When I bumped into one of the Google Product Managers for SEA, I asked him why the Philippines (and the rest of South East Asia) doesn’t have enough hi-res imagery on Google Maps, he quips it takes time to gather all of these data. The recent GeoEye-Google partnership seems it will come sooner than later.
The GeoEye-1 satellite was launched into orbit the other day at a height of about 670 kilometers into the atmosphere.
Google used to buy satellite images electronic maps from mapping companies such as Tele Atlas and NAVTEQ (now owned by Nokia), some of which are old data so we don’t get to see better resolutions in some regions.
In other cities like Hyderabad, India, Google does some sort of crowd sourcing where residents are the ones who input street-level maps (to augment the Google Maps, Street View Project). The Google Product Manager explains to em that it’s a private site where volunteers login and fill out additional data to existing maps.
I said in the Philippines, this might be a difficult project since our lawmakers tend to change street names every other year and the MMDA constantly opens and closes roadways and alternate routes. *hehe*
The GeoEye-1 satellite will be able to capture hi-res images with resolution of about 41 centimeters although US restrictions only allow up to 50 cm (that means 1 pixel is equivalent to 0.5 meters in ratio). Google’s current resolution on some areas (including the Philippines) is only about 15 square meters per pixel.
Sana pwede rin makita mga kuta na pinagtatagauan ng mga terorista sa Mindanao hehe.
i hope makikita nila yun mga naliligo
Hope they include closer and clearer images of places where Kato and Bravo are hiding.
With this satellite, I think we can now see more high res photo of topless people in Boracay. Just my thought.
I actually asked him if I could take a look on how they do it. Maybe someday.
That’s weird. AFAIK, the India project uses hand-held GPS. It’s the Map Maker project, which was piloted in Myanmar that uses satellite imagery to trace over street data. In this case, the data is Google’s own, and not sourced anymore from TeleAtlas and Navteq.
@eugene, that’s odd. The Google PM told me that their project in India uses Google Maps and Satellite Imagery where volunteers draw and label streets over them. Could have heard him wrong though.
Hopefully, the new images that GeoEye will take will also be integrated with Google Maps.
Correction, the street data comes from Navteq and TeleAtlas. The satellite imagery comes from DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, and SPOT. Street data should not be conflated with satellite imagery (i.e., the India crowd-sourcing project has absolutely nothing to do with GeoEye’s new satellite).
Hope they’ll inform us exactly when it will pass through Manila. So that I can go outside, and lookup. =P
Hopefully, they can update the images of Silang, Tagaytay and other places in upland Cavite.
It’s kinda depressing to see nothing but greenery and lots of cloud cover. Feels like my hometown doesn’t exist! LOL
that’s sweet google..
thanks yuga