The official blog for Google Maps
Balloon and kite imagery in Google Earth
April 17, 2012
Here at Google we publish a lot of imagery, most of which comes from the satellite and aerial imagery providers with whom we partner. Last week we published something a bit different: images collected from balloons and kites! The resolution is amazing, and it’s something that just about anyone can do themselves.
Public Laboratory image of Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA (July 2011) in Google Earth
Our friends at
The Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science
have been working hard to make imagery collection easy, cheap and accessible. Their grassroots mapping work is based on the idea that citizens anywhere should be able to explore the environment in and around their communities, by collecting their own imagery and other data, and to do it in a way that is useful for scientific and social purposes.
The Public Laboratory has developed an open source
balloon mapping toolkit
that allows anyone with an inexpensive digital point and shoot camera, and about $100 of other parts (balloon, helium, line, soda bottle, etc.) to take photos of the ground around them. They also provide a web-based tool called
MapKnitter
for aligning the photos into a georeferenced image that can be used in
Google Earth
and other digital mapping tools.
Public Laboratory image of WhereCamp, Stanford University (April 2011) in Google Earth
We’ve imported many of the images from the Public Laboratory’s
archives
into Google Earth’s
historical imagery
database. To help you find them, download this
KML file
, open it in Google Earth (make sure you’re using the
latest version
), and fly to the image locations in space and time. Have fun exploring this unique imagery!
Posted by Christiaan Adams, Developer Advocate with the Google Earth Outreach team
No comments :
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
Labels
#streetview
#treasuremap
+1
3D
8bitmaps
Adwords Express
Africa
Amazon
Andorra
Android
api
Art Project
Audi
biking
Boost
Boulder
Brazil
Bulgaria
Business Photos
Business View
businesses
Canada
check-in
community
competition
contest
crisis response
Culture
custom maps
developer
Developers
directions
disaster response
discovery
earth outreach
education
Emmy Awards
Enterprise
Estonia
Europe
Explore
Fusion Tables
gadgets
Gibraltar
GMM
google
Google Earth
Google Earth Engine
Google Map Maker
Google Maps
Google Maps API
Google Maps Engine
Google Maps for Mobile
Google Maps Gallery
Google Maps Navigation
Google Maps Transit
Google Places
Google Plus
Google Search
Google Street View
google.org
Google+
googlenew
Grand Canyon
ground truth
Halloween
historical
history
holiday
Hotpot
Hungary
imager
imagery
Indoor Maps
iOS
iPhone
Iraq
Japan
Latitude
Latvia
layers
LBC
Lithuania
London
Making of Maps
Malaysia
Mall of America
Map Maker
Maps Blog
Maps Gallery
mapsgl
Matt Harding
Mexico
Mobile
Monticello
My Maps
my places
my tracks
National Geographic
navigation
new Google Maps
oblique imagery
ocean
offline maps
Olympics
Outreach
Pakistan
Panoramio
Parks Canada
Pegman
Photo Spheres
photo tours
photos
picasa
Polar Bears
Quiz
real estate
restaurants
road trips
Russia
Santa
Santa Tracker
search stories
SketchUp
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Sudan
space
Spain
sports
Street View
summer
SXSW
Tags
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson Foundation
Tip of the week
tips
tour guide
traffic
Train
Transit
travel
trees
Trekker
Trike
Trolley
U.S. National Park Service
Ukraine
University of Virginia
Valentine's Day
Veterans Day
Views
voice search
walking
Waze
weather
webgl
Your Timeline
zagat
Archive
2016
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2015
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2014
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2013
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2012
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2011
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2010
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2009
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2008
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2007
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Feed
Google
on
Follow @googlemaps
Follow
Give us feedback in our
Product Forums
.
Follow
No comments :
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.