JUrban wrote: Unfortunately a lot of the places we stay are remote, and the map resolutions and detail are poor. When possible, we do use it.
John
I downloaded Goggle Earth and then uninstalled it because the resolution was like a badly focused camera and anything smaller than a 40 acre field was unrecognizable.
JUrban wrote: Unfortunately a lot of the places we stay are remote, and the map resolutions and detail are poor. When possible, we do use it.
John
I downloaded Goggle Earth and then uninstalled it because the resolution was like a badly focused camera and anything smaller than a 40 acre field was unrecognizable.
Their resolution varies. It seems that they are not taking the high resolution pix of the more remote areas. In the higher population density areas, it's excellent. My farm, in a relatively developed area, shows 3' objects. Tortilla Flat, AZ campsites are unrecognizable.
Like the Birds Eye option. Provides stronger definition views but their aerial views are not any better than Google Earth and I couldn't find any way to switch to full screen like you can with Google Earth. I'll use both.
Our house with Live Search Birds Eye view
Live Search aerial (full zoom)
Google Earth aerial (not fully zoomed)
* This post was
edited 06/29/08 01:16pm by gnj1958 *
Spindeepster wrote: If you like Google, you"ll love this.
http://maps.live.com/
I don't think you want to go by Live maps.
Google Earth shows a COMPLETED Tacoma Narrows Bridge (Both spans). Live Maps shows a HALF completed second span. You might find a campsite with Live, but GETTING there may be a problem if you didn't know the bridge was completed (last year) and wasted gas planning a route around it.
JUrban wrote: Unfortunately a lot of the places we stay are remote, and the map resolutions and detail are poor. When possible, we do use it.
John
I downloaded Goggle Earth and then uninstalled it because the resolution was like a badly focused camera and anything smaller than a 40 acre field was unrecognizable.
Their resolution varies. It seems that they are not taking the high resolution pix of the more remote areas. In the higher population density areas, it's excellent. My farm, in a relatively developed area, shows 3' objects. Tortilla Flat, AZ campsites are unrecognizable.
John
Google is not taking air photos of any areas. Google Earth, and most similar programs, are using a library pre-existing, most public domain or publically available earth images. Some of these are low resolution LandSat, medium resolution satellite imagery from other sources like SPOT (there are at least have a dozen countries with cameras in orbit). Where it starts looking real good, you are seeing air photos, mostly from public sources.
What you see is what they can get, without paying too much for it. Other sites can get the same information too, or they might find something different, something better. In many urban areas, even some small towns, there exist publically accessible geographic information systems (GIS) with high resolution aerial photography. Just what is there depends on how the GIS is used (tax assessment, utilities planning, forest management, floodwater management, etc). My city's picture of my house has the previous owner's car in the driveway, and I've been in the house almost 20 years. Google's image is more recent, but you wouldn't be able to identify the car, if one was parked there, because it is satellite rather than airphoto.
There are definitely tradeoffs. Recently acquired satellite data can be quite timely, can cover the whole earth, but will be relatively low resolution. Large scale aerial photography can show much more, but the most recent available photos could be 60 or 70 years old, or they could be less than a year old, depending on where you are.
What Google Earth is about, is the interface, which lets you move slowly over the Earth, seamlessly move in and out, changing data sources according to appropriate imagery for the scale.
Other providers of similar imagery, could be higher resolution in one area but not another. The pictures could be more recent, or they could be older. Which one is better depends on where you are looking and what you hope to see.
But back to the subject.
Yes, I use Google Earth to plan trips, investigate destinations, look at campgrounds and places I want to visit.
No, I don't use Google Earth to pick a campsite. I think the all too common obsession about getting or reserving the "best" campsite in a particular campground is a mental disorder. I am happy to pick from what is available when I get there.
* This post was
edited 06/29/08 04:54pm by tatest *
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