Slashdot Mirror
US Government OKs Sale of Sharper Satellite Images
itwbennett (1594911) writes The U.S. government has lifted a long-standing restriction that meant companies like Google and Microsoft didn't have access to the most accurate pictures taken by imaging satellites. Satellite operator DigitalGlobe said that it received approval from the U.S. Department of Commerce this week to sell sharper images to its clients. Until now, satellite operators like DigitalGlobe were prevented by law from selling images to foreign or commercial organizations in which features smaller than 50 centimeters were visible. The restriction was meant to ensure that foreign powers didn't get access to satellite images that were too good.
I glad that US government has finally approved sharper images. Hopefully, this increase the availability of ionic breezes for everyone.
but they can't share it with you. I'm not sure how much they can even disclose about the abilities of the satellites they have, but you need to bear in mind that companies like Google actually own imaging satellites of their own. They've been able to do much higher resolutions for a very very long time already...they just haven't been allowed share it with us.
The resolution limitations have been political in nature...most if not all of the hardware already up there has been able to provide higher resolution for years. I think some providers were getting around that by providing arial photography in some areas instead...the 50cm limitations are for satellites. Photography from airplanes doesn't have that limitation.
For the voyeurs among us, it'll allow them to get a better look at those sunbathing nude in their backyards. But beyond that, what will it offer? Perhaps better looks at the Disneyland of North Korea, Pyongyang, the capital of that Tragic Kingdom? That's one of my favorite places to look at via Google Earth.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
I can't be the only one who read the headline as the above...
The restriction was meant to ensure that foreign powers didn't get access to satellite images that were too good.
Yeah because nobody except the US has satellites...
enter slashdot
load story - end up on beta
scroll to end - click classic
sent to main page
go to step 2
fuck beta
Spread the word! Access to clearer information about the world has been authorized by the US Government! I rarely applaud their decisions but this is one that I will comment on! I look forward to seeing the world in a clearer vision! Google! Update Maps!!
But what if they fell into the hands of terrusts and pediofiddlers?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I wonder about this feature-size stuff. In the Google-maps picture of our house, you can see the bright-yellow garden hose snaking across the lawn. A garden hose is a lot thinner than 50cm, even if it is long.
So: What is meant by a 50cm feature size? And just how much better are the best available satellite images?
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
It was a fairly silly limitation to begin with.
At 50 cm resolution a competent analyst can identify specific models of aircrafts and other military veichals,
Counting them and identifying movement is even easier.
to find my car keys? Don't laugh - IIRC Hubble has the resolution of a dime at 200 miles, right? It orbits at about 350 miles out. The capability is certainly there.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
But I bet they still won't be Allowed to Share Photos of Area 51. If there are no Aliens, then let us see. But we can't even view it from Space or get within miles of it.
What's in there? I'm not saying it is Aliens, but if it's only Military stuff, it's not that big a deal. So what if China sees our Missles or fighter jets from satelite photos? They still won't know how to make them, and this will deter them even more because they see our might. So it's not just that. It's something more. Aliens, maybe Alien Spacecraft, I'm not sure what, but aren't you at least SUSPICIOUS?
People who have worked there have REPORTED claims that there is Alien Spacecraft there. They can't all be lying, right?
Open your minds.
And I come in peace, just in case the aliens are reading Slashdot.
Have a wonderful day everyone, and enjoy your weekend. And if you want to contact me for more proof about Aliens just leave your email and I will message you ASAP. Bye Bye Guys and Gals :)
Magnify. Zoom in on the reflection in his sunglasses. Enhance. There's the killer's face right there. Sergeant Takerdown and Sergeant Booker, go pick up our unsub and bring her in for questioning.
I think that's kind of the point. For decades the US had significantly higher resolution than anyone else, except MAYBE the Soviets. Now that the US is no longer the clear leader (in most things), it no longer makes sense to have the same laws.
So nowhere near good enough to ID a person, or even a vehicle.
Best Slashdot Co
What you'll see as you approach the limit of resolution is the average color of each pixel, so features smaller than the feature size are still visible. That is to say, a 10cm yellow pipe and green grass will make a yellow/green pixel. What you can't see is whether there is one pipe 10cm is diameter or two pipes, each 3cm.
Another example would be sign that is 20cm wide. That sign will be visible as it effects the color of the pixel, but none of the lettering will be visible because the whole sign is just one pixel.
50 cm (~19.5") isn't all that great for commercial aerial products these days. I work with county government and we don't touch anything bigger than 12", and most of our stuff these days is pushing 4". That is taken from aircraft not satellites but now days they don't even need to create base points for Geo-rectification. It used to be they would need to paint sizable white arrows at dozens of locations across the county and using high accuracy GPS locate the tip of those arrows. Then after capturing the imagery they would locate those arrows on the imagery and using some complicated software geolocate the imagery. Now they have high a suite of sensors (GPS, tilt, yaw, accelerometer, etc) on the aircraft and maybe a precisely located base transmitter in the middle of the capture area. After capturing they can technically have the imagery to you within a few hours (though its usually a few weeks/month). For most uses (locating electrical poles, manholes, etc) 6" is about as low as you want to go.
800 mm by 1250 mm is a rectangle with an area of 1 square metre, and six nearly-square pixels fit inside it.
If there are no Aliens, then let us see.
The government knows there are aliens. Otherwise, there wouldn't be big public debates on C-SPAN and C-SPAN 2 on what kind of "amnesty" to give to undocumented children forced by their parents to commit the crime of being present in the United States.
http://xkcd.com/1204/ "Google defends the swiveling roof-mounted scanning electron microscopes on its Street View cars, saying they 'don't reveal anything that couldn't be seen by any pedestrian scanning your house with an electron microscope.'"