Here's another reason why the US government might be justified in denying foreigners the same opportunities as US citizens: the US government exists to protect the interests of US citizens, and US citizens select those who form the legislative branch of our government. The US government has no intrinsic duty or obligation to non-citizens, though should the electorate desire to extend privileges to foreign workers (as we have) the US government can put that into effect under the principle of serving our interests.
This is the natural and idealized mandate of any government - to serve the interests of the citizens who delegate part of their intrinsic rights of self-determination to their government.
Folks like Intermap and some of the lidar scanning folks have 6cm data sets available. While not photorealistic, it's great for 3D mapping... which is one probable direction for future mapping services anyway.
Slashdot Mirror
Here's another reason why the US government might be justified in denying foreigners the same opportunities as US citizens: the US government exists to protect the interests of US citizens, and US citizens select those who form the legislative branch of our government. The US government has no intrinsic duty or obligation to non-citizens, though should the electorate desire to extend privileges to foreign workers (as we have) the US government can put that into effect under the principle of serving our interests.
This is the natural and idealized mandate of any government - to serve the interests of the citizens who delegate part of their intrinsic rights of self-determination to their government.
Folks like Intermap and some of the lidar scanning folks have 6cm data sets available. While not photorealistic, it's great for 3D mapping ... which is one probable direction for future mapping services anyway.