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Zoom Earth: Website lets you look at live satellite photos of earths surface

zoom.earth

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Re: Zoom Earth: Website lets you look at live satellite photos of earths surface

#3

Post by neave »

Some details: It combines near real-time images from multiple geostationary satellites, updated every 10 minutes (with a delay of ~30 minutes). NASA GOES satellite for the Americas, Japan's Himawari-8 for Asia and Meteosat in Europe/Africa. Zoomable up to 500m per pixel. Beyond that it uses historical imagery from Microsoft and Esri.

It also tracks the latest storms and hurricanes https://zoom.earth/storms/

Re: Zoom Earth: Website lets you look at live satellite photos of earths surface

#4

Post by supernova87a »

I wouldn't call it the "live" you would expect (although depends on what you were expecting -- I wasn't honestly expecting a live view of "anywhere on Earth", but at least some level of detail). As soon as you zoom in to any level of It's more like a "live" view if you were to look at the entire Earth at once from the Apollo capsule...

Re: Zoom Earth: Website lets you look at live satellite photos of earths surface

#6

Post by qeternity »

supernova87a wrote: post #4

I wouldn't call it the "live" you would expect (although depends on what you were expecting -- I wasn't honestly expecting a live view of "anywhere on Earth", but at least some level of detail). As soon as you zoom in to any level of It's more like a "live" view if you were to look at the entire Earth at once from the Apollo capsule...

Well the only way to get “live” imagery at any level of perceptible detail is to be a three letter agency. Even the highest levels of private sector aren’t tasking satellites with that level of latency.

Re: Zoom Earth: Website lets you look at live satellite photos of earths surface

#7

Post by supernova87a »

qeternity wrote: post #6
supernova87a wrote: post #4

I wouldn't call it the "live" you would expect (although depends on what you were expecting -- I wasn't honestly expecting a live view of "anywhere on Earth", but at least some level of detail). As soon as you zoom in to any level of It's more like a "live" view if you were to look at the entire Earth at once from the Apollo capsule...

Well the only way to get “live” imagery at any level of perceptible detail is to be a three letter agency. Even the highest levels of private sector aren’t tasking satellites with that level of latency.

Sure, that's fair. But what / who then are they trying to sell the idea of with the phrase "live"? Is any average person really interested in a "live" view of the whole Earth, such that it would be meaningfully different or changed compared to the static blue marble photo we're all familiar with? I think we all know what we're interested in when we think of "live"... things at the <<1km level.

Re: Zoom Earth: Website lets you look at live satellite photos of earths surface

#8

Post by qeternity »

supernova87a wrote: post #7
qeternity wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well the only way to get “live” imagery at any level of perceptible detail is to be a three letter agency. Even the highest levels of private sector aren’t tasking satellites with that level of latency.

Sure, that's fair. But what / who then are they trying to sell the idea of with the phrase "live"? Is any average person really interested in a "live" view of the whole Earth, such that it would be meaningfully different or changed compared to the static blue marble photo we're all familiar with? I think we all know what we're interested in when we think of "live"... things at the <<1km level.

Large weather patterns are the first thing that jump out to me. But perhaps the knowledge that the blue marble you’re looking at is mere minutes old builds a stronger connection and appreciation for it.

Either way I think it’s cool, even if it lacks the Jason Bourne resolution.

Re: Zoom Earth: Website lets you look at live satellite photos of earths surface

#9

Post by neave »

supernova87a wrote: post #7
qeternity wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well the only way to get “live” imagery at any level of perceptible detail is to be a three letter agency. Even the highest levels of private sector aren’t tasking satellites with that level of latency.

Sure, that's fair. But what / who then are they trying to sell the idea of with the phrase "live"? Is any average person really interested in a "live" view of the whole Earth, such that it would be meaningfully different or changed compared to the static blue marble photo we're all familiar with? I think we all know what we're interested in when we think of "live"... things at the <<1km level.

I'm the developer of Zoom Earth. "Live" is shorthand for "near real-time". But, you're right. Most visitors simply want to see their house from space. Which is understandable, but also kinda depressing. They could look at _anywhere in the world in near realtime_, but they wanna see what their roof or garden looks like.

Meteorologists love it though.

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