{"id":1787124,"date":"2019-02-26T20:30:09","date_gmt":"2019-02-27T01:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1787124"},"modified":"2019-02-26T20:30:09","modified_gmt":"2019-02-27T01:30:09","slug":"satellite-mode-aerial-mode-bird-mode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/02\/satellite-mode-aerial-mode-bird-mode\/","title":{"rendered":"Satellite Mode, Aerial Mode, Bird Mode"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here\u2019s a silly Google Maps origin story about how \u201cSatellite\u201d was almost named \u201cBird Mode\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wj7CRJUEyx\">pic.twitter.com\/wj7CRJUEyx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Bret Taylor (@btaylor) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/btaylor\/status\/1099370126678253569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 23, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>A lot of what we refer to on online maps as &#8220;satellite imagery&#8221; actually isn&#8217;t: the high-resolution stuff is usually taken from airplanes. This can be a point of confusion for some\u2014and, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/btaylor\/status\/1099370126678253569\">this Twitter thread<\/a> from Google Maps co-creator Bret Taylor, also a point of contention for the Google Maps team before it launched. Some engineers felt that calling the layer &#8220;Satellite&#8221; was factually incorrect\u2014because of that aerial imagery\u2014and therefore shouldn&#8217;t be used; others argued for &#8220;Satellite&#8221; based on label size and usability studies. It nearly got called &#8220;Bird Mode&#8221; as a compromise. [<a href=\"https:\/\/boingboing.net\/2019\/02\/25\/the-google-maps-satellite.html\">Boing Boing<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s a silly Google Maps origin story about how \u201cSatellite\u201d was almost named \u201cBird Mode\u201d pic.twitter.com\/wj7CRJUEyx &mdash; Bret Taylor (@btaylor) February 23, 2019 A lot of what we refer to on online maps as &#8220;satellite&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/02\/satellite-mode-aerial-mode-bird-mode\/\">More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,114],"tags":[462,82,177],"class_list":["post-1787124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-mobile","category-web-mapping","tag-google","tag-google-maps","tag-satellite-imagery","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2349,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/06\/googles-cloud-free-mosaic-gets-updated\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787124,"position":0},"title":"Google&#8217;s Cloud-Free Mosaic Gets Updated","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"28 June 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"Google's low- and medium-resolution satellite imagery has gotten a comprehensive update with new imagery\u00a0from the Landsat 8 satellite. It's the first such update to its seamless, cloud-free mosaic in three years.\u00a0The Atlantic has detailed coverage (that helpfully points out, among other things, that this doesn't apply to the highest zoom\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Mobile&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1814191,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/04\/updated-satellite-imagery-of-ukraine-reveals-russian-fortifications-damage\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787124,"position":1},"title":"Updated Satellite Imagery of Ukraine Reveals Russian Fortifications, Damage","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"27 April 2023","format":"link","excerpt":"Recent satellite imagery reveals the extent of Russian defensive fortifications built in the past few months in occupied territory in anticipation of Ukraine\u2019s spring counteroffensive: see coverage from CNN and Reuters. Meanwhile, Maps Mania reports that Google Maps\u2019 updated satellite imagery of Ukraine shows the damage inflicted by the Russian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Conflicts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Conflicts","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/conflicts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3788,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/01\/google-roundup-for-january-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787124,"position":2},"title":"Google Roundup for January 2017","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"24 January 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Google Maps\u00a0has updated its ride services mode in its iOS and Android app, allowing you to book an Uber ride\u00a0from within the app, and may offer parking availability in an upcoming Android release. [Engadget] Meanwhile, Google's parent company, Alphabet, seems to be scaling back its satellite imaging ambitions: it's apparently\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Industry&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Industry","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/industry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4681,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/08\/esri-makes-satellite-imagery-available-to-openstreetmap-editors\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787124,"position":3},"title":"Esri Makes Satellite Imagery Available to OpenStreetMap Editors","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"27 August 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Esri is making its satellite imagery collection available to OpenStreetMap editors. Today Esri is proud to announce that we are making our own global collection of satellite imagery available to the OSM community directly through our existing\u00a0World Imagery Service. This regularly updated resource provides one meter or better satellite and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Industry&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Industry","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/industry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1834354,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/10\/some-google-maps-updates\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787124,"position":4},"title":"Some Google Maps Updates","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"3 October 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"Google Maps imagery updates include improved satellite imagery thanks to an AI model that removes clouds, shadows and haze, plus \u201cone of the biggest updates to Street View yet, with new imagery in almost 80 countries\u2014some of which will have Street View imagery for the very first time.\u201d The web\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Mobile&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Mobile","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/mobile\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1834237,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/09\/chinas-gps-shift-and-online-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787124,"position":5},"title":"China\u2019s GPS Shift and Online Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"24 September 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"If the road grid in online maps of China doesn\u2019t line up with the aerial\/satellite imagery layer, Anastasia Bizyayeva explains in a Medium post earlier this year, it\u2019s because China\u2019s map data uses a different geodetic datum, GCJ-02, rather than WGS-84. \u201cGCJ-02 is based on WGS-84, but with a\u00a0deliberate obfuscation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Censorship&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Censorship","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/censorship\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1787124"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1787126,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787124\/revisions\/1787126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1787124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1787124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1787124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}