Image and terrain update for Google Earth
A bunch of new image and terrain data has been added to Google Earth today. Rather than tell us exactly what’s been added, Google’s decided to tease us. Here is what they’re saying has been updated:
- Two states known for their majestic peaks have gotten an upgrade.
- I can now see where my favorite maple syrup is made.
- Vermont (KML)
- Certain Florida beaches (and 1 mountain) are looking much improved.
- Try counting the warthogs in the Boneyard.
- “The Boneyard” is an aircraft storage facility in Tucson, AZ, next to Davis-Monthan AFB (KML)
- Peek inside the home of the Brew Crew.
- Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers, is shown with its retractable roof partially open, allowing a “peek inside” (KML)
- You can read the Skin’s logo painted on their field.
- FedEx field (and much of Washington DC) is improved (KML)
- An historic state capitol building is now in high res.
- Frankfort, Kentucky (KML)
- This city was named after the Native American name of a nearby mountain, “Tacobet.”
- A “far away” city that played a key role in trans-Saharan trade can now be seen close up.
- Tombouctou in Mali, Africa (KML)
- The town where Jane Austen spent her final years is much clearer.
- Winchester, Hampshire, UK (KML)
- The topic of Vincent van Gogh’s Cafe Terrace at Night is now bright as day.
- It was called Café Terrace, now known as Café van Gogh (KML)
- Take a look at “la ville noir,” where Cointreau was invented.
- Angers, France (KML)
- Only a third of this country’s land is arable, but you can now view the entire country in high res.
- Italy (KML)
- From 1880 to 1884 this German city was home to the world’s tallest building.
- Answer: The Cologne Cathedral (KML)
- Rockets may be used to disrupt rain clouds over this city next summer.
- Beijing, China — For the 2008 Summer Olympics (KML)
- This country received an impressive terrain update, you might call it Lord of the Terrain.
- New Zealand (KML)
They’ll be releasing full details in a few days, but they want their users (like you) to try to figure it out first. We’re not 100% sure about all of these, so let us know if you think any are wrong.
Also, people have been reporting other areas that appear to have been updated. So far those include:
- Moscow and the Virgin Islands (via Google Earth Blog)
- Ottawa, Ontario
- Maracaibo, Venezuela
- Bardejov in Slovakia
- Slovak-Hungarian border south of Roznava
- a long strip in northern Poland, from Jastrzebia Góra to Laskowice
- Various areas in France (via Virtual Globetrotting)
- Clermont-Ferrand, France
- Strasbourg, France
- Pembroke Pines, Florida
- Sousse and El Jem, Tunisia
- Padova (Italy), Chatham Island and Auckland Island
- Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
- North Antrim Coast, Northern Ireland and large adjacent sea area
- Lusaka, Zambia
- Livingstone, Zambia
- Scarborough, UK
- Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
- All of England except for the Isles of Scilly
- Areas in North Korea
- Large portions on Melbourne, Australia
- Shanghai and some parts of Hong Kong
If you know of others, leave a comment below and we’ll add it to the list!
Continue reading » · Written on: 07-26-07 · 54 Comments »
[...] update today, but they’re being somewhat secretive about it — in a fun way. Details on the Digital Earth Blog. Digg itreddit_url = [...]
July 26th, 2007 at 11:17 pm[...] provided a list of where the new data is, but given a series of cryptic clues instead. The Digital Earth Blog has managed to piece many of these together if you want [...]
July 27th, 2007 at 11:24 amOttawa, Ontario is updated
July 27th, 2007 at 12:57 pmA “far away” city that played a key role in trans-Saharan trade ist Tombouctou in Mali, Africa.
July 27th, 2007 at 1:48 pm“I can now see where my favorite maple syrup is made.”
