Where do I find Mapquest's aerial photos

April 6, 2004 1:33 PM

Whatever happened to MapQuest's aerial (satellite?) photos? Is there a site where I can find ones like them?

I'm talking about the images which were aligned with the maps so that you could switch from one to the other. I'd like to see images of some particular neighborhoods at a resolution where large streets are clearly visible. On the old mapquest image, I could pick out my apartment building.

posted by callmejay to computers & internet (12 comments total)

Terraserver?
posted by mkelley at 1:39 PM on April 6, 2004

Terraserver @ Microsoft (http://terraserver.microsoft.com/default.aspx lets you put an address in and get the sat or topo map of the address.

Back in the day, it was tied into Expedia's maps, but not anymore.
posted by birdherder at 1:43 PM on April 6, 2004

I didn't even realize those were gone, but they may have vanished in the redesign a while back which also took away the "big map" button. I haven't used MapQuest since.
Sorry I can't answer part II.
posted by Tubes at 1:45 PM on April 6, 2004

Terraserver only has my area in pretty weak-res black and white -- I was able to get incredible shots through MapQuest, and I'm sure they must be available still somewhere (I'll be monitoring this thread just as eagerly as you, callmejay).

But: KeyHole (formerly EarthViewer), though it costs, was just about the funnest thing ever when I downloaded a free trial of it about a year ago. Fully 3D topographic globe mapped with super-high-res satellite photography (with toggleable roadmap and political boundary overlays).

Tons of fun spent programming little tours through the Rockies or wowing my family with flyovers directly to their home.
posted by rafter at 1:51 PM on April 6, 2004

Also, GlobeXplorer gets frighteningly close in color, but with an annoying-as-hell watermark. Maybe all these pay services bullied the freebies out of the business?
posted by rafter at 1:59 PM on April 6, 2004

Terraserver looks great except for the B&W, thanks. As for Globe, man that is one annoying watermark.
posted by callmejay at 2:17 PM on April 6, 2004

yeah, why did they take away "Big Map"? i really miss that.
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 2:18 PM on April 6, 2004

I prefer to use the ACME Mapper interface to Terraserver, myself.
posted by thebabelfish at 2:43 PM on April 6, 2004

If you are looking for a specific place, it won't hurt to check your USGS. Do a google for "statenameyouwant raster DOQ" and see if anything comes up. I know (where I've looked) NJ, NY, PA, MA all have very good res (1m or .5m / pixel) DOQ (digital orthophoto quadrangle) maps available for free online somewhere. It takes a bit of hunting and pecking but you'll get there. Ignore the companies that try to sell this (free to the public!!) data. The problem you'll have is finding which DOQ you're interested in since they won't be nicely tied to street addresses, but I had some fun with this and came out learning a bit about cartography. Real uncompressed DOQs can be about 20MB or so each and cover a few smallish towns apiece.
posted by neustile at 2:43 PM on April 6, 2004

There's something very American about that Terraserver site: they show you a map of the world to pick your area from, but 192 countries are grayed out.
posted by timeistight at 2:44 PM on April 6, 2004

A related question: what happened to MapQuest's "Add A Location" feature? It was a little thing, but really useful. Now it only gives you the choice to "Get Directions to...". (Alternately, does anybody know of a site that has a similar "Multiple Locations, One Map" feature?)
posted by Eldritch at 3:37 PM on April 6, 2004

You can also look at the NGA's geoengine (formerly NIMA). The interface isn't very intuitive and the pictures are kind of old but it's can be fun.
posted by golo at 6:00 AM on April 8, 2004