Satellite imaging is one of the many things that we take for granted in this modern day and age. We use it for all kinds of things, and perhaps the most important use for such a thing in the day to day life of the average consumer has to do with maps and directions. It makes it much easier for you to figure out where you need to go with satellite imaging. This kind of imaging also helps with research as it can help people understand the topography of places that might be hard to reach, and this can have widespread scientific benefits that would not be possible if such a form of imaging did not exist in the first place.
If you think about it, the fact that satellite imaging actually happens in the first place is actually quite incredible. A big part of the reason why that is the case has to do with the fact that this is a gargantuan task that involves millions of images that need to be aligned and properly placed and all in all it’s a pretty long procedure that companies like Google somehow manage to do in such a way that they make it seem downright easy to the average person that might not know how things like this work.
This process starts by Google collecting the data from a wide variety of suppliers. Government agencies and organizations, companies that conduct geological surveys as well a wide variety of other entities all provide this data. Google also takes care to collect images of a place in all kinds of lighting at different times of the day so that an accurate image can be established.
Teams at Google use a process known as photogrammetry to try and stitch the images together and turn them into a map that anyone can end up using. This has actually created a pretty huge industry around aerial surveying and the like. This kind of data can prove to be very valuable, and Google is more than happy to pay up for it since it facilitates what is arguably the most popular and useful feature that they currently have outside of the actual search engine.
If you think about it, the fact that satellite imaging actually happens in the first place is actually quite incredible. A big part of the reason why that is the case has to do with the fact that this is a gargantuan task that involves millions of images that need to be aligned and properly placed and all in all it’s a pretty long procedure that companies like Google somehow manage to do in such a way that they make it seem downright easy to the average person that might not know how things like this work.
This process starts by Google collecting the data from a wide variety of suppliers. Government agencies and organizations, companies that conduct geological surveys as well a wide variety of other entities all provide this data. Google also takes care to collect images of a place in all kinds of lighting at different times of the day so that an accurate image can be established.
Teams at Google use a process known as photogrammetry to try and stitch the images together and turn them into a map that anyone can end up using. This has actually created a pretty huge industry around aerial surveying and the like. This kind of data can prove to be very valuable, and Google is more than happy to pay up for it since it facilitates what is arguably the most popular and useful feature that they currently have outside of the actual search engine.
