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It just looks soooo grubby.

I know people would say that Google can just buy satellite images from an independent source

Not that it changes your post much, but Google's aquisition of KeyHole netted them a satellite or two.

You can find out more on the Keyhole.com website under What are Google's Plans with KeyHole

Interestingly enough, if you try to select "India" from the drop down, you'll find it isn't there. Google has no plans for posting satellite images of India beyond the 1km resolution they plan to do the entire world using.

The new satellite photo feature in GoogleMaps comes from their aquisition of Keyhole. Their software has been around for a little while and has quite a following (myself included) of people who find all sorts of interesting things in the photos and share them on the message board Keyhole setup for users.

Attachments can be used to go right to the area using the Keyhole software. Current events are covered (recent posts include the Paris hotel fire, the San Jose Wendy's where a finger was supposedly found in a bowl of chili, the Neverland Ranch, and a detailed mapping of buildings within Vatican City).

Other forums are filled with geeky goodness. Recent posts there have links to show you the 7 wonders of the ancient world, the UNESCO World Heritage list, logos on rooftops, webcam locations, and lots of pointers to filming locations of TV and movies.

The new satellite photo feature in GoogleMaps comes from their aquisition of Keyhole. Their software has been around for a little while and has quite a following (myself included) of people who find all sorts of interesting things in the photos and share them on the message board Keyhole setup for users.

Attachments can be used to go right to the area using the Keyhole software. Current events are covered (recent posts include the Paris hotel fire, the San Jose Wendy's where a finger was supposedly found in a bowl of chili, the Neverland Ranch, and a detailed mapping of buildings within Vatican City).

Other forums are filled with geeky goodness. Recent posts there have links to show you the 7 wonders of the ancient world, the UNESCO World Heritage list, logos on rooftops, webcam locations, and lots of pointers to filming locations of TV and movies.

The Keyhole LT Client is kind of fun to play with as well.

Ok, the real reason is probably a bit more boring, with Keyhole a satellite imaging company being bought by google some months ago.

Really nice, but look at Keyhole, another google product, wich is similar to google maps satellite but better and not free

I do heard Google talking about the Keyhole, so it is real, but about the gSat .... I wonder how much does it cost to own a satellie ... Cause I want one too.

Btw, for you country folks, sorry. You guys seems out of luck to be "seen" by keyhole, becasue


Will I be able to see my house?

That depends. While Keyhole does cover the entire globe with satellite imagery, we do not have high resolution imagery for the entire globe. We have focused on larger, US metropolitan areas initially, and will be adding much broader coverage in high-resolution detail over the coming months. See the following charts for a comprehensive list of available high-resolution cities.

http://www.keyhole.com/

Because we all know that Google never buys companies just to get at technology, right?

Microsoft also has one of the largest corporate CS research departments in the industry, and they frequently contribute to everything from journals to W3C specification committees.

It's a lot easier to spread into new markets when you can siphon profits from a monopoly you hold in another market.

• Blogger
• Google Maps
• Google Desktop Search
• Google SMS Search
• Picasa
• Keyhole
• Google Video Search
• Froogle Price Search
• GMail

All ancillary products paid for by the main product.

Have a reality check; all companies do this. You have a good product and you put that money back into R&D for new products. Take a look at the cash flow sheet of any publicly traded company, and stop being a basher. Try to put logic into an argument.

How many of you noticed that your allotment of Gmail invites jumped up to 50 from 6 the night before last? Is Google getting ready to take gmail out of beta?

This map thing kinda makes up for them charging $30 for Keyhole

It'd be fairly slick to see those street maps generated by Google local make use of actual satellite imagery, wouldn't it?

When you consider that they now have a store locator tool (local.google) complete with built-in mapping tools, it makes that recent acquisition all the more interesting. Will we soon have directions mapped onto live satellite footage?

Google is great :) I just wish they would make Keyhole free...

you might be able to put together a decent game trying to figure out what the camera is showing.

whoever gets it first wins some points. more points if they can do it using only the camera picture data, less points for each other source they have to consult (google searches, web sites, traceroutes, keyhole, etc) to figure it out.

might be a fun challenge. like geo-caching in reverse. instead of finding a location and going to it, you are already there and to figure out where you are.

