# Why no more aerial photos from MapQuest? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 2, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-more-aerial-photos-from-mapquest/272605 "2004-11-02T20:42:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-more-aerial-photos-from-mapquest/272605/1 "2004-11-02T20:42:52Z")
I remember a time that when you went to mapquest you had the option of getting an aerial photo of the site you mapped…Why can you no longer do this? Does anyone else remember that? ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-more-aerial-photos-from-mapquest/272605/2 "2004-11-02T21:05:24Z")
- - - The company that supplied the images was named “terraserver”-something: [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=terraserver&btnG=Google+Search](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=terraserver&btnG=Google+Search) …The reason it’s no longer on the Mapquest page is (if I am remembering right) Microsoft bought some financial stake in the Terraserver company, and so the aerial photos thing disappeared from the Mapquest site and re-appeared on the Microsoft map-search site. [http://terraserver.microsoft.com/](http://terraserver.microsoft.com/) * * * - I might be wrong though. ~ ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-more-aerial-photos-from-mapquest/272605/3 "2004-11-02T21:24:15Z")
- - - Pondering this a bit further, it seems to me like Terraserver company was affiliated with Lycos in some way, previous to the MS/Mapquest fallout. ~ ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-more-aerial-photos-from-mapquest/272605/4 "2004-11-02T22:03:27Z")
I have no idea regarding the details of the business situation, but my perception of the chronology of the photos appeared to be: MicroSoft Terraserver began providing black and white photos, most dating to around 1994, around 1998 or 1999. MapQuest began displaying color photos around 2001. MicroSoft Terraserver began updating to black and white photos, most dating to around 2000 - 2002. MapQuest color photos disappeared, Spring 2004. Based on that, it does not appear to me that MicroSoft had a direct effect on the MapQuest photos. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-more-aerial-photos-from-mapquest/272605/5 "2004-11-02T22:06:54Z")
The color Mapquest images came from a company called GlobExplorer, the black & white ones from US Geological Survey. The old images are still available at [GlobeXplorer.com](http://www.globexplorer.com/), but are watermarked unless you pay them money. My guess is that Mapquest had a limited time deal with GlobXplorer to use the maps and didn’t renew when it expired. I also wonder where the “Big Map” option on Mapquest went. Remember MyMapquest? I had a nice address book of interesting places that disappeared without warning. Oh well, at least the driving directions still work. I figure they are just barely scraping by on ad revenue and are waiting for Google or Yahoo to ride to their rescue. Terraserver started out its life as a Microsoft showcase project. It was started to show off their SQL Server database product. Nowadays, Terraserver now comes in two flavors. [Terraserver.com](http://www.terraserver.com/) and [Terraserver-usa.com](http://www.terraserver-usa.com/). USA is still all free and still appears connected to Microsoft. Non-USA is trying to make money selling aerial & satellite imagery and is seemingly not connected to Microsoft anymore. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-more-aerial-photos-from-mapquest/272605/6 "2004-11-03T21:46:09Z")
The high-res photos of selected urban areas that you can get at [http://www.terraserver-usa.com/](http://www.terraserver-usa.com/) appear to be the same ones as at [http://nationalmap.usgs.gov/index.html](http://nationalmap.usgs.gov/index.html). The latter site is harder to use, but you can download huge hi-res TIFFs of your selected area. Using [http://www.terraserver-usa.com/](http://www.terraserver-usa.com/) you might have to create a mosaic to get a larger picture. I have a beautiful color photo of Chicago’s Adler Planetarium and Shedd Aquarium as my desktop that I got from [http://nationalmap.usgs.gov/index.html](http://nationalmap.usgs.gov/index.html). I’ve also seen a great view of Seattle’s Space Needle there. ---
**Author:** ![Standup\_Karmic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@Standup\_Karmic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Standup_Karmic)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-more-aerial-photos-from-mapquest/272605/7 "2004-11-03T22:01:48Z")
Sorta off-topic, while still talking about Mapquest. Anyone know why I can’t map multiple locations on a single map anymore? I can’t even seem to be able to do this as a premium service. Explanations? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-more-aerial-photos-from-mapquest/272605/8 "2004-11-03T22:38:45Z")
Without any solid knowledge, I’d say that it’s because aerial photos are a pretty expensive feature (they have to license them from somewhere) and what’s more, they are a fairly useless feature. Granted, it’s a cool novelty to see your house from the air, but it’s not like you’re going to navigate somewhere by using a printout of an aerial photograph. ---
**Author:** ![PigBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/97f17d/32.png) [@PigBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigBoy)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-more-aerial-photos-from-mapquest/272605/9 "2004-11-03T23:00:02Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Without any solid knowledge, I’d say that it’s because aerial photos are a pretty expensive feature (they have to license them from somewhere) and what’s more, they are a fairly useless feature. Granted, it’s a cool novelty to see your house from the air, but it’s not like you’re going to navigate somewhere by using a printout of an aerial photograph. Well, that only makes them “useless” if all you’re trying to do is navigate roads. Obviously the normal Mapquest map is just fine for that, but an aerial photo is useful if you want to see something that is not a road. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-more-aerial-photos-from-mapquest/272605/10 "2004-11-04T02:15:15Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > I have no idea regarding the details of the business situation, but my perception of the chronology of the photos appeared to be: > > MicroSoft Terraserver began providing black and white photos, most dating to around 1994, around 1998 or 1999. > > MapQuest began displaying color photos around 2001. > > MicroSoft Terraserver began updating to black and white photos, most dating to around 2000 - 2002. > > MapQuest color photos disappeared, Spring 2004. > > Based on that, it does not appear to me that MicroSoft had a direct effect on the MapQuest photos. FYI, unlike a lot of technology companies, Microsoft does not use a capital “S” in the middle of its name. ---
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-more-aerial-photos-from-mapquest/272605/11 "2004-11-04T04:24:38Z")
> [@PigBoy](#): > > Well, that only makes them “useless” if all you’re trying to do is navigate roads. Obviously the normal Mapquest map is just fine for that, but an aerial photo is useful if you want to see something that is not a road. They’re also helpful for navigating on roads that aren’t city streets. We used to use them to get around on old logging roads. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-more-aerial-photos-from-mapquest/272605/12 "2004-11-04T06:54:35Z")
Ah, I am not wearing my tinfoil hat when I say this, but Homeland Security may have their fingers in some of this. In checking the Terraserver site tonight, some notable landmarks such as the White House, National Capitol, etc., only have images from around 1988. I remember going to the Terraserver site prior to 9/11 and seeing those same images date from around 1999 or later. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-more-aerial-photos-from-mapquest/272605/13 "2004-11-06T22:58:27Z")
MapQuest used to be loaded with lots of features, including aerial phots. Now it is very stripped down and basic. So, not only did aerial phots go away, but so did a lot of other stuff. So, I would think that any reason given for the removal of aerial photos would also have to explain the loss of other services. Financially strapped seems to be most plausible, although, just a WAG on my part. Peace.