Google High Res Images Now Include London Olympics

Google continues to build up its collections of high-resolution images of selected cities and sights around the world, with the latest images now including Olympic venues in London.

“This week we published new high-resolution aerial and satellite imagery for 25 cities and 72 countries/regions,” wrote Bernd Steinert, a geo data specialist, on the Google Lat Long Blog 27 July. “Our updates are now available in both Google Earth and Maps.”

Olympic Images

The updates include aerial images, satellite images and a wider collection of 45-degree images, which are taken at an angle and allow details and perspectives of buildings and other features to appear more clearly in the photographs.

In the latest images of the United Kingdom, the Google Maps update includes photos taken from high above this past May of the Olympic Park and Village being used at for the London 2012 Olympic Games, Steinert described in his post. In some images, the final construction touches can be seen as they were being added to the open-air Olympic Stadium, he wrote.

Other new content includes fresh aerial images of the spectacular Bryce Canyon in Utah, as well as new high-resolution aerial imagery of sites in Antelope Wells, N.M.; Green Bay, Wis.; Huron, S.D.; Hutchinson, Kansas; Olympia, Wash.; Park Hills, Mo.; Peach Springs, Ariz.; Phoenix; Placerville, Calif.; Riverside, Calif.; Rosenfeld, Texas; and Waverly, Ohio.

An assortment of cities in Austria, Spain and Switzerland also were highlighted with collections of new high-resolution aerial imagery.

A noteworthy feature of the new photo collections are the latest 45-degree imagery that includes gorgeous images of spectacular locations in 28 cities around the world, including beloved tourist spots, according to Google. The 45-degree imagery update includes coverage for 21 US cities and seven international locations, such as Chicago where the Trump International Hotel and Tower, the second-tallest building in the United States and a prominent Chicago landmark, is portrayed; and Munich, where the Frauenkirche, a symbol of the Bavarian capital city, is displayed.

Other cities getting new high-resolution 45-degree images include Anderson, Calif.; Beech Island-New Ellenton, Ga.; Cape Girardeau, Mo.; Carthage, Mo.; Columbus-Reynoldsburg, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; Everett, Wash.; Galena, Kansas; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Joplin, Mo.; Lafayette, La.; Lancaster, Calif.; Louisville, Ky.; Lowell, Mass.-Nashua, N.H.; Pittsburgh; Pueblo,, Colo.; Redding, Calif.; Springfield, Ill.; and Yuba City, Calif.

Other countries and regions getting new high-resolution satellite updates include Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Djibouti, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Greenland, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Jamaica, Latvia, Lesotho, Libya, Lithuania, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe, according to Google.

Map Upgrades

In June, Google unveiled several upcoming features in its Google Maps offerings for road warriors.

They included 3D Google Earth, an app that shows bird’s-eye views of cities, countryside and many other locations, and an offline version of Google Maps, which allows people to download mapping information for a city they are visiting before leaving for a trip. The information can be saved to their laptop or tablet, and then opened when they get to their destination so they can find their way around even without an Internet connection.

Google Maps images have become well-known for their versatility and importance, especially at times of disasters, such as during the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March 2011. The Google images taken at that time provided amazing real-time looks at the devastation, and provided images taken before the destruction occurred.

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