It's quite clever in subtle ways. When you click on a "bookmark", you move to the new location in a smooth trajectory that takes you up to a high altitude and then back down.

This is way ahead of, say, Mapquest.

And you thought they got their money how?

You are incorrectly implying I did not think they got any money from advertising; obviously they do, but I figured the following, the first three of which are more in line with what they profess to be their core business (search), would account for a bit more than 2% of their total revenue. I guess not.

http://answers.google.com/answers/

http://www.keyhole.com/

http://www.blogger.com/blogspot-admin/compare.pyra

Yeah, they'd probably be pissed as hell to know how many things already leave behind a unique identifier.

Fingerprints. Every damn thing you touch leaves a fingerprint! Now, you can wear gloves but you'll always ask yourself, did you touch the kiddle porn BEFORE putting on the gloves w/o thinking about it?

Shooting a gun. The damn bullets can be matched up to the gun barrel. You can shoot some bastard in a robbery and the cops can trace the bullet to YOUR gun barrel. This has the makings of Soviet Russia if I've ever heard it.

Cameras, EVERYWHERE! You can't buy a slurpee w/o giving someone your mug shot. Shit. Just buying a lottery ticket and slurpee leaves proof.

Dental records. I recently discovered that my dentist keeps RECORDS of my teeth and if I'm found belly up, the cops can use the records to identify me. Now I'd be dead and you might be asking, "why would I care." Well this is slashdot- so if they use dental records that means Ashcroft wins.

I recently discovered my car in a satellite photo when evaluating keyhole. Now damnit, the problem comes in with the fact that I drove to Vegas to hire a hooker based on their claim that what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Those fuckers. Not exactly the case when you can get 3 inch resolution sat images for 30 bucks a year, now is it?

And now, they can track my printouts. That just does it. I'm so THROUGH with this country. I'm moving to Canada. I refuse to live under communism- so socialism will have to do. Only problem I see is that iTMS isn't available in Canada but I secretly think iPods are part of a grander communist plot anyway (have you see the U2 model? awful lot of RED on the damn thing.)

Here is the Keyhole link.

AFAIK parallel lines should appear parallel when seen from far, far away (where satellites normally are).

Pay attention to corners of skyscrapers at the crossing of Copper ave and 3rd Street. Building corners are normally vertical, which also means they are parallel, but the angle between the upper right skyscraper and lover left building is just too BIG.

This makes me believe that this image was not taken from a sattelite (not even low-orbiting one), but from a much lower altitude, and Keyhole may be decieving people with such advertising.

Not exactly. It's similar to the LT version where you get a free trial account for 7 days, but then you'll still have to pay. For LT, it's $29.95 for a year, and for NV it's $24.95 [LT and NV]

I purchased this service about a year ago for NV, before the buyout by Google. Their NV version was $10 cheaper than the LT version. I forget the cost at the moment.

I tried them out after hearing they were the service used by the news media (CNN I think) during the latest Iraq war to display the area and mountainous regions where troops were travelling. They may have used the Pro version, which lets you script something like flights over all the data and display it without the interface by exporting it as a movie. I think Pro also lets you hold more of the images cached so you don't have to stream them if you don't need to.

I've also used the NASA software, which is free. The Keyhole one seems to have more data currently, and is all streamed as needed for consumer versions, whereas the NASA software was a more kludgy and came with several large images right away, making for a bigger install. Also, NASA had some problems with their image streaming servers which meant every area you wanted to focus in on with higher granularity you had to download another set of large images for. Granted, it's also nice to have the images on my own machine so I can view them in other applications, I don't think everyone who wants to view the Earth this way wants to download all the images they will view (it's a usability issue.)

The Keyhole software is easy to adapt to, quite powerful in features, hasn't had a problem with their streaming servers for as long as I've used it, has other data layers it can display (districts, crime rates, school zones, etc.) and also has images of Mars. I hope the NASA one picks up the pace a bit, I haven't renewed my Keyhole subscription yet (even though it's cheaper now) because I haven't made as much use of it as of late.

