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.

 

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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

Google earth: Imagery Update (and Kansas Basketball)

We’re in the middle of college basketball Madness here in the U.S. and the best is yet to come. Tomorrow night, the Kansas Jayhawks will play the Richmond Spiders in a Sweet Sixteen match-up at the Alamodome in Texas. I’ll proudly admit that I’m a Kansas fan and hoping to see my home team make it to the Finals. But I’m not the only college hoops fan at Google. In fact, our Geo team put together a special page that shows an up-to-date schedule with schools and stadiums.

In our latest imagery push, we (coincidentally) added new imagery of Lawrence, Kansas and a new 3D model of the Allen Fieldhouse, possibly the best basketball venue on Earth. As a longtime Lawrence resident and KU alumnus, I still remember my first games in the “Phog” when I was in junior high school, watching from the upper bleachers. The Fieldhouse has aged well with the new Booth Family Hall of Athletics and the parking additions.


When I’m feeling like I need even more of a dose of home, it’s also great to be able to check out some of my favorite places back in Lawrence through Google Earth and Google Maps. With the new high-resolution aerial imagery, you can now see many changes including the updates to Memorial Stadium and the large practice fields.


Additional basketball-related updates include Gainesville (Florida), Tallahassee (Florida State), and Manhattan, the Little Apple (Kansas State [5]). We’ve also updated many other locations around the world that can be seen and discovered in our latest batch of published imagery including major updates in Sydney, Tokyo, Stockholm and significant parts of Ireland.

High Resolution Aerial Updates:
USA: Boca Raton, FL; West Palm Beach, FL; Port St Lucie, FL; Crystal River, FL; Ocala, FL; Gainesville, FL; Tallahassee, FL; Valdosta, GA; Savannah, GA; Jackson County, GA; Bedford County, PA; Cumberland County, PA; Manhattan, KS; Topeka, KS; Lawrence, KS
Wales: Northern Half
Scotland: Hawick
Japan: Tokyo; Kawasaki; Yokosuka
Australia: Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra

Countries/Regions receiving High Resolution Satellite Updates:
Antarctica, United States, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Panama, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Madagascar, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Central Africa, Niger, Ivory Coast, Togo, Liberia, Senegal, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Yemen, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, India, Bangladesh, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Taiwan, North Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Croatia, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Greenland

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

A Google Street View showcase…

Since Street View first launched in Google Maps, it’s grown from five U.S. cities to locations on all seven continents, and we’ve been able to visit some beautiful and historic places around the world. To share some of our favorite imagery with you, and also give you a behind-the-scenes look at Street View technology, we’ve updated our Street View site.

Site homepage, featuring Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Cape Town, South Africa

In addition to the places on the site homepage, we’ve included highlights from around the world in a gallery that lets you see ski slopes, UNESCO World Heritage sites, and breathtaking places on all seven continents.

Street View gallery, featuring Old Town of Segovia and Its Aqueduct

While we’ve been able to photograph most places in Street View with our cars, plenty of unique and interesting locations around the world aren’t accessible by car. To help us visit places with smaller paths or unpaved terrain, we’ve developed the Trike, Snowmobile and Trolley, which have enabled us to share parks, ski trails, and even museums with you in Street View. You can now check out pictures and 3D models, and learn more about all of these platforms on the site.

Once we collect new imagery, we “stitch” the individual photographs into the 360-degree imagery you see in Google Maps. The revamped site provides an in-depth look at this process and shows the progression of photos into the immersive Street View experience.

You can also learn about how to use Street View, meet our friendly mascot Pegman, read about our cutting-edge face and license plate blurring technology, or see where Street View is available across the world.

We’re starting with this update for our United States site, and will continue rolling it out for more countries in the coming months. Start exploring new places at maps.google.com/streetview.