Google Earth vs Old Time Aerial Photography

Moderator: Jim_b

Jim Hatt

Google Earth vs Old Time Aerial Photography

Post by Jim Hatt »

This is for all you Google Earther's that think you have something over on the people who have a lot of time on trail out in the field.

Long before computers and Google Earth. The Old Timers used aerial survey photos put out by the USGS. These photos had a resolution far better than anything you will see on Google Earth today, and actually showed old trails, that are no longer visible standing right on the ground today.

The screen-shots below are from a series done in 1967. As you can see, you could easily make out individual bushes, without the help of any kind of magnification.

There was a series done back in the late 40's that were even higher resolution, and you could get a magnified stereo (3-D) viewer for, that allowed you to see individual rocks in a fire ring, made by the old cowboys, who worked cattle in the mountains back then, (if you knew where to look).

You have wondered why some of us are not impressed with Google Earth?

Now you know!

If Google Earth ever gets that good. it will still be too late. Most of the old trails are all overgrown now, the rocks from the old-old fire rings have settled into the dirt, and are no longer visible, and vegetation now covers whatever tailing piles used to exist out there.

Google Earth is great for planing a trip along maintained trails,
or looking at where you have been. But that's about all.

Don't laugh at the tools the Old Timers used, compared to what you have today. You should be so lucky to have what they had to work with!

Image

Image

Image



Jim
somehiker
Posts: 693
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 8:51 pm
anti-spam detector: No
The middle number please (4): 4

Re: Google Earth vs Old Time Aerial Photography

Post by somehiker »

Jim has explained the difference very well.This is the "sterioscope" that was issued to me in 1967.I once witnessed a new trainee,who was afraid of heights,get physically sick using this very same viewer.Not even a personal overflight in an aircraft can compare,because of the motion,turbulence and ground haze that the cameras eliminate with higher altitudes.
BTW Jim:the date stamp style on your examples make them military.Probably U2.The cameras roll,even on flight training missions over the US.

Regards:Wayne
Image
Jim Hatt

Re: Google Earth vs Old Time Aerial Photography

Post by Jim Hatt »

Eyup! That's one of the viewers alright! Clay still still has one of them that I have been known to borrow from time to time.

Thanks for the clarification of the type of photo it is. I don't even remember now who I got that one from. It is possible that the individual I got it from didn't even know it was military and told me it was a USGS photo.

Then again... Could the USGS have obtained their photos from the military back then?

Jim
somehiker
Posts: 693
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 8:51 pm
anti-spam detector: No
The middle number please (4): 4

Re: Google Earth vs Old Time Aerial Photography

Post by somehiker »

Yup,and probably still do.
The USGS uses sat data as well now,a mix of both civil and non-classified mil stuff.
But they don't have aircraft capable of 70,000 ft.,so those stereo photo strips come courtesy of USAF or NASA U2 programs.
Regards:Wayne
User avatar
oroblanco
Posts: 263
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 11:01 am
anti-spam detector: No
The middle number please (4): 4
Location: Black Hills, Dakota Territory
Contact:

Re: Google Earth vs Old Time Aerial Photography

Post by oroblanco »

Pretty good Jim - I have tried to tell some of the Google-earther's about the old aerial photos, which IMHO are better and show more detail. All photos shot from overhead though have severe limitations, it ain't the same as being there boots on the ground.
Roy
User avatar
gollum
Posts: 258
Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2010 7:41 pm
anti-spam detector: No
The middle number please (4): 4
Location: http://www.1oro1.com
Contact:

Re: Google Earth vs Old Time Aerial Photography

Post by gollum »

The best thing going now are Aerial Infra-Red Pics. They show old trails (even if they are overgrown).

They are available from a few different sources. I would think that the Supers would have several sources of AI-R Pics in many different Resolutions.

Depending on how much money you want to throw at it, there are all types of exotic photo overlays out there (ultra violet, infra-red, full spectrum, Sonographic Pics, and many more). Some of the more exotic stuff is hard to find and very expensive, and each one is better at different things.

Best-Mike
Tayopa
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 11:42 am
anti-spam detector: No
The middle number please (4): 4

Re: Google Earth vs Old Time Aerial Photography

Post by Tayopa »

HIO:

A) A huge benifit of aerial photography is that they are shot using light as a basic profiler, i.e. Satt pictures are flat, vertical, while aerial photographs are generally on a slight oblique alowing light to play an important part. Of course there are flat aerial photographs also, but Iam referring to the US Gov't ones..

B) Wayne, my friend, from what I can see, you would go blind trying to make sense of the two photographs under the stereo viewer, they appear to be of two different areas.

C) Stereo viewing of aerial photographs played an important part in my discovery of Tayopa. I was even able to locate the old trail that they used in the Paramo.

D) Stereo was the key for my finding the reason for Tayopa, the Satt pictures were useless until I had located the key elements first with a conventional stereo viewer.

Don Jose de La Mancha
User avatar
roc2rol
Posts: 825
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 8:58 pm
anti-spam detector: No
The middle number please (4): 4
Location: Dutch's Ditch, AZ

Re: Google Earth vs Old Time Aerial Photography

Post by roc2rol »

The Pueblo Grande Museum as aerial photograpy of Phoenix
done in the 1940's, I think. Might have been earliar.
Its called 'Flight Over Phoenix' and was done to archive the Hohokam Canals. I haven't seen these photos. You have to make arraignments with the museum librarian. But they may show the Supers. There is a web page also, but my comoputer is running way slow
Flight Over Phoenix
Ed
User avatar
roc2rol
Posts: 825
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 8:58 pm
anti-spam detector: No
The middle number please (4): 4
Location: Dutch's Ditch, AZ

Re: Google Earth vs Old Time Aerial Photography

Post by roc2rol »

I found this article interesting

Newfound Google Maps images have revealed an array of mysterious structures and patterns etched into the surface of China's Gobi Desert. The media — from mainstream to fringe — has wildly speculated that they might be Chinese weapons-testing sites, satellite calibration targets, street maps of Washington, D.C., and New York City, or even messages to (or from) aliens.
It turns out that they are almost definitely used to calibrate China's spy satellites

The white cross, located in Casa Grande, Ariz., was created in the 1960s and used by the United States military to calibrate its Corona spy satellites. The calibration targets that have recently been found in China's Gobi Desert are used in the same way this one was, Hill told Life's Little Mysteries.


The cordinates are at this link
http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/mys ... lite-2184/
somehiker
Posts: 693
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 8:51 pm
anti-spam detector: No
The middle number please (4): 4

Re: Google Earth vs Old Time Aerial Photography

Post by somehiker »

The one of a pattern of random straight lines,reminds me of the tracks left on a carpet when one of them Roomba things is done.Could be that something large and robotic or remotely controlled via satellite has been tested at that location.Maybe a Roomba street sweeper...... ;)
Satellite views of Groom Lake and Tonopah Test Range,for example have many such patterns and visual targeting arrays.Some of the patterns are acknowledged to be calibration targets for satellite camera/observation and navigation systems.The systems currently in use utilize optical and radar recognition software for target recognition as well.If some is for space-based weapons....nobody's talking.
:?:
I have wondered if most of the "crop circles" are not made with some kind of experimental weapon,satellite based,which can focus sound waves (microwaves ?) in the same manner as a laser beam.The quality and complexity of the "crop circle" result would thus indicate the accuracy and effectiveness of the weapon.
Used against the classic "human wave" assault,I would think such a weapon to be pretty effective,without even being designed to be lethal.

Regards:Somehiker.
Post Reply