P.S. If either Keyhole or NASA developers are reading this, please include driving directions features as I would want so desparately to use this over Mapquest or Yahoo's services. If the NASA stuff goes OS, perhaps I'll look into helping make that possible (hint, hint!)

Not exactly. It's similar to the LT version where you get a free trial account for 7 days, but then you'll still have to pay. For LT, it's $29.95 for a year, and for NV it's $24.95 [LT and NV]

I purchased this service about a year ago for NV, before the buyout by Google. Their NV version was $10 cheaper than the LT version. I forget the cost at the moment.

I tried them out after hearing they were the service used by the news media (CNN I think) during the latest Iraq war to display the area and mountainous regions where troops were travelling. They may have used the Pro version, which lets you script something like flights over all the data and display it without the interface by exporting it as a movie. I think Pro also lets you hold more of the images cached so you don't have to stream them if you don't need to.

I've also used the NASA software, which is free. The Keyhole one seems to have more data currently, and is all streamed as needed for consumer versions, whereas the NASA software was a more kludgy and came with several large images right away, making for a bigger install. Also, NASA had some problems with their image streaming servers which meant every area you wanted to focus in on with higher granularity you had to download another set of large images for. Granted, it's also nice to have the images on my own machine so I can view them in other applications, I don't think everyone who wants to view the Earth this way wants to download all the images they will view (it's a usability issue.)

The Keyhole software is easy to adapt to, quite powerful in features, hasn't had a problem with their streaming servers for as long as I've used it, has other data layers it can display (districts, crime rates, school zones, etc.) and also has images of Mars. I hope the NASA one picks up the pace a bit, I haven't renewed my Keyhole subscription yet (even though it's cheaper now) because I haven't made as much use of it as of late.

P.S. If either Keyhole or NASA developers are reading this, please include driving directions features as I would want so desparately to use this over Mapquest or Yahoo's services. If the NASA stuff goes OS, perhaps I'll look into helping make that possible (hint, hint!)

Keyhole clearly has the largest stitched-together panorama. They have the whole planet.

Sw33t! Just received my "we been bought" letter from Keyhole. Since I signed up before the acquisition, they're giving me three months of service free!

If memory serves me right I think the CIA bought like 10% of that company because of the detailed flyby maps of cities do to elivations.

You're partly right - one of their investors is In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA.

From their company's website -

"In June 2003, Keyhole further defined its leadership position with funding from In-Q-Tel and deployment by NIMA, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, one of the most prominent users of earth imagery and information."

Should prove interesting. Google + CIA, hmm :)

http://www.keyhole.com/images/home/googleArt.gif

They want it all..

/. away!

keyhole bbs

Just to say that looking at the system requirements, Windows needed. Sorry no Linux or MacOS X support :( Shame I would have been a little more tempted otherwise.

On the subject, does anyone know of good GIS software (open source or commercial) for either MacOS X or Linux? At the moment all the ones I have seen are for MS-Widnows and I can't seem to find any affordable maps, that I could eventually write a program for.

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Keyhole's technology and products are an excellent addition to our efforts to do that. We do not have any announced plans regarding how this technology will integrate with our current products and services. - Keyhole's website (emphasis added)

The key words are announced plans. Just because Google doesn't announce their plan doesn't mean they don't have one. And really, when you think about it is it that hard to see how much this acquisition makes sense...

Millions of Google users +
Google's uber-elite talent pool +
Billions of dollars +
World Class search technology +
Detailed satellite maps of the entire globe =
Best searching and mapping software available

If you try GlobeExplorer, you get an uncensored image until the last two zoom levels. Then the White House turns brown.

Or even better, if you use Keyhole 2, Greenwich CT photos are available at 1m resolution (the entire US is guaranteed to be available at 15m resolution). Now that's pretty damn good, you can make out cars easily and even people, I doubt the town's own images are much better than that. The program is available free of charge for 7 trial days to anyone in the world.

