwitz has higher res imagery now…there’s loads more, but I won’t spoil the fun by revealing any more!!
Google Earth Moderator
Many addtions to Germany:
– Some villages south of Hanover have now older but better imagery (Eldagsen, Elze)
– North of Hannover (Scherenbostel, Isernhagen)
– A part of harz mountains with newer and better imagery (yay, snow!)
– Bergen-Belsen (another KZ) also new imagery
– Many cities and villages near Hamburg (Buxtehude, Ahrensburg, Großhansdorf, Barmstedt)
– Villages east of Itzehoe (Hohenlockstedt, Kellinghusen)
– Bad Segeberg
– South of Cuxhafen (very cloudy, not really an improvement)
– West and north of Bremen (Bookholzberg, Lesumstotel)
– Cloppenburg
and much much more…
I just discovered a bizarre error from last month’s imagery update. Chattanooga, TN was marked as having new imagery, but did not. I just looked at the history time line, and the updated imagery was accidentally filed under 2007. Basically, the 2007 and 2009 imagery are switched.
Santiago, Chile has been updated. It seems to be the same newer imagery that was previously available via historical imagery.
Germany and Switzerland have new DigitalGlobe Imagery. In France: Most of the Hautes-Alpes department, many areas in northern France (Cherbourg, Cholet, Lavel, Chaumont, and more), New DigitalGlobe imagery near Pau, Clermont-Ferrand, Figeac, and maybe more. United States:More recoloring, and Mount Hopkins has more of that ugly green. The city of Djibouti has new DigitalGlobe.
Just checked and Lima, capital of Perú has new satelite imagery, but unluckily not good ones. Many clowds, medium quality, and in many cases now don’t match with previous images, so some models look out of place.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the words ‘Auschwitz’ and ‘fun’ in the same sentence.
The Santiago update is extremely strange. It seems like they only updated a 4.5 km wide strip of land near the center of the city running from north to south. The older imagery remained on the sides but the contrast was modified (specially on the eastern side). The older imagery was much better IMHO 🙁
Belgrade, Serbia for sure. It has GeoEye image taken Jul 31. 2009.
Well… im not impressed with this big bad GeoEye images. Res is just… meh… I was hoping i would be able to see myself waving up but you can barely make out cars. Like i sad… meh…
Now resolution in Czech Republic, Germany, UK… now thats some impressive hi res images.
CZ you lucky bastards.
OMG they totally ruined a major city like Valparaíso with that cloudy imagery. Why is Google even doing this?
Looks the update in Lima is totally wrong. Can someone at Google please check? Looks the “updated” satelite images are from 2007, and now not a single 3d building matches with the new ground.
New imagery for Finland; Southern Espoo (bad quality, cloudy & dark, thanks Google!), Eastern parts of Helsinki, parts of Western Kirkkonummi
Just checked an F1 collection I do and while I can’t guarantee these are all in this latest update – they are different from the last time I looked and all but the last are different from the older images in Google Maps.
Shanghai International Circuit (China)
Nürburgring (Nürburg, Germany)
Hungaroring (Budapest, Hungary)
[ Spa (Spa, Belgium) – maybe]
Parts of San Mateo County, CA (the coastal areas) have greener imagery.
Shanghai (China) has been updated as well. Now you can see the 492m tall World Financial Centre tower almost finished in Pudong.
Germany: Image updates around Frankfurt/Main (e.g. Hanau, Groß-Gerau, Königstein, Dietzenbach).
Spot images for previously uncovered parts of southern Mexico (Oaxaca, Chiapas).
Sarajevo BiH and surrounding area has new imagery from 03Aug09 and several new layers on historical images.
Christchurch New Zealand now in claer hi-res.
Wellington City, New Zealand has hi-res imagery.
Not necessarily new imagery, but the tan image of Travis County, Texas was cut to just a small circle around the city of Austin.
Minneapolis was also updated.
Gothenburg, Sweden has new imagery. Unfortunatly it seems to be oversharpened, and a bit dark, and so ruins the quality.
Vietnam & Cambodia appear to have higher res base imagery. Much of it overlaps the Laos border.
