digg

Facebook Connect Join Digg About

Google Satellite Now Watching You From 423 Miles Up

alleyinsider.com — The GeoEye satellite that Google will use to provide mapping imagery at 50-centimeter resolution successfully blasted into space today. So don't leave your underwear lying all over your lawn.

Who dugg this? Made popular Sep 7, 2008

Digg DudeWhat is Digg?

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. Digg surfaces the best stuff as submitted and voted on by the community. Take the Tour to learn more.

103 Comments

show profanity settings
expand all
  • bloogey, on 09/07/2008, -3/+87lucky my underwear is smaller than 50 cm
  • sageisgay, on 09/07/2008, -1/+74nude beaches.
  • kidwithsword, on 09/07/2008, -1/+62I can't wait to see some high res images! The current quality of the pictures in Google Earth are pretty bad. I want to be able to point out a single blade of grass on my front lawn from Google Earth and this is definitely getting closer to being to do just that!
  • nard3456, on 09/07/2008, -1/+57I wish Google would do realtime video.
  • lulzitsadigg, on 09/07/2008, -0/+50Terrorists could use that 9 cm to destroy us
  • FXPooky, on 09/07/2008, -0/+32Anyone know when they're planning on actually rolling out the new pictures in GMaps?
  • Generik777, on 09/07/2008, -1/+33I so hope they strapped a street view camera to the rocket.
  • Hockey13, on 09/07/2008, -0/+30"...it will be able to gather imagery with details the size of 41 centimeters... Google, though, is permitted to use data only with a resolution of 50cm because of the terms of GeoEye's license with the U.S. government."

    The ***** does it matter to the gov whether they go 9 cm closer?
  • HarChim, on 09/07/2008, -0/+28Cool, maybe now my house will actually show up (it's just a pile of dirt right now).
  • dtfinch, on 09/07/2008, -3/+31Lucky you. I can't say the same.
  • BR5490U812, on 09/07/2008, -0/+29what's it like living in a pile of dirt?
  • plr4ever, on 09/07/2008, -1/+2750 cm boobs.
  • Smiley09, on 09/07/2008, -2/+28No kidding, come on nude rooftop sunbathers part two!
  • Subriot, on 09/07/2008, -3/+29I, for one, welcome our new Google overlords.
  • thegreatargos, on 09/07/2008, -2/+25... wait I'm sorry, but who leaves their underwear all over their lawn? thats the best joke they could think of for such an epic satellite??
  • ElGubrush, on 09/07/2008, -1/+24In other news, google announced today that they are not watching you in your homes.
    But, if they were watching you, Devin Thompson of 258 west terrace, they would tell you that that shirt and those pants do not match.
  • quiggibub, on 09/07/2008, -1/+21I'd like to know how much data this is going to create. I bet it'll be in the holy ***** range.
  • sqrt7744, on 09/07/2008, -0/+1550 mm res from 423 Miles? .... 1.22 * lambda/D tells us that the telelscope would need a 9m mirror. Good luck.
  • paradox4190, on 09/07/2008, -0/+14Obviously he lives underground.
  • mroboy, on 09/07/2008, -0/+14So if this is "commercial", it really makes me wonder what the military side of things can do. Read the book I'm reading?
  • foofightrs777, on 09/07/2008, -1/+12Already
  • feliks2, on 09/07/2008, -4/+14Fat sack of lard.
  • Rotzooi, on 09/07/2008, -1/+10Jack Bauer would constantly be asking to reposition the satellite. *****.
  • mvent2, on 09/07/2008, -1/+10OK.
  • Chainheart2, on 09/07/2008, -2/+10Never
  • RossDuprey, on 09/07/2008, -0/+8They won't be evil though...
  • palehorse864, on 09/07/2008, -0/+9This has been a collaboration between Google and the Alan Parson's Project.
  • daking89, on 09/07/2008, -1/+9In other news, Google Backyard is launched
  • CapeKid, on 09/07/2008, -1/+9I do,
    it is part of an elaborate trap for the underwear gnomes.


    Please, don't tell them about this. All my planing will go to waste.
  • OfNumbers, on 09/07/2008, -1/+9No more sex in the bed of the truck with a 30 pack and plus size model.
  • moduc, on 09/07/2008, -3/+11At 50 centimeter resolution, you can't tell a person from a small pile of rock. I hope it means 50 mm. At this resolution, you still can't see a person's nose, eyes, but you can see houses and street clearly.
  • ThantiK, on 09/07/2008, -1/+8Good thing it's 50cm resolution. They still won't be able to make out my penis when I'm sunbathing. - Even with the 5cm-7cm resolution that novenator claims, I think I'm still safe.
  • ZoolTool, on 09/07/2008, -0/+7I'm pretty sure he meant 19.5" wide.
  • n8o8, on 09/07/2008, -0/+8So, when will it become unpopular that Google is all knowing?
  • bgii2000, on 09/07/2008, -0/+7A blade of grass is around 4mm (.4cm) or so. At 50cm, a palm tree frond shows up as 1 pixel wide. You're definitely not going to be able to see blades of grass.
  • jman583, on 09/07/2008, -0/+7Awsome.
  • evil-doer, on 09/07/2008, -0/+6as far as i know, and correct me if im wrong. most of the high res stuff on google right now is from aerial photography from planes. and i just zoomed in on my neighborhood to as high as it would go. looked at the scale at the bottom left, which shows the distance of 10 meters, then divided 10 by the number of pixels long it was. its .1 meters per pixel. thats 10cm resolution. this satellite is much worse than the current aerial photos that are on google. you arent gonna be seeing anything closer up. this is for OTHER countries that dont have the aerial photo coverage. 50cm is the size of each pixel, thats not high res.
  • JesusFreak1984, on 09/07/2008, -0/+6So was your mom!
  • GawtMilk, on 09/07/2008, -0/+6We built our house six years ago, it still shows up as a pile of dirt on Google maps. That's rural Vermont for you...
  • realgame84, on 09/07/2008, -1/+7maybe we'll se cleared pictures of Google Earth!! That would be cool
  • inactive, on 09/07/2008, -3/+10 I liked them better when they was just a search engine
  • meekmassacre, on 09/07/2008, -1/+7Put on those tin foil hats...
  • Barackalypse, on 09/07/2008, -1/+7Aerial imaging is easily fooled with a painted canvas over the actual building as illustrated in WW2:
    http://digg.com/odd_stuff/How_to_hide_an_airplane_ ...
  • Sabretou, on 09/07/2008, -0/+6The possibilities!
  • ZoolTool, on 09/07/2008, -0/+5Take a look.
  • RossDuprey, on 09/07/2008, -1/+6"Never"
    "Already"

    Who to dig!!! (head explodes)
  • JustinHopewell, on 09/07/2008, -0/+5A reading rainbow... a reading raaaaainbow
  • Nowaiman, on 09/07/2008, -0/+5i can go twice as high
  • JBSpeed88, on 09/07/2008, -0/+5I'm calling it now that someone is going to read this article, stitch together a giant pair of underwear and leave it in their backyard.
  • Regbooker, on 09/07/2008, -0/+5Well the GeoEye-1 is the highest resolution commercial sat out there, with an ability to go down to a .41 meter resolution wich means it's capable of discerning objects 40 centimeters in size.

    In the military sector the KH-13 has a (believed) maximum resolution of 0.04 m. So yes, they can read your news paper from orbit.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-13
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 100 of 104 discussions

  • Add a Comment

    Login or register to comment!
    Or, sign-in super fast with your Facebook account ...

© Digg Inc. 2009 — Content created and posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain | Terms of Use Updated | Privacy Policy
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.