Google: Maps has satellite photos of 98 percent of the inhabited world

Google has captured 98 percent of the inhabited world on satellite photos, it says. That equates to more than 93 million square kilometers. In addition, it has over 10 million miles of Street View imagery.

According to CNET, it is the first time that Google has provided figures for the coverage of Google Maps. The more than 10 million miles of images in Street View is certainly more than the roads in the US and the European Union combined, although Street View is spread all over the world. The exact distribution of the Street View images is not mentioned in the CNET piece.

Google Maps has been around since 2005 and Street View was added in 2007. The images for this are captured via cars with 360-degree cameras on the roof or, in less hospitable areas, by hikers with a camera rig on their back. Google obtains the satellite images from third parties and is never more than three years old. Maps is one of Google’s most popular services and has over a billion monthly active users.

However, Street View is significantly less present in Germany. There, the service encountered many privacy concerns, so Google decided to give an opt-out option to Germans who did not want their home on Street View. 244,000 people used it, so Google decided against developing the service there. However, Google is trying to offer the service ‘normally’ again.

While Google Maps is free, the service is, of course, paid for through advertising. They are tailored to their audience using the data that Google collects about them. Google Maps competitors include Apple Maps, Bing Maps, and OpenStreetMap.