Bosna and Hercegovina Google imagery update: capital city Sarajevo, city Vogošća, better resolution, was surprised about update too
@ Romyn, Spa-Francorchamps got new imagery together with the Belgium imagery update at the beginning of August
The Abu Dhabi race track which is still under construction has newer imagery from mid 2008
Could it be that the south of Africa has been updated with new imagery, or is this from the last update?
It seems Google has messed up some stuff in Austria. If u look at the image from Hintertuxer Gletscher everything’s green, including places like Hintertux, Juns, Lanersbach. It’s different form google maps, so it’s new.
There’s various new scattered imagery on the west coast of Norway.
New coverage in Antarctica: Ross Island as well as areas in and near the Dry Valleys. Color balancing is all over the map however – double meaning intended.
Iceland – Jökulsá check out the Glacier (2008); Krysuvik (2005); another glacier @ 63°32’14.32″N, 19°20’31.21″W (2008), Sauðárkrókur in the North(2008),
So far I’ve noticed Huddersfield, Bradford & Liverpool have updated imagery
Rusia: Petropavlovsk
The capital city of Lithuania, Vilnius has also new imagery data 2009-08-03
Lithuania – Vilnius (whole city)
The Auschwitz imagery strip (dated Apr 29, 2009) extends far to the east, including whole Kraków city area (at last!) and reaching as far as Brzesko. There is also a very fresh tile (July 23!) just north of Kraków.
Sorry Oliver, I should have chosen my words more carefully. To set the record straight, I felt very emotional looking at Auschwitz from the air, seeing it in hi-res at last. Having visited the site in person made it even more haunting for me.
However, there is a lot of fun to be had in searching for new imagery, and, as I’m sure you’re aware, that’s just what I meant. Next time I’ll put a full stop in when I change the subject.
Brazil: Fortaleza city was updated. Now my city is partly bright, partly dark and partly yellow.
I have found some time ago the some of the historical images were more uptodate than the dafault ones. It seems that Google put some of the historical images as the default ones.
People should check this for their cities.
I am not sure, but it seems that there is new imagery for Tallinn(Estonia). In Google Maps the Smuuli Bridge is still being built(2006) and in Google Earth its finished(2008).
http://maps.google.de/maps?ll=59.421872,24.841484&z=16&t=h&hl=en
Brazil: updated images in Recife metro area, much less clouds. Old images were ~2003, new ones circa 2008.
The Russian Federation Air Force Museum at Monino, Russia Is now Visible, lots of russian aircraft to look at ! Including A Bear T-95 and the supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 as well as other rare and historic russian airframes !
Heres a link to there website http://www.moninoaviation.com/
55°49’58.36″N 38°11’4.40″E
There’s very new GeoEye imagery for Santa Maria, Brazil (S29 42 W53 42) (dated july 29). The resolution seems very good but the coloring is odd, as is the case for much of the GeoEye images… The update before this one also had some very recent GeoEye “patches” with roughly the same size.
New GeoEye stripe (north-south direction), which is dated Jul 1, 2006 on the Historical Imagery, appeared next to the city of Anapa (Russia), after the eastern end of the city.
Because of the date and the quality of image, it’s probably not from the latest and greatest GeoEye-1 satellite, but nevertheless it’s much better than the previous image of the area, which was taken far from midday, and in winter colours, and several years earlier (Feb 18, 2003).
Riverside/San Bernardino County, California:Big Bear Lake and an area near Hemet.
United States
There is another area of new imagery near Fallbrook, San Diego County, California.
Europe
Switzerland:Bienne and an area near Fribourg.
Germany:Many DigitalGlobe Stripes.
South America
Ecuador:New Cloudy and bad quality imagery in Quito
Bolivia:New GeoEye in La Paz and Santa Cruz
The update in Lima, Peru is very wrong. Bad quality, many clouds, and the ground doesn’t match the buildings.
Updated imagery in Chittagong and some part of Dhaka in Bangladesh.
Hi !
Regarding Caracas/Venezuela …
The central area of the city was clearly visible.
Now it is extremely dark.
Nobody mentioned the change of Caracas yet.
