The Sharpest Ever Global Earth Map

Roland Piquepaille writes "The GLOBCOVER project, started by the European Space Agency (ESA), has a very simple goal. It will create the most detailed portrait of the Earth's land surface with a resolution three times sharper than any previous satellite map. The image acquisition will be done throughout 2005 and use the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument of the Envisat environmental satellite. To create this sharp map, the GLOBCOVER project will analyze about 20 terabytes of data gathered by the European satellite. When it's completed, the map will have numerous uses, 'including plotting worldwide land use trends, studying natural and managed ecosystems and modelling climate change extent and impacts.'"

Comments

'hello mum'

[thegoldenear]

time to put something interesting on the roof for when the sat passes over

Re:'hello mum'

[Gulthek]

Your joke is one line too long.

Re:'hello mum'

[Reaperducer]

The satellite imagery for this is being recorded at a resolution of 300 m. For comparison, the most zoomed in you can get on GoogleMaps is 2 m per a pixel.

But 300 is more than 2, so it must be better. That's why we're all salivating for 64-bit Minesweeper. Because it will be better than 32-bit Minesweeper.

Haven't you learned anything from TV commercials?
Digital is always better than analog, even when it isn't.
More is always better than less, even when it isn't.
More candy. More soda. More monkeys. More thermonuclear weapons.

Medium?

[brianmf]

The image acquisition will be done throughout 2005 and use the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument of the Envisat environmental satellite.

Surely the High Resolution Imaging Spectrometer would be more appropriate?

MERIS

[American AC in Paris]

The image acquisition will be done throughout 2005 and use the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument of the Envisat environmental satellite

Niles will be happy to hear she's orbiting the planet...