Google Earth

[4583C]

Hilltop170 asked a question about google earth in the "Fossett's plight" thread which reminded me to explore a little. I had put this off for some time as I knew it would drive me crazy with dial-up, the next excuse was my slow five year old computer, but with dsl and a new faster computer I decided this morning it was time to try it out. Wow I haven't figured out much yet, but I managed to navigate from DFW to the ranch (about fifty miles) and have explored the ranch and surrounding area. I suspect there is a date somewhere of when the picture was taken, but haven't found it yet. I don't normally waste this much time during the day playing on the computer but decided since it is my birthday I would treat myself. Thanks for giving me that nudge Richard!

[170C]

Happy Birthday you old f---! How many is this? I can say this because I am older than you and I admit I am an old fart! We use Google Earth at work to help identify jobsite locations and specifically to determine elevations of jobsites vs potential flood prone areas near them. Its pretty accurate. Also you can ck out your neighbors back yard in come instances. Occasionally the map is darker than desired, but you can check shadows to determine the time of day the photo was taken, but I don't know how to determine an actual date. Wished I did.

[1SeventyZ]

Keep in mind that the satellite imagery Google Earth uses is often very out of date, and can be months to years old. I'm not sure if that other thread covered this or not, but I suppose it can't hurt to touch on it here.

Go to this page http://www.avweb.com/alm?amazon_stevefossett&kw=story

and follow the directions on how to load the new satellite images and be delegated your search area.

[bsdunek]

I find many areas very old. The area of my Wife's family farm is at least eight years old, despite what Google says. The claim 2-3 years at most. Also, I find many areas have really bad resolution - just look at northern Michigan.
I have often wondered if there's a way to get more up-to-date images.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

It never ceases to amaze me how we take technology for granted. Most people have no idea the impossibly complex computer they are using works. Then when they download a satellite image, that's right an image taken from a machine in orbit around the earth, another amazing technology in itself, and it's eight years old, there is dissatisfaction. Amazing we can do it at all.

There are several really neat things you can do with Google Earth as well as maps. For association business I've plotted every single association member on the map. Neat to look at to see where the largest concentration of members is.

As work I have all 435 hospitals I may be called to fly to plotted. That way given notice I can look to see the location and geography of the hospital and in many occasions do my first recon of the landing pad before I've ever left my office.

Can't remember where I found it but there is a free download that when activated will place aero nautical sectionals on the earth surface so you can see the location of something on a sectional or given the right angle actually nearly see a virtual upside down birthday cake that represents the Class B airspace I fly under.

No it is NOT perfect and sometimes it's not even useful. But it is pretty cool and very scary when the technology behind it is considered.

[jrenwick]

Can't remember where I found it but there is a free download that when activated will place aero nautical sectionals on the earth surface so you can see the location of something on a sectional or given the right angle actually nearly see a virtual upside down birthday cake that represents the Class B airspace I fly under.

Bruce, try http://www.skyvector.com or http://www.runwayfinder.com.

I'm under the impression that the comparatively low resolution photos on Google Earth and Google Maps are from satellites, and the ones where you can clearly see cars and maybe people are aerial photos. Can anybody verify that? This was the case on the old Microsoft Terraserver site, anyway.

[bsdunek]

Bruce - Technology is truly amazing. At my age (68)<=Now why does technology do that??? Does 68 mean something for the Emoticons??? I have seen a lot of acvance in all fields, and as an engineer, I know many technology advances that are not common public knowledge. It's just that the promise of Google Earth is sometimes dissapointing when I want to find an airport or something.
jrenwick - I'll try those. I think (don't know for sure) that the higher resolution areas are newer. I assume the resolution continues to get better - or - the government releases better resolution files.
Thanks all,

[cessna170bdriver]

Bruce,

The "8" character immediately followed by a close parenthesis is the code for the "Cool" smiley face. If you preview and notice unintended smilies, you can check "Disable Smilies in this post" below the text entry box. Alternatively, you could add a space between the 8 and the parenthesis, or spell out 68 as sixty-eight.

Back on the subject of satellite images on line, has anyone compared GoogleEarth to local.live.com? I haven't used GoogleEarth, but I got steered to the local.live.com by airnav.com's "Virtual Earth" link under the locator map they supply for each airport. It's pretty useful for airport layouts, driving directions, etc. It may use the same or similar image database as GoogleEarth, as the resolutions vary depending on where you are. The satellite photo including my house has high enough resoluton that I can see my car in the driveway, but I wouldn't be able to distinguish make and model. In some metropolitan areas, there are aerial obliques with enough resolution to pick out handicapped parking places.

Miles

[Indopilot]

And Miles that is only with the "old" "free" stuff anyone can access. If you think about what would be availible to the military it makes you want to check the satillite sckedule before taking a leak or skinny dipping in the hot tub.

[Indopilot]

Did I say skinny dip? Maybe it should be chunky dunk.

[1SeventyZ]

Those maps that Amazon/Mechanical Turk gives searchers access to are special 1 meter resolution maps, which I guess are normally not free...?

I think this is the kml link to the sectional overlays for Google Earth.