USA:
Illinois: Piatt County
Florida: Duval and Clay Counties. (including Jacksonville)
Guam received an update too. The SSN San Francisco is no longer in the floating dry dock. The update looksl ike it’s just centered in the port near Piti.
There were big updates in Brazil: the city of São Paulo looks more uniform, although the imagery is now older. The cities of Santos, São Vicente, Guarujá and Praia Grande are now high resolution imagery! In south Brazil there were big changes in Joinville and Guaramirim, both in Santa Catarina state!
GUAM: Go look at the USAF base on the northeast corner of the island. You’ll have to look carefully at the aircraft parked there.
UK Damien McBarron reports updates in Huddersfield and Bradford. Not sure there is any evidence for this, and it will be interesting to see if the GE KML file of updates (if there is one this time) shows any updates at all in the UK.
Russia: Monino
Russia: Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
I hope Colombian department Boyacá (specially Tunja, Duitama and Sogamoso) will be as soon as possible.
Australia – Perth all updated
Turkey: Eskisehir
Spain: The Estadi Olímpic Stadium in Barcelona
Yemen: Sana’a, new cloudy imagery for Adan
New Imagery for Hong Kong (Dated February 5, 2009)
South Carolina: Charleston
New Jersey: A Stripe that runs from South Egg Harbor to South of Keyport
New York: South-East Part
Maine: Color Changes
California: Big Bear Lake
Utah: Orem
Texas: San Antonio
Kuwait City image was updated by SPOT image dated 28 Jun 2008
New imagery of Wellington is at least March or April this year as I can see our new deck 🙂 No new imagery of Hutt valley though.
zagreb,croatia has new imagery and karlovac is colorized
I’ve just checked the imagery update kml & doesn’t show any place in England as having updated imagery. However, Bradford & Huddersfield does look different (less bright green) so I’m guessing they’ve been ‘colourised’ (?)
It looks like the only area in Australia to be updated this time around is new very high resolution for Townsville, Queensland, Australia, which was taken on only July 10, 2009! I think this could be the newest imagery in the whole GE database.
There’s also fewer clouds on Mount Ararat in Eastern Turkey, near the borders of both Armenia and Iran. Before, the entire mountain was covered in clouds.
When they update photos of Zakynthos island -Greece & Cyprus?
What happen with street view in Greece?
Why Google earth don’t use bird eye view?
Google earth must use bird eye view!
I see that there is new high res imagery in Wellington and Christchurch NZ, but see no new imagery for the Auckland city area plus other suburbs. I hope that Google will get round to updating this area soon as it would be great to see where I used to live in clear hi-res.
Metro Manila, Philippines has been updated.
USA: Arlington County, VA – updates in various parts of the county.
After confirming the imagery update in Lima, Peru, was in fact in error, Google placed the satellite imagery that was before this “update”. Therefore, Lima has to be erased from this list.
Google has now removed the cloudy imagery over Valparaíso! I mean, it was beautiful south of the city (without the clouds), but it totally obscured the city itself. I’m glad Google is listening.
Inhambane, Mozambique, now has new and more details.
It is way better now 🙂 I can see Shangha well 🙂
In addition to the fact that during recent days the South Espoo archipelago is spoiled by many clouds (in Finland), also historical maps are spoiled in that area (much less details than before). Please fix this annoying bug.
Something went horribly wrong in Tongariro Nat’l Park in New Zealand. Looks like a nasty case of mold has almost completely covered Mount Doom (mt. Ngauruhoe). Mt. Ruapehu on the other hand is on acid, it seems.
I found that there are many error street view pics in Anchorage, Alaska.
from 4610 to 6074 Debarr Rd.
from 1300 to 1420 Atkinson Dr.
from 1500 to 1616 Kepner Dr.
from 1780 to 1848 Link Ct.
from 6072 to 6006 Acheson Ln.
from 404 to 682 W 6th Ave.
D St / W 6th Ave.
(I think those are same all.) please check it.
I have no satellite view of the northeastern US. An area south of latitude 43 and east of longitude 75.5 is totally grayed out. This includes parts of Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and several New England states. What is this?
We hope Colombian city Tunja in Boyacá, will be as soon as possible, please. Tunja – Colombia