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Google Maps Now Cover Whole World

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the can't-get-there-from-here dept.

GregBryant writes "They haven't blogged it yet, but maps.google.com has added some additional scaling-out, and maps of the entire world are available. Only country names so far (except in the US, Canada & UK) but it's still nice to finally click back & forth between the Satellite imagery and some real maps, even if their proportions don't quite match."

6 of 357 comments (clear)

  1. Professionally, I Love This by geomon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Getting satellite views of physiographic features from a readily available source is truly one of the best things to come from the internet. The only downside to the Google satellite images is that the highest resolution images cover metropolitian areas. This is great for folks who use it for urban planning, environmental impact assessments, historic studies, etc., it doesn't do much for geologists or geographers. Still, it is free.....

    As a geologist it is nice to have aerial tools on line, especially when some of the other taxpayer funded sources of data have been taken offline by private companies. While I don't object to paying for data produced by private companies, I get a bit steamed with the idea that I have to pay *twice* for government-generated data. I understand the necessity to save the taxpayers money, but in the case of topographic, DEM, and DLG sources generated by the government, we have already paid for most of the cost of production; hosting is a fraction of cost for agencies such as the USGS.

    Even if hosting were a significant cost, paid advertising could cover the cost and provide a good income for any company interested in providing the service for the government. The fees that some of these charge for taxpayer-subsidized data is rediculous.

    Thanks again to Google.

    --
    "Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
  2. I agree. by game+kid · · Score: 5, Interesting

    On a side note, am I the only one who notices that dragging the zoom bar's handle has a smooth (fatbits or whatever one calls it) zooming effect* now?

    Firefox users need not apply; I see it on IE only so far, so I'm guessing it uses script and their zoom "Microsoft extension to Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)." (rough translation: it's a non-standardized property)

    --
    You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
  3. Not just US and UK, actually. by richie2000 · · Score: 5, Funny

    They have satellite imagery of a very large piece of Denmark too: Clicky, clicky, looks just like the real thing to me. :-)

    --
    Money for nothing, pix for free
  4. Re:Personally, I don't think it's worth of it by Trollstoi · · Score: 5, Funny

    Chicks sunbathing on roofs... just imagine...

  5. Governmental Paranoia by Fromeo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder what bit of US government paranoia caused this:
    http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=38.889145,-77.00879 6&spn=0.008122,0.008690&t=k&hl=en
    but not this:
    http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=38.897502,-77.03659 4&spn=0.008122,0.008690&t=k&hl=en

  6. No, that's what Israel lobbied for by Animats · · Score: 5, Interesting

    After heavy pressure from Israeli lobbyists, the US Congress enacted "shutter control" specifically for Israel in 1997. Satellites using US technology aren't permitted to image Israel with a resolution of greater than 2 meters per pixel. That's why the images of Israel are so lousy.