Vermont
July 27th, 2007 at 2:40 pmOver at VirtualGlobetrotting’s message board, I’ve been trying to figure out the State Capitol Building one. Assuming based on their wording that this is a capitol that was previously low res, but is now high res, there are only two possibilities, and Charleston, WV is not one of the two. Charleston, WV (or at least the state capitol building) is already in high res on G-maps, so it really does not fit. The two capitol buildings not currently in HR on GMaps are in Frankfort, Kentuky and Montpelier, Vermont. If someone with access to GEarth could check those two, and either of them is now in HR, then we have the answer.
July 27th, 2007 at 7:22 pmGreat idea to check Google Maps to see what is low-res!
I checked them both, and they’re both high-res now.
However, Frankfort is considerably sharper, so that is likely our winner.
Likely Frankfort, Kentuky then, especially since there is already another clue that points out the Vermont upgrade (the maple syrup one).
July 27th, 2007 at 8:17 pmMaracaibo, Venezuela.. finally updated.
July 27th, 2007 at 9:02 pmHere’s a few I found:
New:
Bardejov in Slovakia;
Slovak-Hungarian border south of Roznava;
a long strip in northern Poland, from Jastrzebia Góra to Laskowice.
Updated:
July 27th, 2007 at 10:04 pmeastern part of Kraków and north.
Quebec City, Canada also updated
July 27th, 2007 at 10:44 pmI can definitely confirm that the Disney area in Florida has been updated. There is a work area just east of the Magic Kingdom that contains placemarks pointing to what were believed to be the submarines used for the old 20,000 Leagues. They are no longer visible.
July 27th, 2007 at 11:22 pmAdditionally–the updated images over Disney are at least several months old because these images still show the North Garden Rooms of the Contemporary Resort. That portion of the hotel has been completely demolished, presumably to make way for newer/better facilities.
July 27th, 2007 at 11:24 pmLast update–may as well go ahead and say that it looks like most (all?) of metro Orlando has been updated. Finally!
July 27th, 2007 at 11:47 pmClermont-Ferrand, France (and vicinity) is now in much-improved high-resolution.
July 28th, 2007 at 12:21 amQuebec City, Canada HAS NOT been updated
July 28th, 2007 at 1:43 am[...] answers? __________________ [...]
July 28th, 2007 at 4:21 amKarlsruhe, Germany has been updated.
July 28th, 2007 at 2:29 pmI still wonder when Google will put pictures of Sofia,Bulgaria without these clouds which cover the most important places and landmarks.
July 28th, 2007 at 3:55 pm[...] locations around the globe for you to explore yourself. But, if you’re feeling lazy, then the Digital Earth Blog have also posted all the [...]
July 29th, 2007 at 9:27 amItaly has got cnes/spot coverage for the areas not still in hi-def
July 29th, 2007 at 2:57 pmMy hometown of Pembroke Pines, FL, USA has been updated. You can see blue tarps on many of the roofs damaged by Hurricane Wilma in Oct. 2005, including mine. Since my roof was repaired in April, 2006, this gives a timeframe for the imagery.
July 29th, 2007 at 3:06 pmkarlsruhe, germany, was updated way before this update! like a couple of months ago!
when will heidelberg, germany, get an update??? google should get their act together…. the redid the coloring for heidelberg, but left the footage itself unchanged….
July 29th, 2007 at 3:16 pmCity of Sousse in Tunisia is also updated, sadly they cut short the hi res photos 1km south of tourist center of Port El Kantaoui.
Also as I go south over the Tunisia, city El Jem seems to be updated
July 29th, 2007 at 3:41 pmPadova (Italy), Chatham Island and Auckland Island have been updated.
July 29th, 2007 at 5:03 pmWinnipeg, Manitoba, Canada finally received an update. Looks to be 2006 imagery.
July 29th, 2007 at 5:34 pmPart North Antrim Coast, Northern Ireland and large adjacent sea area
July 29th, 2007 at 8:16 pmThe area of Lusaka, Zambia has been updated too, for the second time in a few months!!!!
July 29th, 2007 at 8:42 pmThe township of Taupo, New Zealand and its surrounding districts now has much improved resolution. Also Western Inlet in the South Island is much clearer.
