Google has just pushed out a fresh batch of imagery! Thanks to GEB reader ‘Munden’ for being the first to let us know about it.
As is almost always the case, you can use Google Maps to determine for sure whether or not a specific area is fresh. This new imagery isn’t in Google Maps yet, so you can compare Earth vs. Maps to see what’s new; the fresh imagery is already in Google Earth, but the old imagery is still in Google Maps. If you compare the two side-by-side and they’re not identical, that means that you’ve found a freshly updated area in Google Earth!
Some of the updated areas include:
- India: Hyderabad
- Japan: Naha
- North Korea: Dong-an
- United Arab Emerites: Dubai
- United States: California (San Jose, Temecula), Michigan (Grand Marais), Tennessee (Chattanooga), Texas (Archer City, Wichita Falls), Wyoming (Devil’s Tower)
- Vietnam: Da Nang
If you find any other updated areas, please leave a comment and let us know!
About Mickey Mellen
Mickey has been using Google Earth since it was released in 2005, and has created a variety of geo-related sites including Google Earth Hacks. He runs a web design firm in Marietta, GA, where he lives with his wife and two kids.
Poland, Tarnow
Bajram Curri, Albania (6/18/2013).
Subotica, Serbia (18/16/2013)
Vlorë, Albania (11/9/2012).
The Wave (Coyote Buttes South), AZ, USA – Western of Page
There has so far been no imagery update KML, or feature in the LatLong blog, after the update reported in GEB on 7 July, so it can only be assumed that Google are now doing things differently and perhaps that the KMLs have been discontinued. If that is the case, then the GEB new imagery posts will have renewed significance.
Mecca, Saudi Arabia
If I look at latest imagery it still shows may 25th.
The Grand Marais, Michigan update includes a wide swath of the Upper Peninsula, from Lake Superior to Lake Michigan. Also included: Manistique, Gulliver, Gould City, Engadine, Seney, McMillan and numerous other small towns.
Charlottesville, VA. Goochland County, VA, eastern half of Albemarle County, VA, Louisa County, VA, Orange County, VA, western half of Spotsylvania County, VA, Culpeper County, VA, and small part of northern Buckingham County, VA.
Kearney, Nebraska
Are there still update KMLs? Does Google still cares about informing?
“There has so far been no imagery update KML, or feature in the LatLong blog, after the update reported in GEB on 7 July, so it can only be assumed that Google are now doing things differently and perhaps that the KMLs have been discontinued. If that is the case, then the GEB new imagery posts will have renewed significance.”
There’s actually been a few updates to imagery that did not go into the KML file and/or LatLong; they were only noticed by people who realized things they’d placemarked weren’t there anymore. It doesn’t happen often, but its happened before.
I figure the July 7th update wasn’t large enough to warrant a kml/latlong update, and the July 23rd update just happened and they already posted a StreetView update today (have they ever posted two things on one day?), so maybe it’ll come soon.
GEB imagery posts are always nice to have though, as they are often the first indication of change, usually coming before even the official announcements.
You may well be right, and the red boundaries in the KMLs don’t always fit patches of new imagery exactly, but we don’t really know how extensive 7/8 July was without a KML. However, the updates KMLs are still on offer in the GE Gallery, with the globe showing the 25 May update.
Not sure if it’s this update or July 7th one, but
Fushan, Yantai, Shandong, China has new imagery
I’m going off a file I keep up to date + looking at the KML update file, so I assume these are new updates (either July 7 or 23rd update):
Port Hedland, Australia (April 10, 2013)
Raysut, Oman (April 18, 2013)
Marta, Tamaulipas Mexico (June 29, 2013 )
South of Karachi, Pakistan (June 2013)
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (May 6, 2013)
Dachan Island in Nanshan, Shenzhen, China (June 27, 2013)
San Antonio, Chile (April 20, 2013)
Oświęcim (Auschwitz) and camp sites
Not sure if this time, but Tampa FL is updated too
Excellent view in Modern Dubai, U.A.E
To compare images from Google Maps, it is necessary to look into the “historic images”?