So clearly this data is already available to anyone who wants it, so it's not about security. Restricting aerial photography, that's been paid for by tax money in the first place, just keeps it out of public programs like NASA's World Wind viewer (featured yesterday on Slashdot). I'm sure the greedy bastards at Greenwich would have no objections to selling the photos to a provider like Keyhole instead of just give them up for free. Crying "terrorists, security breach!" is just the fashionable thing to do these days when don't feel like cooperating.

And let's face it. Programs like Keyhole and the free World Wind are only going to get better from here on. 5-10 years from now you're going to able to pan from San Francisco to Paris, either way around, and have a 1-5meter resolution all the way, so that you can count every Starbuck along the way if you feel like it. The globe is going to be mapped completely, deal with it.

Check out Keyhole LT

THe sites is slashdotted, but it sounds similar to keyhole.com - which is also has 3d data.

keyhole has a BBS http://bbs.keyhole.com/ with thousands of stories about about interesting places on the world. It can be as entertaining as the program itself.

Keyhole makes a tool that has more detail than this, although they only have data for urban centers.

You laugh, but Keyhole 2 Nv has a Mars dataset.

...Keyhole, I presume? I've played around with it before, but a free version is even better, I guess.

The site is slashdotted, but is it anything like Keyhole?

For a high-res view but user-interface nightmare, GlobeXplorer has free and subscription imagery online that incorporates aerial photography for less than 1 meter resolution (like way zoomed in.)

Of course, what roxorz is that the NASA prog is free. At least for now!

--
carbolic
WiFi-toys

I had a subscription to Keyhole World Viewer for a while, it's the same type of thing with a shnazzy interface and features. You can download it for a free trial at their site, I haven't tried the NASA one so I don't know how it compares.

~Berj

How would this affect Keyhole's Earthviewer program?

It's a Windows (DirectX/OpenGL) app that maps 2D satellite images on to 3D terrain, allowing you to zoom in/out and "fly" around.

I subscribe to their service, and IIRC, their imagery is purchased from many different sources, probably businesses that also sell to the Government. I take it Keyhole and its customers would be shut out if the gov't goes ahead with this?

I don't understand the logic behind it. It's not like you can't see the things the satellite images show you in real life.

It's really a remarkable program. I know I spent every day of my two week trial and then every day of another two week trial on another computer just "visiting".

Keyhole isn't free, but it's worth looking at - if you're into flying over a 3d model and zooming into practically anywhere!

It streams the data, 3d and 2d, while you moved around the globe.

The Keyhole viewer is very impressive. They have the whole planet available. Resolution varies; for much of the world it's low-res satellite imagery. But for most urban areas in the developed world, the imagery is quite good. The imagery is overlaid on height data, so you can get a 3D view from any angle. The height data is too coarse to show buildings.

Wow. Somebody bought Keyholw - Earth Viewer and ad space on slashdot. whoop whoop. I guess I should customize out the your rights online, the constant privacygasms aren't that fun either. I know use the tools so you don't have to list to the tools...

It would be cool if they mapped this high resolution surface in Keyhole.

It already has Mars, but it's very low resolution (and not very 3d.)

~Berj

The spam contains ads for the "Asta Design Group", which has been widely spamvertized. A bit of searching turns up this address:

• SeafishNET and the Asta Design Group
  360 NE 49 St
  Fort Lauderdale, Florida USA 33334
  E-mail: seafish1@ix.netcom.com
  

Another lead gives us

• The documents and information on this Web site are copyrighted materials of SeafishNET, Asta Designs and its information providers.... "SeafishNET" and the SeafishNET logo are registered trademarks of SeafishNET.

• SeafishNET
  360 NE 49 St.
  Oakland Park, Florida 33334 USA
  (954) 351-7961
  seafish1@ix.netcom.com

Same address and zip code, but in Oakland Park, a Ft. Lauderdale neighborhood. Now we have a phone number. Google gives us

• Charles Fish, (954) 351-7961, 360 NE 49th St, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33334

Checking the satellite imagery, that's a tract house backing up to a six-lane highway. It's not a mailbox service.

Since we're talking about felony computer intrusion here, that's the address to give the cops. This may or may not be the intruder, but they probably know who it is.