Transcript Google Earth - UCLA Department of Information Studies

Google Earth/Maps and
Competitors
By
Vivian Velasquez
DIS 19 Fall 2007
Image Resolution and
Accuracies: Google Earth
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At least 15 meters per pixel
Up to 15 cm (6 in.) in Las Vegas and
Cambridge.
Some incomplete updates: New Orleans
Some land presented at sea level; Salton City
(-200 ft), California and Death Valley
(-286ft)-though it is not, obviously.
Arctic polar ice caps completely absent from
Google Earth
False Color
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An image depicted in colors that are different from “faithful fullcolored” photograph; “colors [that] represent measured intensities
outside the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum”
(Wikipedia)
True Color
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“image of a subject is an image that appears to the human eye just
like the original subject would: a green tree appears green in the
image…” (Wikipedia).
Competing Services
AOL Mapquest: Aerial Image
Ask, map directions: Aerial
Windows Live Local: hybrid, zoomed
Windows Live Local: Bird’s Eye
Windows Live Local: Bird’s eye
Windows Live Local: Bird’s eye
Yahoo Maps: Satellite
Rand McNally: Street map
Google Maps: Hybrid
Google Earth, zoomed
Google Earth: zoomed
GlobeXplorer
Copyright
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“Currently, every image created from Google Earth using satellite
data provided by Google Earth is a copyrighted map. Any derivative
from Google Earth is made from copyrighted data which, under
United States Copyright Law, may not be used except under the
licenses Google provides. Google allows non-commercial
personal use of the images (e.g. on a personal website or blog) as
long as copyrights and attributions are preserved.[29] By contrast,
images created with NASA's globe software World Wind using Blue
Marble, Landsat or USGS layer, each of which is a terrain layer in
the public domain. Works created by an agency of the United
States government are public domain at the moment of creation.
This means that those images can be freely modified, re-distributed
and used for commercial purposes” (Wikipedia).
Purpose of Google Earth?
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Educational purposes: K-8 classrooms?
http://www.google.com/educators/gaw.html
“Geography Awareness Quiz”
Entertainment
Practicality: know where things are in the
globe
Suggestions?….
The Privacy Question?
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How many of you would be bothered by the fact that
anyone using “G” Earth can possibly zoom in on you or
your car’s license plate?
Does it matter?
Good for law enforcement?: FBI, CIA, local police…
Is this Big Brother? Do we have reason to complain?
Threat to National Security: “In October 2007, The Guardian
reported that Arab terrorists are using Google Earth to plan their
Qassam rocket attacks on Israel” (Wikipedia).
Google Blurrs Image…
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Royal Stables in The Hague, Netherlands