Keyhole satellite imagery and GA

Patrick Pohler

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Nov 20, 2004, 10:10:40 PM11/20/04

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Hey everybody, I'm a lurker to these forums but I found a pretty neat
piece of software I've been playing around with for the past couple of
days. Google last week bought a company that produces this software
called Keyhole. Bascially it's like Terraserver, which streams satellite
images for anywhere on the planet. However this is more powerful in that
the resolution is so good you can zoom right down to street level (that
is if there is the right data for the area, medium to major cities are
covered right now but they're expanding the coverage).

Anyway I think it's pretty useful for VFR flight planning, especially if
you haven't been to your destination before. You can actually see what
your checkpoint or your airport will look like from the air.

The software isn't free, but the personal edition is $29.95 a year, and
they've got a 7 day free trial, and the download is only 9 megs, so it's
pretty light. Just go to http://www.keyhole.com.

If you're also interested, I've taken some screenshots of a virtual trip
from Don Scott (OSU) to Delaware (DLZ) and you can view them here:
http://flyingohio.blogspot.com

Clear skies!

Pat

Morgans

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Nov 20, 2004, 10:34:19 PM11/20/04

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"Patrick Pohler" <ppo...@insightREMOVEME.rr.com> wrote

> Anyway I think it's pretty useful for VFR flight planning, especially if
> you haven't been to your destination before. You can actually see what
> your checkpoint or your airport will look like from the air.
>

> Pat

That is really cool. Most satellite shots I have seen are looking straight
down on the ground. How did you get it to line up off the end of the
runways, like you are on the glide slope? (kinda)

Anyway, that definitely gets it's own bookmark.
--
Jim in NC

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Patrick Pohler

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Nov 20, 2004, 10:50:56 PM11/20/04

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There's a tilt control in the program, you can also rotate the image as
well, and drag and drop the picture, which enables you to place in any
orientation you want. You can also set placeholders and save them so you
can just double click and immediately travel to it. This is the first
program I've seen as well that allows you to do all that, and offers so
much detail. I've already decided I'm going to buy it.

Pat

Morgans

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Nov 20, 2004, 11:00:25 PM11/20/04

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"Patrick Pohler" <ppo...@insightREMOVEME.rr.com> wrote in

> There's a tilt control in the program, you can also rotate the image as
> well, and drag and drop the picture, which enables you to place in any
> orientation you want. You can also set placeholders and save them so you
> can just double click and immediately travel to it. This is the first
> program I've seen as well that allows you to do all that, and offers so
> much detail. I've already decided I'm going to buy it.
>
> Pat

How about all that! This is the first satellite service (that I am aware
of) that would be useful to me.

Thanks.

City Dweller

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Nov 20, 2004, 11:34:48 PM11/20/04

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All airports are clearly marked, too. Wow, they are so many of them in
my area! Who would've thought :-) It's like an interactive sectional
chart with drill-down capabilities. You can toggle roads and highways
on and off too.

This software is truly amazing.

C J Campbell

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Nov 21, 2004, 3:02:06 AM11/21/04

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That is an excellent program.

TF

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Nov 21, 2004, 5:21:55 PM11/21/04

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I also discovered the keyhole site and recommend it as well. I've started
my own collection of airports that I have landed at during my flight
training. They only have certain parts of the country at high definition
but are adding to their database each month.
http://www.pbase.com/tflath/airports

"Patrick Pohler" <ppo...@insightREMOVEME.rr.com> wrote in message
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mike regish

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Nov 21, 2004, 5:46:51 PM11/21/04

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I can't seem to determine if there is a subscription fee. Is this a one time
price of $29.95 or is there a subscrption fee as well?

mike regish

"Patrick Pohler" <ppo...@insightREMOVEME.rr.com> wrote in message
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Patrick Pohler

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Nov 21, 2004, 8:34:33 PM11/21/04

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It seems like it's for a one year subscription for the personal edition.

Patrick Pohler

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Nov 21, 2004, 8:36:35 PM11/21/04

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That's a really good idea! If anything else it's something to look back
on. I wish I had taken some shots of Bowman field (LOU) before I moved
up to Columbus, because now they've changed it drastically. I almost
didn't recognize it when I went back recently.

aaronw

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Nov 27, 2004, 5:03:29 PM11/27/04

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A sort of similar program is available from NASA:

http://learn.arc.nasa.gov/worldwind/

It doesnt't have as detailed satellite images for everywher, but
there's a lot of interesting stuff in it anyways.

aw