Recent update to Maps satellite view.

[tommo47]

Any body else noticed the recent improvement to the clarity of the satellite view?

I've just noticed it today and can say that it is recent because about two months ago my wife and I went to view a house which had been built in 2013 and when we looked at the satellite view it was an undeveloped plot of land whereas the house is now showing in satellite view. So just two months ago it was at least five years out of date.

 

[Unforgiven]

They are constantly updating the maps. In my area a few years ago at one point I could tell by a construction project that the imagery was only weeks old. FWIW, I find for my area Google satellite view is more up to date, while Bing street view is more recent.

 

[tommo47]

That's interesting, because the satellite view here has certainly not had any updates for at least five years.

 

[tommo47]

A Google search has given this :-

"Not all the imagery in Google Earth comes from satellites. A lot of the imagery comes from aerial photographers – mostly in airplanes with special high resolution cameras. Some of the imagery even comes from kites, balloons, and drones. Google acquires imagery from a variety of sources. Some of the imagery is given to Google by city or state governments. The age of the imagery varies greatly, but most of the high resolution imagery is between 6 months and 5 years of age. Again, because the imagery comes from a variety of sources, the process to get this imagery into Google Earth is complex and involves a great deal of time and effort."

Which I found on the Google Earth Blog

https://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2014/04/google-earth-imagery.html

So it wouldn't surprise me in the least if North Wales was towards the bottom of the update frequency list .