SciTech and Robotics -
science and technology
It looks like Google's new eye in the sky satellite is alive and doing well. Well, technically the satellite is owned by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and Google is only the second largest fund source, but you know who gets the most publicity in the matter.
The GeoEye-1, which took its first picture last week (above, the Kutztown University campus in Pennsylvania), has the capability to snap pictures down to 41cm. This is about the equivalent of zooming in on the home plate of a baseball diamond. Due to governmental restrictions, Google will get their pictures only down to 50cm resolution, and the NGA will get the highest detailed photos.
The images, even at 50 cm, marks a greatly improved terrestrial image source for Google Earth, and it paves the way for new services that could redefine the way we look at online mapping. At the moment GeoEye-1 is officially undergoing some fine tuning to assure maximum resolution, which is probably code for "High priority targets first".
via