All people know about the beauty of planet Earth, but previously only astronauts had a chance to verify this. Now every computer user with Internet access has this opportunity. The satellite view is broadcast in real time on many sites that are easy to find via Google, viewing is absolutely free.
Where to watch the satellite view in real time
For those looking for options on how to view the Earth from a satellite in real time, there are several options. The first of them offers a video broadcast from the ISS (International Space Station), on which one of the teams mounted a camera aimed towards the planet. You won’t be able to see the entire globe from the station online (the image only captures a part), but you are guaranteed fantastic sunsets and sunrises. In the second option, you can study a specific area using images from space in several formats (cartographic, satellite).
Earth from space online in real time
Planet Earth from the satellite is transmitted live with a delay of one or two minutes around the clock. If you don't see anything when you go to the site, it means surveillance footage is being taken from dark side planets (where on at the moment night has fallen). Those looking for a way to watch Earth from a satellite in real time should visit ustream.tv/channel/live-iss-stream. This is the official broadcast from NASA in live, which can be found on many other resources, but this service is the primary source.
There you can also find the station’s flight schedule and find out at what moment it flies over Russia. Sometimes, together with the ISS employees, a program is drawn up, according to which they go on video communication. They communicate, show and tell about interesting facts in space. Satellite Earth in real time and communication with staff occurs online every day.
Real-time satellite maps
A view of the Earth from space does not have to be in video format. Satellites flying in orbit every day are capable of making huge amount photos, which are then used to compile maps of the area. The pictures are so detailed that each person can find not only their city, but also their specific home. Several companies collect satellite data about the Earth and then offer their data.
An example is the website meteosputnik.ru. This project uploads photos from low-orbit metrological geostationary stations on the planet. The service accepts images taken in real time. They are posted immediately after the end of data transfer. The site offers two formats of Earth photos for viewing: HRPT and ART. They differ in resolution and range of images taken.
Google planet earth online
One of the most popular plugins for viewing images of the Earth is the Google Earth plugin. It is installed on a computer and provides the opportunity to view and even “visit” the most remote corners of the planet. The service offers, if desired, to go on a virtual “flight” around the globe. You can use standard GPS coordinates for moving; in addition to the plugin, images of other planets that were taken at the stations are provided.
Yandex maps
The direct competitor of the American giant is the Russian company Yandex, which does not offer real-time satellite viewing, but provides maps of no less quality. To view the pictures, you need to go to home page service and click on the “Maps” tab. All available points on the globe will open before you, which you can zoom in and examine in detail.
Recently, an amazing “panoramic view” function has appeared, which literally takes you to the streets of the selected city. The display switching button is located on the left (lower corner of the “Maps” section). You simply click on the desired display location and a 3D tour will open in front of you (available only along the main streets of the locality). You can rotate the picture 360 degrees, move forward and backward.
Live video from satellite
Google Maps is a leader among modern mapping services providing satellite interactive maps online. At least a leader in the field satellite images and by the number of various additional services and tools (Google Earth, Google Mars, various weather and transport services, one of the most powerful APIs).
In the field of schematic maps, at some point, this leadership “was lost” in favor of Open Street Maps - a unique mapping service in the spirit of Wikipedia, where every volunteer can contribute data to the site.
However, despite this, the popularity of Google Maps remains perhaps one of the highest of all other mapping services. Part of the reason is that Google Maps is where we can find the most detailed satellite photos for the largest regions of any country. Even in Russia such a large and successful company How Yandex cannot surpass the quality and coverage of satellite photographs, at least in its own country.
With Google Maps, anyone can view satellite photos of the Earth for free almost anywhere in the world.
Image quality
The highest resolution images are usually available for the largest cities in the world in America, Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Asia, Oceania. Currently, high-quality images are available for cities with a population of more than 1 million inhabitants. For less major cities and other populated areas, satellite images are available only in limited resolution.
Possibilities
Google Maps or “Google Maps” was a real discovery for Internet users and indeed all PC users, giving an unheard of and previously unseen opportunity to look at their home, their village, cottage, lake or river where they vacationed in the summer - from a satellite. To see it from above, from a perspective from which it would be impossible to see it under any other circumstances. The discovery, the very idea of giving people easy access to satellite photos, fits harmoniously into Google's overall vision of “easily providing everyone with access to any information on the planet.”
Google Maps allows you to see from a satellite simultaneously those things and objects that cannot be observed at the same time when observed from the ground. Satellite maps are different from regular topics what's on simple maps colors and natural forms of natural objects are distorted by editorial processing for further publication. However, satellite photographs preserve all the naturalness of nature and the objects being photographed, natural colors, shapes of lakes, rivers, fields and forests.
