Google Earth gets a fancy new look thanks to NASA

Google Earth gets a fancy new look thanks to NASA satellite data

Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f128706%2fa4ffeea6efd34b21ad80ce32a8842aa7
Columbia Glacier, Alaska
2016%2f04%2f20%2fd4%2fprof.5bae5
BY MIRIAM KRAMER
Google is mining photos from a satellite launched in 2013 to create a better, cloud-free image of Earth from above.
The newest mosaic is an updated version of one produced in 2013. The new version was pieced together mostly using data from the Landsat 8 satellite, launched by NASA, which snaps "twice as many images as Landsat 7 does every day," according to Google.

"This new rendition of Earth uses the most recent data available — mostly from Landsat 8 — making it our freshest global mosaic to date," Chris Herwig, program manager for Google Earth Engine wrote in a blog post. 
Much of Earth is usually covered by clouds, but Google Maps combed through photo after photo to piece together the "clearest pixels" from more than 700 trillion pixels. The result is an unobstructed view of the Earth's surface with more details visible than before. 

New York before


New York after


"Our previous mosaic used imagery from Landsat 7 only, which at the time was the best imagery of its kind," Herwig said. "Unfortunately, Landsat 7 images captured after 2003 were affected by a hardware failure, resulting in large diagonal gaps of missing data."
Scientists can glean a lot from this kind of data, getting a sense of deforestation and urban development in different parts of the world.
Much of this data is freely available from the Landsat program, which has been imaging Earth's surface with various satellites since 1972. 
Landsat 8 is the newest satellite in the fleet.

Lake Balkhash, Kazakhstan

Detroit, Michigan


Swiss Alps


Brasilia, Brazil

You can explore the cloud-free imagery yourself either using Google Earth or through thesatellite layer on Google Maps.
Source:
http://mashable.com/2016/06/27/new-google-landsat-satellite-data/#m8XetYCKBaqu

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DirectX 12 vs DirectX 11

Image
DirectX 12 vs DirectX 11 – How DX12 will transform PC  gaming on Windows 10 DIRECTX 12 VS DIRECTX 11 – WHY DOES IT MATTER? Windows 10  has arrived and, along with integrated Cortana, Xbox One game streaming and a fancy new web browser, one of its key features is DirectX 12, the latest version of the operating system’s gaming API. A software layer that sits between the hardware that powers our computers and the software that runs on them,  DirectX is at the heart of the vast majority of games that run on Windows.  The other major gaming API is OpenGL, which as its name suggests is an open source API. Both offer very similar key functions, but it’s DirectX that tends to be at the heart of most bigger games. Microsoft talks up the amazing new capabilities for every new release of DirectX, but with DirectX 12 it really does have some key new features, at least when it comes to improving performance. It also has some new effects tools and functions for mak...
Read more

Android N's "Freeform Windows"

Last week, we wrote about the " freeform window " mode in the Android N Developer Preview. Brief mentions in the developer documents and hints in the code pointed to Android someday displaying apps in resizable floating windows, just like in a desktop OS. Freeform window mode isn't normally accessible in the current dev preview, but shortly after the post, we were contacted by reader  Zhuowei Zhang  with instructions on how to make it work. We'll get to the instructions, but first let's talk about what's actually here. Freeform window mode is just what we imagined. It's a dead ringer for  Remix OS —multiple Android apps floating around inside windows—and it might be the beginnings of a desktop operating system . It works on Android N phones and tablets, and once the mode is enabled, you'll see an extra button on thumbnails in the Recent Apps screen. To the left of the "X" button that pops up after a second or tw...
Read more

The Chord Mojo turns good headphones into great ones

Image
The best gadget you never knew you wanted Audio processing isn’t sexy. Better sound doesn’t lend itself to easy marketing through numbers or pretty posters, and so many companies treat it as an afterthought when designing their products. The  blissful ignorance  of "good enough" audio pervades the world of consumer technology, leaving only a niche of audio enthusiasts supporting a few boutique hi-fi manufacturers. Things have been like this for quite some time, but recently a new gadget was introduced that bridges the gap between the many and the few, and its name is the  Chord Mojo . The Mojo is an audio processor and amplifier that’s smaller than a pack of cards yet delivers the awesome performance of much larger rivals. Honestly, I think its size works to its disadvantage because it looks like, and is, a portable unit you can plug into your phone and use off its 10-hour battery. By audiophile standards, it’s almost  too  practical. But ...
Read more