Google Earth: Imagery Update Last Week of August

The Google Earth and Google Maps Imagery Team just published a new batch of aerial and satellite imagery, and as always, there’s all kinds of fascinating sites and features to check out.

We’re now deep into the dog days of summer. When I was growing up in Chicago, my siblings and I would be acting a bit stir crazy by this time in our summer breaks. So what did our wise parents do? They’d pile us into the confined space of the family car and proceed to road-trip it for a few weeks. My parents are history buffs, so our destination spots were typically of historical significance. To commemorate these fond memories, in this post we’ll look at locales seen in our newly published imagery that would typically fit the destination profile of my family.

Our first example seen below is from high-resolution aerial imagery acquired this past June. The locale is a U.S. National Park located in San Juan County, New Mexico and contains 11th to 13th century structures constructed by the Anasazi Indians, the ancestors of the more commonly known Pueblo Indians. This site is included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico

Family vacations outside of the U.S. happened on occasion and when they did, my dad’s fondness for Led Zeppelin would often lead us to any castle or related ruin in sight. In this aerial image, we can see the Broch of Gurness village located on the northwestern coast of Mainland Orkney, Scotland. The top of the central, circular broch structure has collapsed, and we can see the settlement remains that encircle the broch. The site dates to at least 60 AD.

Broch of Gurness, Scotland

Finally, if we were good children and did not get our peanut butter sandwiches all over the car upholstery, we might be treated to visit a place such as the National Toy Hall of Fame, located in the Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York. Some of the 47-and-counting enshrined toys include road-trip friendly icons such as the stick, cardboard box, ball, and of course Silly Putty!

National Toy Hall of Fame, Rochester, New York

Do you have a place you love for which you’d like to receive a notification when the Earth and Maps Imagery team updates the site? We’ve got just the tool: The Follow Your World application!

As always, these are but a few examples of the types of features that can be seen and discovered in our latest batch of published imagery. Happy exploring!

High Resolution Aerial Updates:

USA: Abilene, TX; Avenal, CA; Bakersfield, CA; Big Spring, TX; Bowie, AZ; Buckeye, AZ; Carlsbad, NM; Casa Grande, AZ; Columbia, MO; Dalhart, TX; Dayton, OH; Des Moines, IA; Farmington, NM; Ft Worth, TX; Joplin, MO; Junction, TX; Monahans, TX; Nogales, AZ; Omaha, NE; Paducah, KY; Payson, AZ; Rochester, NY; Sacramento, CA; Sioux City, IA; Tulsa, OK; Visalia, CA; Wilcox, AZ

Scotland: Aberdeenshire, Clova, Islay, Jura, the Orkney Islands, and the Shetland Islands

Sweden: Dalarnas Län, Gotlands Län, Norrbottens Län, Oland, Örebro Län, Västerbottens Län, and Västernorrlands Län

Countries/Regions receiving High Resolution Satellite Updates:

Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antarctica, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Ghana, Greece, Greenland, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Laos, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Republic of the Congo, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Svalbard, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam, Wallis and Futuna, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

Google Earth: Imagery Update – Last Week of May

The Google Earth and Google Maps Imagery Team has just published its first batch of satellite and aerial imagery for June, and as always, there are all kinds of fascinating sites and features to check out.

Our first example image shown below is of the Sacred Heart church and its famous gilded dome located on the Notre Dame campus in Notre Dame, Indiana. A church has continuously occupied this site since 1830 and the current basilica foundation was laid in 1868. This aerial imagery was acquired in late April, 2011.

Basilica of the Sacred Heart, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana

When you’re done checking out the beautiful Notre Dame campus imagery, zoom over to Oregon and explore our new aerial imagery of the Salem region acquired this past summer. Below is a section of the Oregon Garden, a botanical garden located in Silverton. In the upper-right corner, you can see the only Frank Loyd Wright building in the state, the Gordon House. This home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was envisioned as a model of affordable homes for the local working-class citizens.

Oregon Garden, Silverton, Oregon
Finally, here’s a satellite image taken in December 2010 of the San Cristóbal Volcano. This active volcano rises above the town of Chichigalpa, locted in Chinandega, Nicaragua. In the image, you can see the gas and ash clouds emanating from the volcano’s caldera. These clouds and prevailing winds have served to remove all vegetation from the volcano’s southwestern flank.

San Cristóbal Volcano, Chichigalpa, Chinandega, Nicaragua.
Do you have a place you love for which you’d like to receive a notification when the Earth and Maps Imagery team updates the site? We’ve got just the tool: The Follow Your World application!

As always, these are but a few examples of the types of features that can be seen and discovered in our latest batch of published imagery. Happy exploring!

High Resolution Aerial Updates:
Fresno, CA; Huntington, WV; Laredo, TX; Los Angeles, CA; Manchester, NH; San Francisco Peninsula, CA; Salem, OR; Soldotna, AK; Southbend, IN; Sumter, SC; Victoria, TX.

Countries/Regions receiving High Resolution Satellite Updates:
Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Ghana, Greece, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Namibia, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, St. Helena, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam, West Bank, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia.

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.