Looking at the map, one can only guess what is there: a forest, a field or a swamp, while on satellite photography it is immediately clear: objects, usually round or oval in shape, with a unique swamp color, are swamps. The light green spots or areas in the photograph are fields, and the dark green ones are forests. With enough experience in orientation in Google Maps, you can even distinguish whether it is a coniferous forest or a mixed one: coniferous has more brown tint. Also on the map you can distinguish specific broken lines piercing the forests and fields of the vast Russian expanses - this is railways. Only by looking from a satellite can one understand that railways have a much greater influence on the environment around them than roads. natural landscape. Also in Google Maps, it is possible to overlay maps with the names of regions, roads, settlements on a national scale and the names of streets, house numbers, metro stations on a city scale on a satellite image of an area or city.
Map mode and satellite view mode
In addition to satellite images, it is possible to switch to the “map” mode, in which it is possible to view any territory on the surface of the Earth and study in detail the layout and location of houses of any more or less large city. In the "map" mode it is especially convenient to plan your movements around the city if you have already seen enough satellite views of your city.
The search function by house number will easily point you to the right house giving the opportunity to “look around” the area around this house and how you can drive/approach it. To search for the required object, just type in Russian in the search bar a query like: “City, street, house number” and the site will display to you the location of the object you are looking for with a special marker.
How to use Google Maps
To begin, open some place.
To move around the map, left-click on the map and drag it in any order. To return to the original position, press the centering button located between the four direction buttons.
To enlarge the map, click on the button "+" or roll the mouse roller when the cursor is over the map. You can also enlarge the map double click mouse in the location you are interested in.
To switch between satellite, mixed (hybrid) and map views, use the corresponding buttons in the upper right corner of the map: Map / Satellite / Hybrid.
World map from satellite
A very interesting sight is a map of the world observed from a satellite. Her appearance is completely different from what we usually see when looking at geographical map. A satellite map is more like a photograph because it has no boundary markers.
Google maps
It does not resemble the maps we are used to - neither physical nor geographical. But if you wish, you can bring the image of a world map from a satellite into a form that is familiar to us. This work was performed by the Google service, thereby making more convenient to use satellite maps. Moreover, he made the image interactive, allowing users to work with it online by displaying it on the monitor.
Working with such a map is easy; using the map control panel you can change the scale, zooming in or out of the image. High resolution Google Maps makes it possible to plot the best options for transport routes, find hotels, restaurants, cinemas, and so on.
The resource displays traffic jams in big cities, as well as, if necessary, the terrain. With Google you can access a unique view of individual streets. To do this, just press the button depicting a little man at the bottom right. And if you click on the show photos button, you will see available photos the place you are looking for.
Google world map from satellite online:
(You can zoom in and out of the map using the + and - signs)
Yandex maps
Yandex is not far behind Google, providing users with its own version of maps, which can also be worked with online. Unlike Google, Yandex maps have a much higher level of detail on Russian territory.
Since the maps of such services are satellite photographs, they may sometimes not be up-to-date. To avoid serious mistakes, Yandex, for example, in 2018 updates its maps every 2 weeks.
On the Yandex Maps service, you can use several ways to work with a document:
- move cards;
- increase their size;
- measure distances on it;
- pave the way;
- find a country, city, street, house;
- see the state of traffic on city streets, both current (traffic jams) and future prospects.
The user has three options for displaying maps, they are named:
- schematic layer;
- satellite layer;
- hybrid (this is satellite, supplemented with inscriptions).
You can use any of the services, not forgetting that information on Russia is better displayed by Yandex due to the higher frequency of updates. And on a global scale, it is better to use Google maps, made in high resolution.
But you can look at such a map from a satellite on the Yandex Maps service.
World map from satellite from Yandex maps online:
(Use + and – to change the map scale)
Created using Yandex.Maps tools
Now, any point in the world can be seen from a satellite and perhaps soon we will be able to observe the earth in real time, around the clock. Given the pace of development of mapping services, this should happen in the near future.
Navigation charts can be needed in a variety of situations. Either you are lost in the forest, or you are looking for the necessary street in the city. A service that can help you deal with this is Google Maps. It consists of a couple of applications. Namely: from the Google Maps website and Google Transit (routing program). Thanks to the fact that Google transmits data directly from the satellite, using these maps you can find out detailed diagram routes, house numbers, street names, and how you can walk or ride (by car, bus, bicycle) to your destination.
This service is a large reference book covering many areas of life: from traveling to planning a walk or going on vacation.
Appearance
The map can be displayed for users in two versions:- traditionally (topographic map, analogue of Mercator);
- satellite images (not online, but taken some time ago).
A sister project to Google Maps, Google Planet (corresponds to a globe), complements the service of images of the Earth's poles.
