Search code examples
mapsresolutiongoogle-earth

Google Earth satellite view spatial resolution for a specific place

Google Earth (not engine) satellite view has varying spatial resolutions (i.e., pixel size) depending on various factors.

Let's say I'm interested in the below image, I can see it was taken on February 27, 2016, where do I find which satellite took this image and what is the spatial resolution of that image?

I read some answers such as here, but they are not up to date or just don't work.

enter image description here

Solution

  • As you can see by the copyright string on the screen there, the image is likely provided by Maxar (which purchased Digital Globe a few years ago). If you go to their online catalog (https://discover.digitalglobe.com/) and search for your location, plus filter the dates to 2016, you'll find that the archive contains just one image for that location and date, and that it looks very similar to the image in your screenshot. Note that the catalog will only show you a low-res preview of the image, for full resolution you have to purchase it like Google does.

    Looks like the image you're seeing there was taken by the GeoEye-1 satellite (abbreviated as GE01), which has approximately 50cm (0.5m) resolution. Technically, the resolution of the multi-spectral (color, etc.) sensor is approx 1.8m, and that data is "pan-sharpened" using the panchromatic (black & white) sensor, which has a resolution of just over 0.4m.

    The additional metadata provided for the image in the catalog is this:

    • Image ID: 1050010003311100
    • Image Clouds: 0.0%
    • Image Off Nadir: 29.8°
    • Bands: 4-BANDS
    • Max GSD: 0.54m
    • Sun Elevation: 46.4°
    • Max Target Azimuth: 116.8°
    • Browse: view (low-res preview of the entire scene)