Discuss Detroit » Archives - Beginning January 2006 » Any one use Google Earth? « Previous Next »
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7even
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Username: 7even

Post Number: 4
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 64.108.150.210
Posted on Monday, May 15, 2006 - 12:35 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

If you have not used Google Earth you should check it out. You can view Detroit from above. Also look at the buildings in 3D form. It has been out for a while so I am sure some have seen it.
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Jams
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Username: Jams

Post Number: 3284
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.249.44.157
Posted on Monday, May 15, 2006 - 12:53 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It was brought to our attention awhile ago.

I've used it quite a bit recently to check out houses and neighborhoods that I possibly might buy into. (Lofts are of no interest to me, I like being in a house.)
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Wolverine
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Username: Wolverine

Post Number: 154
Registered: 04-2004
Posted From: 24.231.201.120
Posted on Monday, May 15, 2006 - 3:40 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I prefer using local.live since they offer higher resolution images of Detroit, plus birdseye imagery

Here's a sample of the resolution you can get
http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.g ne?id=146646259&size=o
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Livernoisyard
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Username: Livernoisyard

Post Number: 684
Registered: 10-2004
Posted From: 69.242.223.42
Posted on Monday, May 15, 2006 - 3:51 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I use Google Earth with my Garmin ForeRunner 301 combo HR monitor/GPS watch. It seems to make very faithful maps of my exercise runs. The 301 even measures the elevation of the path.
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Corktownmark
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Username: Corktownmark

Post Number: 186
Registered: 12-2004
Posted From: 69.246.27.152
Posted on Monday, May 15, 2006 - 8:27 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Google earth is a good way to get oriented to downtown, for example.. The pics are getting kinda old though. There is much new development in corktown and downtown since the pics were taken.
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Mackinaw
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Username: Mackinaw

Post Number: 1509
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 69.221.35.202
Posted on Monday, May 15, 2006 - 10:42 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Google earth is really easy to use, but thanks to Wolverine I've found that that local.live.com aerials are a bit newer, and those "birds eye view" compilations, when available, are awesome.
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Spacemonkey
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Username: Spacemonkey

Post Number: 22
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 63.102.87.27
Posted on Monday, May 15, 2006 - 11:51 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

How come the maps on Google earth are a few years out of date? My new construction house in Rochester Hills shows as an empty lot, yet it was built 2 years ago. What gives?
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Wolverine
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Username: Wolverine

Post Number: 155
Registered: 04-2004
Posted From: 24.231.201.120
Posted on Monday, May 15, 2006 - 11:58 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My best guess is it has to do with where google earth gets their maps from. I think they purchase the maps from some other company that compiles the satellite images of a particular location every few years. So despite google earth being relatively new, some of the maps are out of date. I look forward to when a new batch comes along. I have a feeling they will be more crisp and possibly more detailed.
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Mackinaw
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Username: Mackinaw

Post Number: 1513
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 69.221.35.202
Posted on Monday, May 15, 2006 - 11:59 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That's the thing about new construction...

Whelp, it doesn't have One Kennedy Square either. I assume they update every few years.

The only way I can determine that the photo in my area is a few years old is by looking at which trees had been cut down (dutch elm disease of the late 90s) along my street.

I don't like the sporadic nature of the high res images. Ann Arbor is in low-res on google, but all of Indiana is high-res.
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Chitaku
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Username: Chitaku

Post Number: 323
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 68.43.107.72
Posted on Monday, May 15, 2006 - 12:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'm guessing the pic is from mid 2003. My parents house in Clarkston wasn't built and they have lived there since August 03, also my car is in the driveway at my old house with my parents, where I haven't lived for 3 years.
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Chitaku
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Username: Chitaku

Post Number: 324
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 68.43.107.72
Posted on Monday, May 15, 2006 - 12:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

how do you get local.live to show pics, all i could get was a drawn map
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Dnvn522
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Username: Dnvn522

Post Number: 120
Registered: 11-2004
Posted From: 204.24.64.25
Posted on Monday, May 15, 2006 - 12:11 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

Google earth is really easy to use, but thanks to Wolverine I've found that that local.live.com aerials are a bit newer,



Not the downtown aerials. Check out the shot of Compuware in the two programs.
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Harsensis
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Username: Harsensis

Post Number: 52
Registered: 07-2005
Posted From: 71.227.102.82
Posted on Tuesday, May 16, 2006 - 9:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I haven't checked on Google Earth, but in Google maps it caught a plane flying over the Southfield near Grand River. I thought that was pretty cool.
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Mackinaw
Member
Username: Mackinaw

Post Number: 1530
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 69.221.35.202
Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 12:15 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Ah good point Dnvn. I don't know what I was thinking. The "birds-eye" shots though are awesome and seem to be from 2005. I hope they expand this. A lot of cities are almost fully covered.
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 2518
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.43.15.105
Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 12:35 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Harsensis...Southfield, just south of McNichols:

757



And on the front lawn of the Ford World HQ:


DC9
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7even
Member
Username: 7even

Post Number: 7
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 64.108.150.253
Posted on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - 1:19 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Cool pictures, it almost looks like the bottom one is grounded.
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Harsensis
Member
Username: Harsensis

Post Number: 53
Registered: 07-2005
Posted From: 71.227.102.82
Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 12:37 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yup, That's it. I thought that was pretty cool.
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The_aram
Member
Username: The_aram

Post Number: 4883
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.41.124.8
Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 1:00 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The overhead pics of Detroit have to be from before mid-2003, as St. Cyril's is still there.

My only frustration with Google Earth is that their aerial pics of Ann Arbor are ridiculously low-res. Other than that, it's the greatest way to waste a lot of time. Flying around the globe looking at shit...
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Arc312
Member
Username: Arc312

Post Number: 25
Registered: 01-2006
Posted From: 217.125.119.173
Posted on Thursday, May 18, 2006 - 7:58 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I´m studying abroad in Madrid, and I use google earth to see where I live and and where things like La Plaza Mayor and El Prado are. The Images for Madrid are prett cool. But because I´ve only been here for 2 weeks, I couldn´t tell you how old the images are.
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7even
Member
Username: 7even

Post Number: 9
Registered: 03-2006
Posted From: 198.109.26.19
Posted on Wednesday, May 24, 2006 - 9:47 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Heres a site that does not have new photos, but does have awesome old aerial photos. It has photos back to 1949 of the whole metro area. http://www.culma.wayne.edu/aer ial_photos/
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A_franklins_son
Member
Username: A_franklins_son

Post Number: 44
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 68.42.242.129
Posted on Wednesday, May 24, 2006 - 10:28 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The_aram, I agree. I live in A2 and it frustrates me to see the low resolution pictures of the area. Ypsilanti has higher resolution pictures, no fair! Who or what determines resolution of satellite images for any given area? I've always wondered...
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Clark1mt
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Username: Clark1mt

Post Number: 66
Registered: 06-2005
Posted From: 68.61.191.145
Posted on Thursday, May 25, 2006 - 4:27 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Some areas have aerial photos (like the Detroit area). Some of the high-res sets are actually satellite photos. The determination of coverage for aerial photos in GE is dependent on which aerial photo producers have sold rights or have been outright bought by Google. The determination of coverage for high-res satellite coverage is somewhat random from what I can tell.

As far as the date of the imagery for the Detroit area outside of downtown, it from April or May of 2003, according to multiple sources (Terraserver and USGS metadata). I don't know when the newer downtown set is from (other than the fact that it is probably from a summer weekday around noon), only that before it was added, Ford Field was still shown under construction.

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