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3-D Map-Making TanDEM-X Satellite Returns First Images, Showing Fine Detail of Earth’s Surface

admin — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:30:14 +0000

The super-accurate Earth-mapping satellite TanDEM-X has beamed back its first images, and they're detailed enough to show waves breaking in the Indian Ocean. The German satellite is in excellent health and ready to team up with the TerraSAR-X satellit...

Gallery: Mapmaker Satellite TanDEM-X’s First Images

admin — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:46:20 +0000

TanDEM-X will help create the most accurate 3D maps yet

Tandem Pair of German Orbital Imaging Satellites Will Create Sharpest-Ever 3-D Map of Earth

admin — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:34:54 +0000

A Dnepr rocket lifting off from Kazakhstan has successfully launched the second half of the world's most precise 3-D mapping mission of the globe into orbit today, setting in motion a tandem effort that will see two orbiting spacecraft fly in tight fo...

Video: Swoop Through the Real New York as Google Earth Meets Google Street View

admin — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:16:19 +0000

Google Earth has long allowed users to zoom in on textured, three-dimensional representations of cities, but the view was more or less limited to one angle: straight down. But the search giant has now mashed up its wealth of high-res Street View data with some existing city textures, making it possible to zoom right down to street level and take in a pedestrian's view in 3-D.

What was once a kind of grainy, pixelated experience -- at least if you zoomed in really tight -- is now much more like the real deal. Building facades and architectural nuances are in focus, storefronts are legible, and landmarks can be explored in a far more realistic fashion than before. You could even argue that the ability to fly through cities, experiencing them from both ground level and from their upper stories and beyond, beats pounding the pavement yourself.

Currently, the 3-D experience is limited to a smattering of international cities -- New York, Cape Town, London, etc. -- but more 3-D-enabled locales are surely on the way, as Google's mission is, after all, to catalog everything in the world. You can take a spin around NYC below.

[PC Authority]