I’ve received an email from an uncle:
I’ve googled, but 15 million pages is a little daunting, and I’d like to be sure a site is safe from malware and such.
Any leads?
Other than wait for someone to make another aerial photography pass over the area, there’s really no such thing.
There’s no such thing as a live image (at least not available to civilians) other than perhaps from a weather satellite, and those are looking at thousands of square miles of clouds - houses are not going to be visible.
Google Earth indicates that it can be three years between updates. If your uncle wants anything sooner, he’d have to hire an aerial photography service.
They probably use the same sources, but take a look in Bing maps as well.
How high up does the picture need to be from? I’ve seen where remote controlled aircraft get fitted with simple cameras for on-the-cheap aerial photography. I think there were some articles in Popular Mechanics and the like with some details years ago. A local RC club may have someone who does this for fun/small pay.
The altitude from which a photo is shot is dependent upon the focal length of the lens being used and the area the photo needs to cover.
That’s what I thought (even though I searched anyway). I’ve emailed my uncle that he’s probably SOL.
Thanks for the answers.
I have come across done-by-govt aerial ‘surveys’ that are not found within Google’s use(s), and even though in public use, they aren’t widely advertised as ‘available’ for public use. IME, State/county tax assessors (and similar offices) use aerial surveys for their purposes and leave the surveys accessible to everyone. Maybe a call to the appropriate ‘govt agency’ in Uncle’s area might be productive? Or check with ‘geological services’ (or whatever name is used). I’m pretty sure that USGS has lots of aerial stuff if you know where to look (and what programs to use, such as MrSID in my case).
There are numerous commercial ‘aerial survey’ companies that have their stuff available for a fee. Should not be too hard to find reputable images with good search terms, IMHO.
A satellite picture will not show enough detail to even pick out his block, much less his house. What he wants (and what he sees in google or mapquest) is an aerial photo of his neighborhood. Other responses have indicated ways to get one.
When my brother (a photographer) bought his land, he hired (beer + fuel money) a friend who was a private pilot to fly over the area while he took pictures. Then he developed them, and delivered enlarged copies to all his new neighbors. It was a real good way to establish friendly relationships with his neighbors.
Johnny is he in the U.S.? The Agricultural Research Service takes aerial photographs yearly. They are accuarate enough to pick out your house, even shows stuff like cars and swimming pools, in certain areas. For instance, I can get the aerials for our area which were done last year.
Despite the improbability of it, it seems many people believe that GoogleEarth’s images all are obtained by satellites. If you can swallow that, it isn’t too much of a stretch to believe that there should be some site where you can see what those satellites are seeing.
Perhaps they believe that because Google Maps, anyway, labels their “photographic” (as opposed to Maps) button as “Satellite”, as does Yahoo!. And Bing, under their reasonably named “Aerial” button, has a choice between “Satellite” and “Birds-eye”.
This could work. Can you even still get 110 film?
Ha! I knew what that was before I clicked!
Yes, 110 is still available.
These guys were able to get a photo of the upper stratosphere for a setup that cost $150. If your uncle is determined enough he could probably cook up something similar for just an aerial photograph.