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new google earth satellite images!

2K views 9 replies 8 participants last post by  bankerboy 
#1 ·
Wow, what an improvement in resolution, starting to feel a little weird. Not sure when this happened but I noticed it yesterday. :thumbsup: :skep:
 
#2 ·
Ha. Well, ya know, that's probably only specific to YOUR regional area that you happen to check the map for on a frequent basis.

Google is constantly updating the aerial images for the entire WORLD as new data comes in and can be processed, formatted, and included in the default map.

Pretty amazing stuff though, for sure. When you can tell what make & model a car is from an aerial shot... you have pretty good res. Or when you can make out individual trees, it's pretty helpful for planning trails in the forest.
 
#3 ·
It's been 3 years here, I've been watching to see when the roads in a local development would show up and yesterday was the first time, and at greatly increased resolution.

The reason I posted about this here is that it is a lot more useful for new route designing and scouting purposes. I'm trying to nail down a route through some extremely technical topography (think demanding hike a bike) and it's like putting on 300' stilts. Whoa...

I guess being last to know means being further back in... :D
 
#4 ·
Yeah, very handy. And, if you use a smart phone mapping app, like Orux, you can download the Google Earth images to your phone and have them ready for when you are out walking the terrain. For some projects I'm working on I can spot fallen logs, and boulders more than 2' in diameter in the images. Way cool. I can get a lot of work done at home with Google Earth and then go out to validate and tweak the proposed route using my phone. Easy, cheap, efficient. I like it.
 
#7 ·
It seems that for my area (NE Ohio/NW PA) that Bing has the better images. If they're recent then they may even have the hi res birdseye images, which can be really helpful. If I need to do some terrain scouting I'll usually check the aerials on Bing, Google maps, Mapquest, and Yahoo maps. Sometimes a couple of them will be using the same pics, but often not. Some areas you can check the county GIS to see if they have hi res pics too.

I'm working on a mtb/bikepacking map of PA's Allegheny National Forest. I've been using Bing maps to decide whether the roads are gravel or paved. Also I've been able to pick out trails to scout that aren't shown on any map. Incredible resource.

Steve Z
 
#8 ·
on Google maps... ever use the time line scale where you can scroll back to find seasonal photos? Here in the northeast where it can just look like a green canopy, sometimes you can find winter photos showing only the evergreens and historic & possible routes. Cool cross reference tool
 
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