Google Maps: Now Officially Gorgeous
Remember when we told you about Google’s new satellite, GeoEye-1, which should bring highest resolution commercial imagery available to Google Maps? Below, you can see the first image that the satellite captured. GeoEye-1 captures images at .41 meters in black and white and 1.65 meters in color; for real life reference, that means crisp enough to read license plates.
Google, however, will receive imagery in 50-centimeter resolution because of a government restriction and the fact that it’s not the only customer who benefits from GeoEye-1. They’re sharing it with National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; which collects and analyses geospatial data in support of national security. Translated, that means they get the really good stuff. Real spies probably have their own, even more advanced satellites, though. Speaking to Wired, Mark Brender, GeoEye’s vice president of communications and marketing, said that GeoEye-1 is
“the opposite of a spy satellite. Spies don’t put info on the internet and sell imagery. We’re an Earth-imaging satellite, and we can sell our imagery to customers around the world who have a need to map and measure and monitor things on the ground.”
The important fact is that GeoEye-1 is up and running, collecting imagery for Google Maps which will soon start looking like the image below. Time for a new round of mapspotting!
—
Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:
Bumpy Map Mashups with Google Terrain
Google Offers Easy Embed Code for Maps
Google Maps in (Almost) 3D
Google to Get New Satellite Imagery From GeoEye
Google Earth and NASA Complete Project
Google Maps Hangs Up on Click-to-Call
Yahoo Maps: More Color, More Zoom
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment