Google Earth clearer, sharper with new satellite images

Using new Landsat 8 satellite, Google Earth maps to have greater detail, better colors & images taken much more often.

MAPS & GOOGLE

Google Earth clearer, sharper with new satellite images

29/06/2016
AFP News agency

Google Earth is rolling out a new version with sharper satellite imagery (located here).

LANDSAT SATELLITES

Google's updated version of Earth that takes advantage of photos from a new US Landsat 8 satellite that went into orbit in 2013.

Google Earth creates views of the surface of the earth, unobstructed by clouds, by analyzing millions of images and stitching together the clearest bits.

As the Google Maps blog describes it: "Satellite images are often cloudy, but not always over the same place, so we looked at millions of images and took the clearest pixels to stitch together this cloud-free and seamless image."

Sanam Luang & Grand Palace area of Bangkok in Google Earth (Source: Google Earth)

Landsat satellites have observed the Earth from outer space since 1972, gathering a wealth of information on the changes to the Earth's surface over time.

Google Earth previously relied on images from a Landsat 7 satellite, which encountered a hardware problem that resulted in large diagonal gaps in pictures.

HUGE DATA PROCESSING TASK 

Creating the new Google Earth required the processing of huge amounts of data, as the Google Maps blog describes: 

"Like our previous mosaic, we mined data from nearly a petabyte of Landsat imagery—that’s more than 700 trillion individual pixels—to choose the best cloud-free pixels. To put that in perspective, 700 trillion pixels is 7,000 times more pixels than the estimated number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, or 70 times more pixels than the estimated number of galaxies in the Universe."

Overhead view of Pattaya with wakes of many boats in Google Earth (Source: Google Earth)

Google created the new Google Earth with so-called "open data" that is available to everyone to use for free (see open content here & open data here):

"This update was made possible in a large part thanks to the Landsat program and its commitment to free and accessible open data."

Thai-Burma border (yellow line) at Maesai, Chiang Rai with border crossing to the right & Doi Wow pagoda to the left (Source: Google Earth)

The Emporium on Sukhumvit Road & the Queens Park Hotel (Source: Google Earth)

Northern tip of San Francisco peninsula with Golden Gate Bridge in the upper right and Ocean Beach and the Cliff House on the upper left (Source: Google Earth)

http://www.bangkokpost.com/tech/world-updates/1022321/google-brings-earth-into-better-focus
http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2016/06/google-earth-gets-a-makeover.html
https://maps.googleblog.com/2016/06/keeping-earth-up-to-date-and-looking.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_data
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_content

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