Where does Google get the Satellite Pictures for GoogleEarth maps (lemmy.world)

submitted 5 months ago by homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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Just curious how they get the satellite pictures. Do they have their own? Is there an open-source option or public availability of satellite pictures somewhere?

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[-] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 47 points 5 months ago

Google has either purchased local map data from established companies, or has entered into lease agreements to use copyrighted map data. The owner of the copyright is listed at the bottom of zoomed maps. For example, street maps in Japan are leased from Zenrin. Street maps in China are leased from AutoNavi. Russian street maps are leased from Geocentre Consulting and Tele Atlas.
They also use images from the LandSat 8 satellite.

[-] neoman4426@fedia.io 22 points 5 months ago

In addition, the high resolution ones where you can see individual houses and the like when super zoomed in are interestingly often not satellite derived, but from things like airplanes or drones. Ones with just Google (or no specific company) listed as the copyright holder will definitely fall under that as they don't have their own satellites, others might on a case by case basis.

[-] sanguinepar@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

Ones with just Google (or no specific company) listed as the copyright holder will definitely fall under that as they don't have their own satellites

Which, in a way, I find kind of surprising. Google do just about everything else, it seems like having their own satellites wouldn't be an unrealistic thing for them. Maybe it's not worth it when they can just buy imagery from established players.

[-] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 3 points 5 months ago

Great point, and definitely important.
Google has also bought various companies over the years that already have the info and or the means to get the info. A deep dive historical video essay could be really interesting on all of this.

this post was submitted on 24 May 2024

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