I spent a little too long playing with Google’s new toy yesterday. To be blunt I am pretty shocked at the quality of the product, that it’s free, and that it works so incredibly well. When Maps BETA originally came out I was very impressed, but adding satellite imagery has stunned me, though I guess I should have guessed it with Google’s purchase of Keyhole.
Now I can do as I read Bernie recently suggested in an article- link to the exact site on a satellite map of where I took a photo from. It would be great if that data was inherent in the picture, but this is the next step. So far only North America is included.
Here’s an example.
As some readers may know I went to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, last year. I took an eerie photo of a graveyard.
Click here. See the tall white building? See the park/graveyard directly across the street to the south-west of it? I took the picture looking north-east from the south-west corner of that park.
I am still recovering from the shock of the potential of this for the web.
Remember drinking in an Irish Bar in Boston? The Black Rose? Google it on the the search bar. There it is.
To center the map on any given location simply double-click that location. Then zoom in or out. Press and hold the left mouse button to move around.
Oh and here is where Big Brother lives. Hehe.
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5 responses to “Google Satellite”
When you see this kind of technology you have to wonder why the Irish government does not cop onto the need to give away Ordnance Survey maps at the same price point of the US Geological survey data. Irish tax money funds the Ordnance Survey. Allow direct citizen access to that data instead of monetising it at source would do a world of good for Irish commerce. What you lose in license feeds you would gain in VAT and corporate tax receipts in the Exchequer.
Have you ever seen or used microsoft’s terraserver? It’s been around for at least 3 years now.
Google’s has of course implemented this technology in a much better fashion and I believe the satellite photos they use are more up to date than the one’s Microsoft use.
As of now though, terraserver covers more ground than Google – I was able to find a satellite pic of my house in Harpswell (taken in 1997) whereas Google had nothing for my neck of the woods (at the lowest resolution).
Once Google catches up though, terraserver will be ancient history I’m sure.
Goole has done a fine job.
I used TerraServer to get a high resolution map of Rehoboth Beach where I spent the Summer of 03. You can see the results here.
I remember there used to be a part of the IOL website that had Satellite photos on it. I remember been able to see my house on it and stuff.
The really creepy thing here isn’t the database linkage to the satimagery. What’s really creepy is the Amazon-like intelligent associations.
e.g. I went to the root directory and entered my hometown, Ronkonkoma. Then I entered the name of my high school, “Connetquot High School”, into the search box. The results included not only the flag pointing out the old school, but the two junior high schools associated with it (OK, not so impressive), and…the two local colleges that take the highest percentage of grads from the high school, plus some local recreation spots that were the most popular with the school’s students…and…this is the kicker…Vanderbilt’s Wharf – the bar that people bluffed their way into while underage and would meet up with classmates when back in town for holidays.
I tried just entering the high school name from the top level, but it came back no result, so I suppose you have to get within a certain area database before the magic happens. But still…I’m gobsmacked.
This is spooky, spooky stuff.
Maps from Google makes living off the grid much more difficult.
If you are thinking about relocating in the States, you really should use Google maps to figure out where your new house sits relative to amenities. Google the new zip code, search for important things like pizza, creche, movie, chinese. Note the proximity (important for delivery service estimates) and change the value of the purchase price accordingly.
Like rdelevan, I asked Google things well inside the third or fourth layer of the onion of the record of my teenaged years. All the underage drinking locations were in satellite view with phone numbers and addresses. Every drive-in movie romance venue appeared as well, apparently linked from some online post that included an address or from a book review. I cannot figure out all the connections, but it shows that anyone with a clue for data forensics could cross-reference any CV you submitted against the addresses you offered.