Quote:
Originally Posted by dad911
Depending on what it does, the cost may be well worth it. I suspect we will never know.
Might be a money maker selling images to google for google earth.
|
The vast majority of images Google Earth and Bing use are from airplanes. Microsoft bought several mapping companies, and some of the big camera and equipment makers. We had a photogrammetric scanner. The price of the bulbs went from 35 bucks to 400 bucks after Microsoft bought that company.
Google makes camera systems that only they get to use. So does BING. They fly the entire country on a constant basis with airplanes. They may use a few satellites but it almost impossible to get the high res high detail of cities with anything way out in space unless you have US government money.