Slashdot Mirror
Google's Satellite Map Gets a 700-Trillion-Pixel Makeover (theatlantic.com)
An anonymous reader writes: On Monday, Google Maps has received a makeover with 700 trillion pixels of new data added to the service. The Atlantic reports: "The new map, which activates this week for all users of Google Maps and Google Earth, consists of orbital imagery that is newer, more detailed, and of higher contrast than the previous version. Most importantly, this new map contains fewer clouds than before -- only the second time Google has unveiled a "cloudless" map. Google had not updated its low- and medium- resolution satellite map in three years. The new version of the map includes data from Landsat 8, the newer version of the same satellite (Landsat 7, the U.S. government satellite which supplied the older map's imagery data), letting Google clear the ugly artifacts. Google's new update doesn't include imagery at the highest zoom levels, like the kind needed to closely inspect an individual house, pool, or baseball field. Those pictures do not come from Landsat at all, but from a mix of other public and private aerial and space-based cameras, including DigitalGlobe's high-resolution satellites. The image processing for this most recent map was completed entirely in Google Earth Engine, the company's geospatial-focused cloud infrastructure. In fact, the entire algorithm to create the cloudless map was written in Javascript in the Earth Engine development interface."
Google Make-Over
US government releases new 700 trillion pixel images with fewer clouds. Groups using old US government data (including Google Maps) upgrade to new data.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
Seriously? This was done in Java Script? No wonder it took so long. Just sayin'.
I have a nagging feeling that where parts of this where written in Java Script (as in the user interface stuff that displays this shiny new data) the actual image processing to find and edit out the clouds was written in something else.... I don't work for Google so it's just a hunch...
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
I'm still LOLing at the Europeans even today, most of whom are mourning the first of many nations to leave the EU. It's a matter of time before the rest of the EU fails, too. I'm so thankful for being a Canadian, because we are smarter and better than the Europeans and Americans. Unlike the United States and most of Europe, Canada is not a failed state. Look for Canada to become the dominant power as China sinks deeper into recession, the United States spirals downward in decay, and the EU breaks apart at the seams.
I know the European and American moderators won't like hearing this and will quickly hide it at -1. It doesn't change the fact that your countries are decadent and in rapid decline, soon to be passed by Canada. Soon enough, you will all bow down to your Canadian overlords as we become the dominant economy and dominant culture throughout the world.
I'm still seeing imagery that is more than eight years old in places. And by now wildly different: The images show farmland, even though even google knows that there's all sorts of roads and buildings there by now.
In fact, the entire algorithm to create the cloudless map was written in Javascript in the Earth Engine development interface."
Good to know Javascript is still relevant. The other day, I read some post here on Slashdot, about a fella who said TypeScript is better because it's "Java that scales." True or not, I have no clue!
The assholes at my city hall have been using Google Earth for years to hunt down domestic terrorists who put up temporary sheds and carports, so that they can be taxed into safety.
Eu acho que essa puta da Helena queria ir embora e colocaram um otário fingindo que era Eu falando com a merdinha. Olha, quem falou com essa retardada não era quem ela pensava. Por mim, essa merda pode fazer o que ela bem entender (de preferência se matar)
Most local governments use these sorts of services to find people who don't respect the building codes and don't get the required approval.
In many cases they use services other than Google. There are ones which supply new data on a monthly basis.
This seems to eliminate the craptacular impressionistic 3D rendering that they have been doing to satellite images for the past year or two. So basically, they're back to where we were two years ago and have caught up to Bing's Bird Eye view, but without Silver Light.
THANK GOD!
In my neighborhood, it looks like Google Earth was processed through some kind of bad Instagram filter designed to make things look blurry. I can tell the images are new because of the solar panels on our house. And I noticed that all of the trees have had geometric shaped boundaries applied, all sharp edges and precise angles, curiously not applied to the shadows cast on the ground! Nearly everyone's lawn looks like a patch of dirt. It honestly looks like something out of a 10-15 year old video game.
Guess how far Google's engineering office in Boulder is from DigitalGlobe's?
little red riding hood!
In case you don't understand Google spying and tracking and US government involvement...
When you use their street view, the license plates are blurred on YOUR PC. Not on theirs.
And they have real time drones on demand and street cameras that scan your plates and it is all cross-referenced through US government databases.
Now here's the catch: the FBI is full of international moles.
math anyone?
Don't forget somewhat quiet helicopters with similar gear and small propeller aircraft. Much of their aircraft are registered under completely unrelated fictitious businesses.
Sure Obama let those foreigners come right on in for refuge uh huh. Save them from Mexico terror and shit. Give them educations on the backs of already broken social services.
MOTHER FUCKER THAT IS TREASON.
Do you really expect the public to believe Hillary is going to counter one single spy apparatus? She is a puppet. And Trump has too much to lose.
Look out for Vice Presidentbergs
How many Libraries of Congress is that?
I thought the google maps imagery is based on aerial photography.
Google’s version of this algorithm factors in other special circumstances, like seasonal affects.
So they can afford to buy new satellite imagery to replace three-year-old images, but they can't afford to consult a human interface expert to get the UI back to a usable state?
Follow the law then. Its not that hard.
So, let's see, to get rid of clouds, processing was done in the cloud? How could it ever finish?
Chandigarh Escorts
And still no Palestine.
Fuck you, Google.