See My House Via Satellite | Universe Today

Written by Fraser Cain

Were you wondering if there was a way to "see my house via satellite". The answer is yes. In fact, you can get images via satellite for free through the internet. Check it out.

Probably the best tool for seeing your house via satellite is through Google Maps. This is a free website service offered by Google. You can access the site at http://maps.google.com. When you go to the site you've got a view of North America by satellite. You can either grab the map and move it around, or type in a specific address and fly right there. So if you want to see your house via satellite, you just type in the address and then Google Maps will zoom in to show you it from above. You can even zoom in a little more with the scroll-wheel on your mouse down to the maximum resolution that Google has for your region. In my case, I can make out my car parked in front of the house.

Another great tool for seeing satellite pictures is Google Earth. With this tool, however, you need need to download and install it on your local computer. There's a version for PCs, Macs and Linux boxes. There's even a version for the iPhone, which is pretty amazing, considering the kind of data you can hold in your hands and access from almost anywhere. Google Earth gives you a 3-D version of the planet that you can spin around and zoom in and out, right down to the house level. There are also cool modules and plugins that you can apply that show you other features of the Earth, like landmarks, street names, etc.

If you really don't want to use Google, there are similar services from Yahoo and Microsoft. Microsoft's mapping service used to be called MSN Maps, and now it's called Bing Maps. Yahoo's service is called, not surprisingly, Yahoo Maps. If you want to compare Yahoo Maps with Google Maps, there's a really cool service that lets you see the two services side-by-side. You can see how the satellite view differs between the two sites. In general, Google seems to have newer maps with higher resolution.

We have written many articles for Universe Today about how scientists use satellites to get a better view of Earth. This article has a cool view of Earth from space: cities, and here are more pictures of Earth from space.

We have recorded an entire episode of Astronomy Cast just about this planet we call home. Check it out here, Episode 51: Earth.

Filed under: Astronomy