Google to sell Earth aerial photos to companies

Google has announced that it will sell some of the imagery from its Earth service to businesses. Purchased aerial photos can be accessed through the Google Maps Engine, among other things. Satellite photos are not yet for sale.

Businesses already had limited access to aerial and satellite photos through the Maps for Business service, but the footage was only viewable. As a result, the images could not be manipulated directly. This should change with the arrival of Google Maps for Business imagery: companies can purchase high-res aerial photos and access them via an API in a web application, among other things. Overlays for Google Earth can also be created. The image data can also be imported into various desktop applications.

The imagery that can be purchased only covers the United States for the time being. The resolution is 15cm per pixel with an accuracy of approximately 1 meter. Google uses jpeg2000 compression to make the aerial photos manageable, with each tile measuring 4096×4096 pixels and having a color depth of 8bit.

It is unknown whether and when Google will also make the service available outside the US. The internet giant is getting more and more first-hand images for its Earth service after it took over satellite company Skybox last month for 370 million euros.