My Google Map Blog

Google get their imagery from a wide variety of sources, and due to there being so many factors involved, it is impossible to predict when and where they will do updates. We have covered this a number of times on our blog, most recently in April. But before we start talking about imagery updates, it is important to realize that the satellite imagery displayed in Google Earth by default is often not the most recent imagery available. Why this is the case is explained here. So always be sure to check Historical Imagery to make sure that there isn’t already something more recent available. Instructions on how to use the Historical Imagery feature in Google Earth can be found here. It is important to note that the dates displayed on the imagery are not always accurate. The reasons for this are explained here.

Satellite or aerial imagery

If you are a city, state or country that has collected aerial imagery at your own expense, you own the rights to the imagery, and would like Google to put it into Google Earth, there is a pretty good chance that asking Google to do so will meet with a positive response. This is provided that the imagery is of good quality, is properly georeferenced etc. But for the rest of us, if we want more recent satellite or aerial imagery we typically just have to wait until either a satellite gets a good image of our area or some commercial project takes aerial imagery of our area, and Google either purchases it or enters some agreement whereby they can use the imagery. Capturing aerial imagery is still very expensive and such projects are typically done on a city-sized area or larger. Hopefully, the advances in drone technology will soon mean that the costs of capturing aerial imagery will come down dramatically.

If what you want is a satellite or aerial image of a given location and you are willing to pay for it, then it may be possible for you to purchase the imagery or even contract a company to capture imagery. Satellite imagery providers will often have imagery that is more recent than that found in Google Earth, but be warned that it will typically contain partial cloud cover. If you want satellite imagery, a list of suppliers for Digital Globe imagery can be found here. Another satellite imagery company is Airbus Defense and Space. And then there is Skybox Imaging, which is owned by Google.

The availability of aerial imagery providers will depend on your location, so if aerial imagery is required, we recommend an internet search for providers in your area. The resolution of aerial imagery is typically better than that of satellite imagery and is less likely to have problems with cloud cover, as the aircraft can either fly below the clouds or pick a day with clear skies. However, contracting someone to capture aerial imagery is typically significantly more expensive than satellite imagery.

What about Street View?

Street View imagery is gradually being expanded to much of the globe, and for many places, existing coverage is being continuously updated. They do give some information as to where they will are currently driving, which can be found here.

If you want Street View where you are, you have a number of options available. If you are a small to medium sized business, you can get Business View and hire a photographer from Google’s network of trusted photographers to come and photograph your business and have it uploaded into Street View. For large venues, such as a university, stadium, mall, or park, you can actually request a visit from the Street View team, and if you are lucky, they will come and photograph your venue for you. If you’re a tourism board, non-profit, university, research organization or other third party who can gain access and help collect imagery of hard to reach places, you can apply to borrow the Trekker via the Trekker Loan Program.

If all you want is a few panoramas, then you can take them yourself and upload them via Google Views. The easiest way to capture imagery for Google Views is using the smart phone app PhotoSphere, available for both Android and iOS. When you capture Photo Spheres they become part of Street View and are actually given preference by Google over images taken by their Street View vehicles.

A Photo Sphere taken by GEB writer Mickey Mellen is now part of Street View. To read more about when and where he captured it, see his post here

The post Will Google update imagery upon request? appeared first on Google Earth Blog.

Last month we covered the Burning Man festival, and how the event has been captured by satellite imagery a number of times, with the images available in Google Earth’s Historical Imagery. It turns out that this year’s event was also captured on 8 different days – this time with Google’s own satellites! Thanks to GEB reader Eric for letting us know.

The images were taken by SkySat-1 and SkySat-2 owned by Skybox Imaging, which Google acquired earlier this year. Skybox have released the images via the Maps Gallery, as well as creating a number of animated gif images shown on their official blog. You can also read more about it on TechCrunch.

A gif animation of the Burning Man festival created by Skybox Imaging.

It is possible to view the images in Google Earth using this kml file from the Maps Gallery.

Skybox currently has two satellites, but is planning a constellation of 24. SkySat-1 also captured the first HD resolution video of Earth from space as seen in the YouTube video below. For the best results be sure to watch it in high resolution and full screen.

The post Skybox Imaging captures Burning Man appeared first on Google Earth Blog.

In the early days of Google Earth the US White House and Capitol Building were blurred in Google Earth. But in 2005 this censorship was stopped, and today, there is high quality satellite imagery, 3D models of the buildings, and you can even explore the White House in Street View.

The most pervasive form of censorship in the imagery today, is a result of antiquated US regulations that place a restriction on the the maximum resolution that commercial satellite imagery companies are allowed to sell to their customers. Thankfully, this restriction is being relaxed over time, with Digital Globe announcing in June that the restriction had been reduced from a maximum resolution of 50 cm, to 40 cm, with a further reduction to 25 cm in February 2015. The key reason for the relaxation, is that several other countries are launching satellites with competitive resolutions and maintaining the regulations would not only serve no useful purpose, but also make US satellite imagery providers uncompetitive.

The above restriction on satellite imagery, does not apply to aerial imagery, and since much of the globes’ more densely populated regions now has aerial imagery, that is often the default imagery in Google Earth. However, aerial imagery comes from a variety of different providers, and sometimes that imagery is censored by the local government before it is given to Google.

A censored location in the Netherlands. Uncensored satellite imagery for the location can be found in Google Earth’s Historical Imagery.

Google Street view is censored for privacy reasons in a number of ways. Some countries refuse to allow it, or delay its publication while they consider the implications. Some communities, such as North Oaks Minnesota, have got it removed for the whole community. Individual users can also request to have specific images removed or blurred. Google uses image recognition software to automatically blur faces and car number plates. For more on Street View censorship see the Wikipedia Page

So, apart from the US government regulations mentioned above, how widespread is direct censorship of aerial and satellite imagery these days? If you look around on the web, there are plenty of articles listing examples of ‘censored’ imagery, but when you actually go through the list, about half the locations are merely cases of Google lacking high quality imagery for the location, with no good reason to think that it has been censored. However, there are a number of locations that are clearly censored by different pixelation methods, by completely wiping the location out, or in rare cases, using sneaky techniques like pasting imagery from somewhere else over the location.

Censorship can be ineffective if there are other sources of imagery beyond your control. Above left, aerial imagery taken in the Netherlands and censored. Above right, the same location taken by Digital Globe, a US satellite imagery provider not subject to Netherlands law.

Good comprehensive lists are surprisingly rare, and the best list we could find was on Wikipedia and it sensibly qualifies its claims as including both censored and ‘unclear’ areas. It turns out there are surprisingly few locations with known censored imagery, and for most of those there is reasonably good uncensored satellite imagery available. About a third of the locations are from aerial imagery taken in the Netherlands in 2005.

We have made a KML for your convenience including all the locations from the Wikipedia page that have coordinates, and that we think do show strong evidence of censorship. There are also some locations mentioned in the article but without coordinates given and we have included one or two, but not all. If any of our readers knows of a more comprehensive list, or even better, a list designed for exploring in Google Earth, let us know and we will update this post with a link to it.

[ Update: Thank you to GEB reader Hill, for letting us know in the comments that there is a much more comprehensive list in the Google Earth Community Forums including a KML file Check only the “Censorship” box, and remember that the censorship may, in some cases, only be in the Historical Imagery. ]

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