Why are Google Maps aerials of such poor quality?

Question

Google seems to get all of the acclaim over their maps, but in reality their aerials are very poor for much of the United States. For example, not a square mile of Ottawa County, Michigan, despite being the 243rd largest county out of 3,141 US counties, can be viewed in high res.

Lubbers Stadium, Allendale, Michigan, Google Maps:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=42.968859,-85.894632&spn=0.02933,0.058365&t=k&z=14&om=1 

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/4842/lubbersgoogleet2.png

That is as good as it gets for Ottawa County, Michigan!

Same view, on Yahoo Maps:

http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#mvt=s&q1=allendale+mi&trf=0&lon=-85.894713&lat=42.968871&mag=1 

http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/1264/lubbersyahoogd5.png

Same view, on Microsoft Virtual Earth:

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=42.968953~-85.894761&style=a&lvl=17&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&encType=1 

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/3182/lubbersmicrosoftrz5.p

♥ Carmen ♥ · Accepted Answer

Google is cheap and lazy, I think. Daniel K above says it has something to do with number of addresses per square mile, but Ottawa County has a population density of 455 per square mile, more than 5.5 times greater than the United States as a whole (80 per square mile). 

Also, I was checking out Ottawa County at Microsoft Virtual Earth and it also has some interesting physical features, as it borders Lake Michigan.

Grand Haven, Michigan:

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=43.056307~-86.248174&style=a&lvl=17&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&encType=1

Holland, Michigan:

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=42.772739~-86.212608&style=a&lvl=17&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&encType=1

Google Maps, LOL!:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=grand+haven+michigan&ie=UTF8&ll=43.048632,-86.238642&spn=0.031675,0.080338&t=k&z=14&om=1

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=holland+michigan&ie=UTF8&ll=42.772345,-86.200361&spn=0.031817,0.080338&t=k&z=14&om=1

Jeffrey F · Answer

Most arial imaging that is made public are of a lesser quality and lower definition (definition being how close the the ground you will be able to see) than what the goverment sees.

The images from the sattelites are many 100"s of MB in size.  The ones we get to see are a few 100K in size.

Also, The images that are taken, you can read a license plat on a car and rumor has it the print on a newspaper.  For security purposes and as another answerer mentioned, bandwidth concerns.....the images are low quality and generally don't show anything below 1000 feet relative altitude......(what it would look like if you hovered at 1000 feet )

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Daniel K · Answer

Most of these aerials are kept at a low resolution to keep the bandwidth of each user to a minimum. Also, some area only have low-res. images because the map-viewer identifies the area to have low amount of addresses per square-mile.

Anonymous · Answer

That's an interesting question!

hmm? · Answer

lol because they were uptaded like a million years ago lol =]

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Why are Google Maps aerials of such poor quality?

6 Answers