Aerial Imagery download from BING

Thought I’d add this to the ‘wishlist’. A question raised by an emergency responder wondering how he can get an aerial imagery overlay for his streets and trips data. (Didn't see Aerial images in wishlist....sorry if repeating)

See it here in Microsoft discussion group.

I suspect a valuable concept – in that an ‘offline’ capability to view aerial images overlaid on data you’ve collected within Streets and Trips – or need to collect in an ‘offline’ situation would prove valuable to law enforcement and disaster recovery work.

One example that comes to mind is Hurricane emergency responders – the aerial overlay helps you determine what ‘used to be here', and the Streets and Trips mobile offline data recording function would allow responders to record important data on the map regarding current on the ground situation. I’d be interested to hear from Mandolin Guy on his use of Streets and Trips after Hurricane Katrina.

Rather than a question of 'Online Mapping Service VS. a laptop product', I personally believe the integration possibilities between Streets and Trips and Bing Maps enhance the value of both. I look forward to more in this area.

The biggest problem would be the huge amount of data that this represents. It would be impossible for S&T or MP to physically ship with decent aerial coverage for even a single country (well, Lichtenstein could, and Luxembourg if you're lucky). Such a system would have to go online back at base to grab a local copy of the imagery which could then be used in the field.

As a guide of file size, the map tile overlays for the EcoMap Costa Rica maps take about 300-500MB each. The color image covers a wider area (perhaps 10 miles on a side) but would be too low a resolution for your needs (individual farms can be made out but you can't tell what buildings/etc are where). They're quad trees so they could be made more efficient for an S&T type application, but still...

There would also be sub-licensing issues - but that would be something for Larry and Melinda to clarify.

The general application that you're talking about is a difficult one. I've been thinking along similar lines for the iPad. One problem is limited or no connectivity in many areas of geographic interest (eco-field surveying was one application I considered; emergency response makes another good example). Although the iPad appears to be a great platform for this kind of thing, a rugged notebook may be better off for storing large amounts of map data and (for now at least) supporting GIS/map software with much more functionality.

Richard

The availablity of satellite imagery might help. In a hurricane situation, the satellites will show how it was, not how it is.

Some things are rapidly changing. After Katrina, while en route to Mississippi from west Georgia, our destination was changed three times. We ended up in Pearl River County, MS. There was the possibility that we could end up almost anywhere in coastal MS or LA. This could make for some problems in having the right imagery available. Our mobile command post has high-speed satellite DataStorm Internet (as well as 8 satellite phone lines using a Vosky system) so aerials would not be a problem.

Let me think about this and maybe I'll post some more later.

Awesome input gentlemen - thanks!

Agreed Winwaed - my concept is, you zoom into a specific location in Streets & Trips, then click a 'grab snapshot' button that goes out to Bing, grabs aerial imagery for selected zoom level, and stores it on your laptop. Now you can 'go remote' outside of high speed internet coverage. There's a slide bar that allows you to adjust opacity so that you can see S&T collected data through the imagery. There would have to be limitations placed on how much area you could grab and save on your computer to keep it manageable - but it would be up to the user to decide how much they wanted to go out and 'grab'.

As I recall - and it's been a while - kind of like pocket streets, where you were limited to the size of an area you could 'grab' from S&T and export to your handheld PC. If you wanted - you could grab multiple pocket maps and load them as you moved from one covered area to the next.

Great insight Guy - so, in this scenario, and as Winwaed suggests above, I envision the disaster teams meeting at the mobile command post that does have high speed internet capability, grabbing the images they need for their assigned areas - then heading out for the assessement.

I look forward to hearing more on the subject!

Yes. Also what My Point...Exactly said. It's not necessary to ship the product with the aerial imagery.

But I don't think you even need to go out dynamically and grab the stuff every time you want to view it. Most of the uses of aerial imagery are relatively "local" in nature so each of us who has an interest only needs it for a relatively small area, even when travelling.

So we need the ability to download it for a selected area, save it with our regular maps and then display it using something like an addition to the "View" menu.

DeLorme already does that for its Topo 8 product. They have a huge library of aerial imagery available online. You get some free download ability when you purchase the product. Then you can get more through an annual subscription.

Garmin is doing the same with its "Birdseye" imagery for some of its newer handhelds.

It shouldn't be a stretch for Microsoft to do something similar.

...ken...

Satellite Internet connections like ours are difficult to come by...they're pricey...probably $30K+ just to purchase. Plus the service itself.

Ours is a custom-designed command post. Most of the radios are even programmable. It's a support vehicle for all kinds of activities (explosions, search & rescue, etc.) in this area of west Georgia and east Alabama. For instance, our search and rescue team is made up of personnel from about 12 agencies in Georgia and Alabama.