Neo_Geo Posted August 21, 2004 Share Posted August 21, 2004 (edited) CLICK HERE to view a hi-res aerial of my neighborhood. It was taken on April 7, 2002 (when the crabapple trees were in full bloom). One thing about this TerraServer: I changed my position data preference in MapSource from hddd°mm.mmm' to hddd°mm'ss" for TerraServer's input, and tried my home coordinates. It comes up somewhere about 5 to 10 miles south!! I ended up searching for my neighborhood by address. Could someone with known urban coordinates GIVE IT A TRY and let me know what you find... Amazing photos, but if TerraServer's coordinates are off that much, well.. I dunno Edited August 21, 2004 by Neo_Geo Quote Link to comment
peter Posted August 21, 2004 Share Posted August 21, 2004 Recent versions of USAPhotoMaps (jdmcox.com) also support the high-res color aerial photos from the Terraserver. There have already been lots of reported problems with the position accuracy, especially for the maps in the Houston area. Places I checked in the Wash. DC area seemed better so I'd be interested to hear how your location looks on USAPhotoMaps. Hope the Terraserver folks resolve the issue and get this quality of photo for more areas of the country. Quote Link to comment
+wickedsprint Posted August 21, 2004 Share Posted August 21, 2004 Holy crap..I found a pic of my truck!!!! I know for a fact it is my truck because of the date..that is the day I was getting commisisoned in the USAF so my truck was parked int he same spot it always is. Black ford. It is over two spots between the two pics, but you get the point. NO other trucks ever parked int hat row..let alone black..on that day..so I know it is mine. Quote Link to comment
MacBandit Posted August 21, 2004 Share Posted August 21, 2004 Wish they had those high rez color aerials where I live. I just checked and it's still B/W and has an area of about 9 city blocks for maximum zoom. Quote Link to comment
+EraSeek Posted August 21, 2004 Share Posted August 21, 2004 Yes I used Decimal degrees and it was somewhere I don't even know. Address got me in the right spot. Quote Link to comment
+leatherman Posted August 21, 2004 Share Posted August 21, 2004 Bummer. Mine is from Aug 4 1990. BW and very low res compaired to the color ones. Quote Link to comment
+as77 Posted August 21, 2004 Share Posted August 21, 2004 In USAPhotoMaps the coordinates are dead on for me. I can even tell if the coordinates of a cache are off a bit. Quote Link to comment
+leatherman Posted August 21, 2004 Share Posted August 21, 2004 I found my work in color. June 11 2002. It must be around count time. There are no inmates in the yard areas. Quote Link to comment
Neo_Geo Posted August 21, 2004 Author Share Posted August 21, 2004 Recent versions of USAPhotoMaps (jdmcox.com) also support the high-res color aerial photos from the Terraserver. There have already been lots of reported problems with the position accuracy, especially for the maps in the Houston area. Places I checked in the Wash. DC area seemed better so I'd be interested to hear how your location looks on USAPhotoMaps. Hope the Terraserver folks resolve the issue and get this quality of photo for more areas of the country. USA PhotoMaps Seems to be MUCH, much better! My 'hood is just outside of DC (5 miles SW of the Pentagon). I always wanted to check out PhotoMaps, but never bothered 'til now. Glad to know others are having the same problems with the TerraServer and that it's not just me! Thanks a bunch all. Quote Link to comment
Neo_Geo Posted August 21, 2004 Author Share Posted August 21, 2004 (edited) I found my work in color. June 11 2002. It must be around count time. There are no inmates in the yard areas. Judging by the trees' shadows, I'd say around 3:00 to 4:00 P.M.? Edited August 21, 2004 by Neo_Geo Quote Link to comment
+Ed & Julie Posted August 21, 2004 Share Posted August 21, 2004 I looked up several addresses in my area and they are 'off' a bit (about a quarter of a block or so. I have the cruddy b/w pics around here. too... Ed Quote Link to comment
+leatherman Posted August 22, 2004 Share Posted August 22, 2004 Judging by the trees' shadows, I'd say around 3:00 to 4:00 P.M.? Good guess. The inmates are cleared out of yard and common areas at 3:30, and locked down at 4:00 for count. Quote Link to comment
