Bing Maps Updates Base Satellite Images, Ocean Floor Topography Data

Tags: Satellite Mapping, Satellite Imagery, Microsoft, Google
Publication: TechCrunch.com
Publication Date: 02/28/2013

Satellite View from Bing Maps. Image credit: Bing Maps

Bing Maps have been updated. Microsoft’s digital maps service now feature a new base satellite image from TerraColor with a resolution of 15 meters per pixel. The maps also offer a new detailed topography of the ocean floor based on the data compiled by the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. The bathymetric imagery gives users a better idea of what the ocean floor looks like using shades of blue to indicate different depths.

Google Maps, Bing Maps’ largest competitor, had started adding higher-resolution underwater topography data to its maps two years ago and recently introduced underwater “Street View” images.

Using the new base satellite image from TerraColor, Bing’s team was able to reduce the cloud cover in many areas usually obscured by clouds, such as the Hawaiian Islands.

Additionally, Microsoft introduced a total of 203,271 square kilometers of new imagery from Europe to its collection, which now covers 90 percent of Western Europe. Previously, the company had gathered straight down U.S. imagery from aircraft through the Global Ortho Project.

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