Peculiarities
Not all countries disclose information about the location of their facilities. Therefore, places on the map where there are classified areas shaded. These include, for example, White House, Capitol.Different areas of land have different resolutions on the map. The lower the population density of an area, the less details are known about it. Some places on the map are hidden under clouds. Although not all objects were taken from the satellite. The images of some of them were obtained thanks to aerial photography from a height of 300 meters or more. In such places, the detail of the terrain reaches high values.
Service interface
Google Maps is very easy to use. This app was made for people and that's how it works. On the left side there is a button for switching the appearance of cards ( topographical or satellite view). And on the right side of the screen the user can find zoom buttons ( increase and decrease).The system allows its users to enter the address or name of an object and obtain information about its location, address, coordinates, appearance. For some areas, a “what’s there” recognition service is available, and Google Maps will show which object (gas station, museum, store, theater) is located there.
Google online maps javascript service is widely used. New areas of the map appear on the page as the user moves it around the screen. If the address of a specific object has been entered, the page is reloaded and the location of the desired place is displayed on the map with a dynamic red marker icon.
So that the map can be hosted by owners of other sites, Google announced free service: API Maps(Application Programming Interface) in 2005. This map can be added to any area of the site. There are currently more than 350 thousand of them around the world.
About Google Maps
As of 2011, Google announced that it provides its mapping service to more than 150 million customers. This makes the service one of the largest and most ambitious Internet navigation services.Interactive Google Maps is a free service, courtesy of Google Corporation, which does not contain advertising, but only provides high-quality and verified information about the location and purpose of objects around the world.
The frame shows the islands that make up Venice and the Venetian Lagoon that surrounds them. The image was taken on June 22, 2008 from the commercial satellite Ikonos-2.
The photo shows the extraordinary landscape of the Tanezrouft Desert, one of the most uninhabited parts of the Sahara in southern Algeria. The image was taken on June 24, 2009 from the advanced Japanese ALOS satellite.
Photo: JAXA, ESA
Fertile farmland in the Imperial Valley of Southern California, USA, imaged on July 4, 2010 by the ALOS 4-ton Earth observation satellite.
Photo: ESA, 2009
A plankton bloom in the Barents Sea off the northern coast of Europe, captured by the Envisat satellite on August 19, 2009.
Photo: ESA
The Jurua River (a right tributary of the Amazon) meanders through the Amazon rain forest in western Brazil. The image was compiled from three frames received from the Envisat satellite on January 2, February 1 and March 3, 2012.
Photo: ESA
This Envisat satellite image shows snow clouds blanketing the North Sea and sweeping down toward the strait between Denmark (bottom right) and Norway (top center). In the upper right, a more massive cluster of clouds covers southeastern Norway and extends over Sweden. Part of the Danish Jutland Peninsula is visible in the lower right corner.
Photo: KARI/ESA
The image was taken on November 24, 2012 by the Kompsat-2 satellite. Before you is the Mangistau region in the southwest of Kazakhstan, east of the Caspian Sea. The road network at the bottom left of the image is the Karakuduk oil field. White squares in the “web” indicate oil wells.
Photo: KARI/ESA
The Kompsat-2 satellite captured rolling hills of farmland in the northwestern United States.
Photo: European Space Agency
In this Envisat satellite image, the Ganges River delta in southern Asia is visible in the foreground. It is also the largest delta in the world.
Photo: USGS/ESA
This artificially colored image was received on May 4, 2012 from the Geological Survey satellite LandSat-5. The arable agricultural lands of the American state of Kansas are divided into circles and rectangles due to the different types of irrigation systems used.
Photo: ESA
The massive iceberg in the center of the image broke off from the Petermann Glacier in Greenland in August 2010. The Envisat satellite captured this image on May 4, 2011. From late May to late June, more than 1,000 icebergs flock into the southern part of the Labrador Sea, which is why the place is called “Iceberg Alley.”
Photo: JAXA, ESA
Deep in the Sahara Desert, in southeastern Libya, lies the Al Jaf oasis, shown in this image from Japan's ALOS satellite. The city can be seen in the upper left corner. The two parallel lines are the runways of Kufra Airport.
Photo: KARI/ESA
The Korean satellite Kompsat-2 captured this image of southern and central Romania on January 2, 2013.
Photo: ESA
Most of Siberia, which is visible in the photo, lies above the Arctic Circle. This is also a permafrost region. In the lower left corner stands out the Yenisei River, which flows north into the Kara Sea. Photo taken by Envisat satellite on March 5, 2012.
Photo: European Space Imaging (EUSI)
The image from the Ikonos-2 satellite shows golden waves of sand from the Dasht-e Kavir (Great Salt Desert), northern Iran.
Photo: USGS/ESA
The image was taken by the LandSat satellite on October 3, 2011. This is the delta of the Mississippi River, the largest river in the United States, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico.
Photo: KARI
This image captures the agricultural landscapes of the Spanish autonomous regions of Aragon and Catalonia.