Haikou, China
East part of Liuzhou, China
Fengcheng, China
Zhuozhou, Baoding, Hebei
Xinhua, Pingdingshan, Henan
From Bay Saint Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi to Pascagoula, Mississippi
Tiraspol, Moldava was updated to 7/2/2013
Yerevan, Armenia was updated to 4/28/2013
Dushanbe, Tajikistan was updated to 4/16/2013
Manchester, England
Both mine and my parents Google earth have suddenly stopped working. It will load the place names but not the actual images so I have concluded it’s the KML file that seems to be corrupted overnight.
come on hurry up update the KML!!
Kuwait CIty
My KML last update was at the 25th of May 🙁
Poland, Żagań, Lubuskie
King Fahad International Airport, Saudi Arabia
Manamah, Bahrain 5/16/2013
29 July and still no update KML since the one for 25 May. Still offered in GE Gallery, but have we seen the last KML? It would be good if Google explained.
Still only see the May 25th. Has GE stopped producing KMLs? Is it a cost cutting measure or have they focused just on the 3D images of cities?
Resources may be tied up elsewhere, but I suspect producing a KML of outline boundaries from existing files which is likely to be used in any case for internal purposes is not particularly resource intensive. Unless Google announce something to the contrary, or the missing KMLs show up, it would be reasonable to see an indication of investment shifting to Maps where there is more obvious financial return, and possibly even a merger of GE with Maps in future.
Thanks Chris. I’m not really interested in cities, I usually observe military sites so GE was my preferred site to use compared to the competition. Not as crazy about GM but I guess I could make do. Do wish Google will continue with publishing the monthly new KMLs in GE. I am crossing mu fingers.
I have seen this delay in the KML before. A couple years ago, it took them a month to release the KML and it was about this time of the year. Likely, whoever is in charge of the KML release is probably on vacation.
It’s a long vacation, but hope you are right , and that GE remains free-standing despite more of its content being incorporated in the latest version of Maps.
I hope you are right OrangeMonster. I agree with Chris, really hope that GE remains the way it is, nice regular updates and free!
Historical imagery got updated!! YAY!!!
I am still getting May 25th. Bummer! Where are you getting your updates?
Google sucks. Without my permission and with the Google Updater Service switched off, they installed a new version of Google Earth on my PC.
But update the imagery update KML? No way…
Which version did they replace? If it was GE 7.0 you can get it from Google here http://www.google.com/earth/download/ge/agree.html
but nothing earlier.
You can also uncheck bundled Chrome, automatic installation of updates (which presumably they had ignored, which is a serious breach), and collection of your usage statistics.
meanwhile there are more updates.
Severodvinsk. 4 updates hidden in the history layer. The Quality is simply a scandal!
3rd Borey is out and probably a Paltus class
Street View now in Peru and other parts of Chile… When Colombia and Argentina??
KMZ is finally updated.
It is dated 22 July, one day earlier the reported in GEB, but there is no KMZ relating to the imagery update reported in GEB on 8 July. May be they were amalgamated.
Still it’s good to see that the KMZs have not been abandoned, and perhaps it was just somebody’s vacation.
Several towns mentioned in the blogpost about July 8th’s update (like Coventry, UK or Cheboygan, Michigan) are not in this KMZ. So I’m afraid these updates are not combined in this KMZ and so we still miss information about the July 8th update…
I found the same with a spot check, and Coventry UK definitely now has the new 8 July imagery in GE which first appeared in Maps. But Calgary Canada reported to have been updated on 8 July features in the 22 July KMZ, so it is not clear what has been going on.
Yes, it’s really strange what happened. I checked out the towns in Montenegro mentioned on July 8th. It looks like the whole country was updated on July 8th (the whole country has a similar color and all of the country has no imagery-date). But only two areas of the country are in the KMZ.
The Imagery Update KML now has some other dates that were recently left out including July 12, August 5, and August 19.