
DigitalGlobe satellite imagery launch for OpenStreetMap - bhousel
http://blog.digitalglobe.com/news/digitalglobe-satellite-imagery-launch-for-openstreetmap/
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niftich
The blog post is... not so much misleading, but it doesn't clearly communicate
the impact of this. It's a press release that's light on facts and is worded
such that the reader will assume the best.

A better source is the OpenStreetMap Wiki page on DigitalGlobe [1], which is
linked from the article, and has been updated by DigitalGlobe with new info.

 _As of May 9th 2017, DigitalGlobe has just announced availability of
satellite imagery directly through a newly launched imagery
service.[http://blog.digitalglobe.com/news/digitalglobe-satellite-
ima...](http://blog.digitalglobe.com/news/digitalglobe-satellite-imagery-
launch-for-openstreetmap)

DigitalGlobe-Premium is a mosaic composed of DigitalGlobe basemap with select
regions filled with +Vivid or custom area of interest imagery, 50cm resolution
or better, and refreshed more frequently with ongoing updates DigitalGlobe-
Standard is a curated set of imagery covering 86% of the earth's landmass,
with 30-60cm or resolution where available, backfilled by Landsat. Average age
is 2.31 years, with some areas updated 2x year._

 _DigitalGlobe Satellite EULA: DigitalGlobe, Inc. is pleased to provide its
high resolution satellite imagery to OpenStreetMap in support of its mapping
initiatives. By using our imagery in the OSM editor, you understand and agree
that you may only use our imagery to trace, and validate edits that must be
contributed back to OSM. You cannot download our imagery or use our imagery
for any other purpose. We retain all right, title and interest in and to our
imagery. We provide our imagery “as is,” with all faults and as available; we
disclaim all warranties, express or implied, to the extent permitted by
applicable law. You can recover from us only direct damages up to an amount
equal to the fees you have paid to us to use our imagery on OSM, if any. We
are not liable for any other damages, including consequential, lost profits,
special, indirect, incidental or punitive damages. Happy mapping!_

Still, this is beautiful and recent imagery and will help greatly for
OpenStreetMap contributors to trace up-to-date features.

[1]
[https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/DigitalGlobe](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/DigitalGlobe)

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Ajedi32
I wonder if, now that the costs of satellite launches are starting to come
down and camera-equipped drones are commonplace, it might be feasible in the
near future to start building up a truly open collection of satellite and
aerial imagery for use in projects like OpenStreetMap.

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mschuster91
> and camera-equipped drones are commonplace

In Germany, flying drones over occupied areas is expressly forbidden by law to
protect the occupants' privacy.

There are already too many idiots and creeps flying around with drones, we
don't need to add Internet publication to the mix.

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vurpo
How high up does the drone need to fly before taking pictures and publishing
them is acceptable? I mean that's basically what these mapping satellites are:
very high-flying drones taking pictures of the ground to be published online.

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londons_explore
Person taking a photo out of an airplane: Allowed.

Person remote controlling a camera on an airplane: Not allowed.

We shouldn't be making laws saying a human can do something but a machine
cannot. That leads to humans having pointless jobs simply because laws prevent
the use of automation.

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yellowbkpk
As a long time contributor to OpenStreetMap, this is hugely appreciated.
Getting direct support from Digital Globe is important and hopefully helps
signal that OSM is worthy of people's time and contributions.

~~~
kbullock
love this feedback, thanks! At DigitalGlobe, and many other tech companies we
work with, there is a growing understanding of the value and importance of
OSM. It's a database of the Earth's features and nobody should "own" that.

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cryptarch
At first I thought it was a data donation, but it seems like it's only API
integration with support.

Still pretty cool as an alternative to Bing satellite data, I guess it's
pretty unlikely we'll have open-licensed satellite data in the near future.

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tomarr
Most of the EU satellite stuff is open licensed, lookup Sentinel II. Various
wavelengths and new data every 5 days (so if it's cloudy you can try again).

It's not the most user-friendly though, you have to download large swathes at
a time.

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kbullock
NASA Landsat program is a great example of Open Data. It's important to
remember that US taxpayers funded the creation, launch and operation of the
satellites. EU Sentinel is similar. So the imagery is paid for, as users we
just don't have to pay twice.

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kevin_thibedeau
DigitalGlobe's GeoEye-1 was also partially funded with taxpayer money in
exchange for unlimited military access and exclusive use of the highest
resolutions. It is time the general public got to reap the benefits too.

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c0nsumer
Darn... Doesn't look like this is in a JOSM [1] release yet. Really, really
looking forward to this. (Mapping areas near my house, especially parks, is
something that I find to be a great way to relax in the evenings.)

[1] [https://josm.openstreetmap.de/](https://josm.openstreetmap.de/)

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kbullock
yes, coming to JOSM soon. I have been working with the JOSM developer team.
Stay tuned.

~~~
c0nsumer
Excellent; thank you! JOSM / OSM is the basis for a lot of mountain bike trail
mapping work that I do. Another source of imagery will just be cake. (GPS
traces only go so far...)

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Mediterraneo10
This will make a big difference for the rural area I moved to. I was able to
trace many of the houses around the outskirts of my village from aerial
imagery. However, on the day that both Bing Maps and Mapbox shot their
imagery, a massive cloud blanked out the center, the place where most
outsiders would be bound for and where most of the POIs are located.

