Google Maps lets users explore NASA’s ‘Black Marble’


By: Kevin Green  |   December 14th, 2012   |   Business, Google, News

Google Maps is always trying to give users a new way of looking at our planet and the places that exist around the world. The latest effort form the Google Maps team is NASA’s “Black Marble” and users can now explore the images from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that shows the earth in the dark. Google’s “Earth at Night” website was launched on December 10 and takes all the images from NASA and NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite and places them on a global map. The images are a great view of how the Earth looks like to observers from outer space at night.

 

Google talked about the project and said that, “It took 312 orbits to get a clear shot of every parcel of Earth’s land surface and islands. This new data was then mapped over existing Blue Marble imagery of Earth to provide a realistic view of the planet.”

 

The images were released by NASA and NOAA just last week and are probably the most clear images presented to the public so far. The Suomi NPP satellite used an incredible Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite sensor that took 2.5 terabytes of pictures in its 312 orbits. The images were all taken without any clouds and were then compiled by arranging them on top of the “Blue Marble” imagery.

 

The interactive maps is a great way to explore and look at the lights on Earth which show population centers around the world.

Source: CNET

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