# google earth Missouri

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-missouri/405947>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 29, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-missouri/405947 "2007-05-29T17:24:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-missouri/405947/1 "2007-05-29T17:24:14Z")

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Why is Missouri so odd looking on google earth. Did they use different cameras for that state only? or were pictures taken at different times for Missouri than for any other state.  
Or does it really look different from space…better for the aliens to pick it out 🙂 ?

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**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-missouri/405947/2 "2007-05-29T18:20:59Z")

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If you go to the border with Kansas, zoom in and look at the difference, you will see that MO is mostly higher resolution imagery than surrounding states. I have no idea why.

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**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-missouri/405947/3 "2007-05-29T18:48:11Z")

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I have noticed this sort of difference with a variety of regions in Google Earth. In particular, cities and other densely populated areas have higher resolution than more rural areas. I suspect this is due solely to the fact that the organizations (corporations? governments? cartographers?) tend to take more satellite photos of densely populated areas.

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**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-missouri/405947/4 "2007-05-29T20:01:59Z")

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The photos aren’t necessarily satellite photos. Many are taken at lower altitude with helicopters, airplanes, etc.

There’s a mode in GE somewhere that will show an overlay of picture information that will show what company took it when, what the cloud coverage was, etc. That might have information relating to the OP.

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**Author:** ![Yaxche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8dc957/32.png) [@Yaxche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yaxche)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-earth-missouri/405947/5 "2007-05-29T21:03:29Z")

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It’s the “show me” state, duh…