dampeoples Posted August 22, 2004 Share Posted August 22, 2004 Judging by the trees' shadows, I'd say around 3:00 to 4:00 P.M.? Good guess. The inmates are cleared out of yard and common areas at 3:30, and locked down at 4:00 for count. I used to work at a prison in TN, and count time was my favorite, especially the peace and quiet waiting on it to clear Quote Link to comment
+blindleader Posted August 22, 2004 Share Posted August 22, 2004 25cm per pixel in color is just Too Cool. I plugged in the coordinates I took for my front walk and the push pin shows exactly where I was standing. The photo also shows my car parked in its accustomed place in the back. I didn't know USAPhotomaps was supporting other formats. I'll have to check it out and upgrade. A couple things to remember about the free terraserver downloads. They're free. Obvious, I suppose, but it means that any problems with accuracy, usability blatant errors or anything else is of little concern to the providers. I other words, you get what you pay for. A real blatant example is the big chunks of the Olympia, WA area that are just noise, or photos of some different place. All the GIS data collected to create services like the address to satellite photo conversion have come from a wide variety of sources, with varying levels of care, effort and even competence. For instance most addresses I've looked up in areas having grid layout for the streets, individual house numbers are just interpolated between the intersections, so If you live at 2714 and the house is in the middle of the block, the pushpin will probably show up real close to the lower end of the block instead of in the middle, while 2750 (even if no such address exists) will mark the middle of the block. Quote Link to comment
Major Catastrophe Posted August 22, 2004 Share Posted August 22, 2004 I found my work in color. June 11 2002. It must be around count time. There are no inmates in the yard areas. Wow, that's a big joint! How many miscreants call it home? Quote Link to comment
+leatherman Posted August 22, 2004 Share Posted August 22, 2004 I found my work in color. June 11 2002. It must be around count time. There are no inmates in the yard areas. Wow, that's a big joint! How many miscreants call it home? The Monroe Correctional Complex (MCC) is comprised of four separate Units, with a total population of 2,044 male inmates. Custody levels range from close to minimum. Quote Link to comment
Neo_Geo Posted August 22, 2004 Author Share Posted August 22, 2004 (edited) Just killin' time surfin' - thought I'd see what I could find on MCC. I found THE WEB SITE. It just happens to have a similar aerial photo, but pretty low quality. You should show them YOUR photo! It's MUCH better. I wonder how many inmates' loved ones have used the photo to plan escapes... With the new Hi-Res photo, they can plan better. Edited August 22, 2004 by Neo_Geo Quote Link to comment
+leatherman Posted August 22, 2004 Share Posted August 22, 2004 Just killin' time surfin' - thought I'd see what I could find on MCC. I found THE WEB SITE. It just happens to have a similar aerial photo, but pretty low quality. You should show them YOUR photo! It's MUCH better. I wonder how many inmates' loved ones have used the photo to plan escapes... With the new Hi-Res photo, they can plan better. WoW. That's an old photo. It doesn't even have MSU, the fourth prison, in it. The new buildings for the Special Offender Unit aren't there either. Quote Link to comment
JDMC Posted August 22, 2004 Share Posted August 22, 2004 The TerraServer Urban Area lat/lon coordinates are a little off in Texas (Houston and Dallas). USAPhotoMaps can't correct for their error, but maybe they'll fix it someday. Meanwhile, use the aerial photo lat/lon coordinates in Texas. Quote Link to comment
+Marky Posted August 22, 2004 Share Posted August 22, 2004 I wasn't aware of that option, since it isn't available in the SF Bay Area where I do most of my terraservering. I added the option to my terraserver viewer page so that it's available for those lucky enough to have their area in hi-res. --Marky Quote Link to comment
+NightPilot Posted August 22, 2004 Share Posted August 22, 2004 The Houston TX registration is off, but it's consistent. Just subtract .08 minutes from the latitude, and add .03 minutes to the longitude, and give that to either USAPhotoMaps or Terraserver, and you'll get the correct location. Giving the actual coordinates results in a location about 530 feet north northeast of the actual location. It should be easy enough for Terraserver to fix, but it doesn't seem to be happening. Quote Link to comment
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