Extreme zooms in Google Maps

BB reader Shannon Roberts says,

It looks like Google Maps is incorporating some very close zoomed-in images on their site. It makes me wonder if there will ever be a day that the whole world is captured at this level of detail, but live. Talk about the possibility for widespread surveillance!

If you look at these areas in Google Earth, you'll see that they're part of a series of National Geographic sites, and the result of flyovers, not satellites. They're all over Africa, and generally captivating images.

While Jason may be correct that the linked image is from National Geographic, it is possible to zoom further in on many areas of Google Maps. Just grab the permalink on Google Maps and then change the "z" value. The default highest zoom is 19, but all of NYC can be zoomed to 20, and a few areas to 21-23. Link.

posted by Xeni Jardin at 11:04:16 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments