Google bumps up detail on Maps, Earth imagery

While scientists can use the satellite output to track changes in global tree cover, surface water, and even predict Malaria outbreaks, Google has been using it to improve its mapping apps.

The high level cloud-free, seamless image map now available via Google Maps and Google Earth has been put together using advanced processing techniques, the Mountain View company said in a June 27 blog posting to the Maps GoogleBlog.

The Landsat 8 satellite, launched in 2013, represents a step-change over Landsat 7's output which degraded after 2003 after a hardware failure took place.

Google thanked the USGS and NASA for their joint Landsat program, which has been tracking and recording changes to the Earth's surface since 1972, and making the resultant imagery available in a free and accessible manner via landsat.usgs.gov.