July 30th, 2007 at 7:59 amStrasbourg, France has been updated too
July 30th, 2007 at 8:18 amScarborough, UK has finally had an update, work on the sea defenses places it taken mid-2002
July 30th, 2007 at 8:33 am[...] des Google Watch Blog, auf einen Hinweis gestossen, welcher auf die komplette Antworten-Liste im digitalearthblog.com hinweisst. Schaut man sich die dortige Liste an, stellt man fest das eine ganze Menge geupdatet [...]
July 30th, 2007 at 11:38 amOther updated areas:
July 30th, 2007 at 11:57 amLivingstone, Zambia. Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
Cape town, South Africa.
All of England except for the Isles of Scilly are in high res. I can finally see the headwaters of the River Thames close up.
Now if they will just do Scotland and Wales. The northern part of the Orkney Islands is in MAJOR need of an upgrade.
July 30th, 2007 at 12:59 pmtwo new North Korea areas (one of them putting Kim Jong Il’s personal Country Club & his yacht on display)
July 30th, 2007 at 1:57 pmLarge portions of Melbourne, Australia have been updated, including areas around Black Rock that were very low resolution previously.
July 30th, 2007 at 3:31 pmShanghai and some parts of Hong Kong have been updated
July 30th, 2007 at 5:28 pmThe Huangshan Mountains in eastern China have been updated. This is a very beautiful scenic area that I have visited. Location: around 30.13° N, 118.16° E
July 30th, 2007 at 8:06 pmThe state of Colorado has gotten a terrain upgrade as well as new imagery. All the peaks of the Rockies now look much more sharp and realistic!
July 30th, 2007 at 8:15 pm[...] has released the official answers to their little quiz from a few days ago, and we only missed one: “An historic state capitaol building is now in high res”. We [...]
July 31st, 2007 at 12:35 amNew imagery to Athens and some other cities of Greece.
July 31st, 2007 at 10:39 amAustria is almost entirely hi-res now!
July 31st, 2007 at 1:27 pm“The topic of Vincent van Gogh’s Cafe Terrace at Night is now bright as day”
I am pretty sure that it is Arles, France and not Madrid, Spain who got the update hinted but this sentence:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Caf%C3%A9_Terrace_on_the_Place_du_Forum%2C_Arles%2C_at_Night
July 31st, 2007 at 2:23 pmfantastic! where i live - Basingstoke - is now all hi res (after years and years of being very low res)
this is great , because i can now start making public “my maps”. might start with a pub guide.
July 31st, 2007 at 7:09 pmDefinitely a massive improvement in imagery to Scarborough and Ryedale, North Yorkshire
August 1st, 2007 at 10:29 amSantiago de Chile was updated. The new highways are now shown.
August 2nd, 2007 at 4:13 pmGozo in Malta is now hi-res too!
August 5th, 2007 at 8:02 amI verified the map of Sousse and Eljam in Tunisia; They are old (3 year at least) because my home is still dirt
August 9th, 2007 at 1:31 pmRepublic of Georgia has now been updated with greater number of high-res areas, especially around the capital - Tbilisi.
August 19th, 2007 at 5:03 pm[...] they did with the July update, most of what has been updated is hidden in [...]
October 2nd, 2007 at 5:37 pmplease send me an image update of Botswana(Country-southern Africa) towns in order to update my google earth especially Serowe located in central Botswana. i dont have internet access on my personal computer which has google earth but raher want to update with the images update m requesting.when done pliz send me a link to these image update on the mentioned email…thanks !
December 28th, 2007 at 6:54 am…the email add is mpuszie@googlemail.com
December 28th, 2007 at 6:56 amI would like to understand why some images are downgraded, instead of improved. That happened some days ago, for instance, with the view of my hometown, Araçatuba, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Can someone, please, explain this mistery to me ?
May 25th, 2008 at 7:50 amGood article! your site let me learn more. Thanks!Pls keep up to date.
June 6th, 2008 at 7:25 am