Google Earth: Imagery Update Week of July 18th

The Commissioners’ Plan of 1811 proposed a highly regular grid pattern as the layout for an island that was mostly farmland and wilderness in a still-young country. Two hundred years after the streets and avenues were dreamed up, the landscape of New York City has changed dramatically as skyscrapers have been built, parks have been planted and the population has increased by millions. Today’s latest batch of updated imagery reveals new, high resolution imagery of Manhattan. It’s now live in Google Earth and will appear in Google Maps soon.

Times Square has become much more pedestrian-friendly.

Construction at the World Trade Center site is making clear progress.
Google NYC is located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. I’m one of more than 2,000 Googlers here (split between Sales, Engineering, and other functions), making us the second-largest Google location. (Care to join us?) The sales team sits in Chelsea Market, a former Nabisco factory where Oreos were invented and which envelops the elevated High Line, which was recently converted into a park.

This new batch of imagery also covers another Google hometown: Boulder, Colorado, home to the 3D team that brings you Google SketchUp and the Google 3D Warehouse. That team expanded two months ago across the street. 

Want to check out how these places used to look? Use the Historical Imagery feature of Google Earth to slide back the clock around the world. And as always, we encourage you to check out more of the areas that can be seen in our latest imagery update. Enjoy!

High resolution aerial updates:

Boise, ID; Denver, CO; Topeka, KS; St Cloud, MN; Ashland, WI; Ironwood, MI; Flint, MI; Ft Wayne, IN; Cape Girardeau, MO; Bowling Green, KY; Glasgow, KY; Greenville, NC; Atlantic City, NJ; Syracuse, NY; Manhattan, NY

Countries/regions receiving high resolution satellite updates:

Canada, United States, Mexico, Cuba, The Bahamas, The Dominican Republic, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Madagascar, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia, Angola, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, Egypt, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Turkey, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Serbia, Croatia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal, England, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Taiwan, The Philippines, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand

These updates are now available in Google Earth and coming soon to Google Maps. To get a complete picture of where we updated imagery, download this KML for viewing in Google Earth.

SketchUp: More Building Maker cities

It’s a great day for the citizens of Argentina — and for Canadians in the nation’s capital. We’ve released new Building Maker imagery in six new cities:

  • Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Córdoba, Argentina
  • Mar Del Plata, Argentina
  • Mendoza, Argentina
  • Rosario, Argentina
  • Ottawa, Canada

…but that’s not all! To help these cities get modeled, we’re having the first ever modeling competition for Building Maker. Starting today, you can create models in these six cities to win prizes in two different categories: Best Model and Most Models. The first place prize is a GPS-enabled digital camera; second place is a Building Maker shirt; and third is a Google travel mug. Have fun!

New Google Earth imagery coming this week

 

In a bit of a surprise move, rather than allowing us to discover new imagery in Google Earth, Google has pre-announced an imagery update that is due out later this week.

[UPDATE: The imagery is now live in Google Earth. See the bottom of this post for a list of updated areas.]

Part of the update will include some high-quality imagery from Abbottabad, Pakistan, which was captured in May, 2010. They’re offering a preview of that imagery via this KML file.

 

new-imagery.jpg 

In addition, the very new GeoEye imagery of Abbottabad that we mentioned yesterday will be available in the historical imagery feature of Google Earth soon. Remember, historical imagery is sometimes newer than the base imagery.

It sounds like it’s quite a major update, and we’ll be sure to let you know when it goes live. Here is the full list of areas that will be getting fresh imagery:

High Resolution Aerial Updates:
USA: Brookshire, TX; Brownsville, TX; Dallas, TX; Ft Stockton, TX; Hebbronville, TX; Houston, TX; Laredo, TX; McAllen, TX; Milwaukee, WI; Padre Island, TX; Wharton, TX; Zapata, TX;
Australia: Central Coast, New Castle, and Salamander Bay
Norway: Buskerud, Fredrikstad, and Oslo

Countries/Regions receiving High Resolution Satellite Updates:
Algeria, Angola, Antarctica, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Lithuania, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Svalbard, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, The Gambia, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, West Bank, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe