[UK-CONTEST] Google Earth vs Microsoft

[Cooper, Stewart]

A long time ago (it seems) I used to take these photographs for a living. I flew at 6000ft using a camera that cost more than the helicopter. We were contracted by Ordnance Survey, etc. to provide high definition photos to update mapping detail, which included areas of coastline, and 'things' which had been erected or moved recently (like masts, navigational bouys and lights, etc). I think it's unlikely that the whole of the UK is photographed at hi definition (yet). You use two photographs of a known distance apart to determine height in a stereoscopic fashion - so we did runs at a fixed height at a fixed speed and took a snap every x seconds. From that the detail is phenomenal.
>From that height (I'm deliberately not saying what height) you can actually make out the brand of margarine in a carrier bag being carried by a person walking down the street. Or even more scary, the margarine tub sitting on a kitchen worktop, taken at an angle through the window, near the edge of a vertical photo. So whatever ends up in Google is a far cry from what is really available.
BTW There is an amateur radio overlay on Google.

Stewart
GM4AFF
(currently /HL)

Stewart Cooper
Maintenance Systems Engineer

ODL
Buchanan House  Summer Street  Aberdeen  UK  AB10 1SJ

Tel (Direct) +44 (0)1224 628039
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________________________________

From: uk-contest-bounces at contesting.com on behalf of Ian White GM3SEK
Sent: Tue 14/11/2006 08:57
To: uk-contest at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [UK-CONTEST] Google Earth vs Microsoft



Colin wrote:
>I suspect the high definition areas at the moment are those of high
>population density.   A couple of hundred metres after leaving the
>greater Southampton conurbation and enter the New Forest District on
>the A36 the maps go 'fuzzy' and that includes where I live.

Those are the changeovers between the low-resolution satellite images
that allow them to map the whole Earth, and the high-res images from
conventional aerial photography.

The providers of these sites are spending their budget where it will
attract the largest number of viewers. Since they are buying images in
big blocks, there is some coverage outside the big city areas.

Having said that, some rural areas of the UK seem to do rather well in
terms of high-res images on Google Earth. I wonder if these were
originally taken by DEFRA, eg to check on claims for set-aside payments,
and then last year's images might have been sold on.

> There are locations, as Chris remarked on, that will probably remain
>'fuzzy'. Check the exclusion areas in the BR68!
>
>The U.S. authorities on the other hand take a little artistic licence
>with Paint Shop Pro and just remove offending objects.

On the other-other hand (but don't go there unless you have time to
spare):
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/14/google_earth_competition_results
/>

Getting back to contesting, you can enter the street address of any big
gun in the USA, and if it happens to be in a  high-res area you can see
quite a lot.


--
73 from Ian GM3SEK

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