Google maps new feature?

[homercles337]

Yesterday i noticed that it seemed like my city (Cambridge, MA) was brighter than surrounding cities in the hybrid view on Google maps. This brighter region seems to correspond to the city limits. I live and work in Cambridge so i dont know if this is going on in other places. Is this a new "feature" that im not aware of?

Edit: Pic
Cambridge

 

[thehstrybean]

No, you guys are just that bright

 

[thehstrybean]

Ugh, that's really washed out. Maybe the satellite farted or somethin...

 

[homercles337]

Originally posted by: thehstrybean
Ugh, that's really washed out. Maybe the satellite farted or somethin...

No. Look at the pic i just added.

 

[JW310]

Looks like different satellites took the pictures. If you zoom all the way in on an area that borders a bright and dark location on the image you can see that the image in the brighter area is also much sharper than the darker area.

For example, around the Harvard University campus:
Example

 

[homercles337]

Originally posted by: JW310
Looks like different satellites took the pictures. If you zoom all the way in on an area that borders a bright and dark location on the image you can see that the image in the brighter area is also much sharper than the darker area.

For example, around the Harvard University campus:
Example

So, they just happened to use different satellite images for the city limits of JUST cambridge? I have seen gradients in the different satellite images when stitched together, but this is not that.

 

[thehstrybean]

Originally posted by: homercles337

Originally posted by: thehstrybean
Ugh, that's really washed out. Maybe the satellite farted or somethin...

No. Look at the pic i just added.

Yeah, that's what I saw. Look at the baseball fields. The highlighted parts are really dull, while the rest is green...washed out...

 

[homercles337]

Originally posted by: thehstrybean

Originally posted by: homercles337

Originally posted by: thehstrybean
Ugh, that's really washed out. Maybe the satellite farted or somethin...

No. Look at the pic i just added.

Yeah, that's what I saw. Look at the baseball fields. The highlighted parts are really dull, while the rest is green...washed out...

How does a satellite "fart" the exact city limits? Satellites do not image like that.

 

[JW310]

Originally posted by: homercles337

Originally posted by: JW310
Looks like different satellites took the pictures. If you zoom all the way in on an area that borders a bright and dark location on the image you can see that the image in the brighter area is also much sharper than the darker area.

For example, around the Harvard University campus:
Example

So, they just happened to use different satellite images for the city limits of JUST cambridge? I have seen gradients in the different satellite images when stitched together, but this is not that.

Did you even bother looking at the link? You can clearly see how the brighter area is sharper and shows more detail than the darker area. Zoom in around the other areas around the Cambridge city limits and you'll see the same thing. My guess is that someone wanted to see clearer images of the Cambridge area on Google Maps and were able to convince Google to use higher resolution satellite images for that area.

Google's big enough that I'm sure they have access to higher resolution satellite images than they show on most of Google maps - they don't go into such detail for most of the satellite imagery they show because it generally isn't necessary. Odds are the brighter images around Cambridge are from a newer imaging satellite with better optics than the older images that Google is using for the areas surrounding Cambridge.

 

[homercles337]

Whoa! Just since i posted this Boston proper has also been changed. Not the city limits though. Maybe there is something to this "higher resolution" idea. Odd. But still cool. Is this happening in other cities?

 

[everman]

Looks like just higher res pics, either that or Harvard is emanating knowledge as pure light energy again.

 

[Bootprint]

Looks like it's newer higher rez data from planes instead of satellites.

 

[George P Burdell]

Originally posted by: Bootprint
Looks like it's newer higher rez data from planes instead of satellites.

Correct. Or pictures taken by different satellites. Or the same satellite, on different days.

 

[Bootprint]

Originally posted by: George P Burdell

Originally posted by: Bootprint
Looks like it's newer higher rez data from planes instead of satellites.

Correct. Or pictures taken by different satellites. Or the same satellite, on different days.

See they rolled out some new data yesterday.

"
We are pleased to announce another imagery and terrain update.

The key highlights are:
-- Entire country of Switzerland at 50cm and many Swiss cities at 25cm (thank you, Endoxon)
-- Entire country of Switzerland terrain at 10m, the Swiss Alps are now high-res!
-- Entire country of Denmark at 50cm
-- Australia day flyover
-- Cities of France: Lyon; Le Mans; Lourdes; Reims; Nancy; Limoges; Lille; Arles
-- Potsdam and Magdeburg, Germany
-- Barcelona, Belem, CapeTown, Galapagos (Isabella Island), Manaus, Mt Saint Helens, Recife, Rio, Venice)
-- Whistler British Columbia
-- Full state coverage for Wyoming & Utah
-- significant amounts of new Digital Globe data"

 

[mercanucaribe]

You people must have never looked at satellite images before. There are many different resolutions, spectrums bands, etc. They use higher resolution imagery for cities.

 

[homercles337]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
You people must have never looked at satellite images before. There are many different resolutions, spectrums bands, etc. They use higher resolution imagery for cities.

You must not have looked at this thread before you posted.

 

[George P Burdell]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
You people must have never looked at satellite images before. There are many different resolutions, spectrums bands, etc. They use higher resolution imagery for cities.

"spectrums bands" Ooooh, lot of fancy words being thrown around.

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: George P Burdell

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
You people must have never looked at satellite images before. There are many different resolutions, spectrums bands, etc. They use higher resolution imagery for cities.

"spectrums bands" Ooooh, lot of fancy words being thrown around.

Oh gnoes, a typo!!

 

[mAdD INDIAN]

Kinda off-topic, but Google Maps doesn't render for me in Firefox (even with the latest version). I've had this problem since v1.6 I think. However it works fine in IE.

All I get is a grey box where the map would be.