Google Earth/Maps adds new satellite, aerial and 45-degree imagery for locations worldwide

Google has updated its Earth and Maps products with a stack of new and refreshed satellite, aerial and 45-degree imagery.

As competition intensifies in the world of online mapping, Google continues to refresh and add to its existing data, on Friday rolling out ever more detailed satellite and aerial imagery for a plethora of locations around the world.

Detailed in a post on the Web giant’s Lat-Long blog, Google geo data strategist Eric Kolb said users would be able to enjoy “another extensive refresh to our high resolution aerial and satellite imagery, as well as new 45-degree imagery in Google Maps spanning 30 new cities.”

Google Earth is already showing new aerial shots for over 20 locations, together with refreshed satellite imagery for over 60 different regions around the world. In his post, Kolb said the new aerial and satellite data isn’t yet showing on Maps but will be soon. However, Maps is already showing the 45-degree imagery.

Countries with refreshed high-res satellite data include the US, Brazil, Morocco, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Bordeaux in France, San Sebastian in Spain, Rome in Italy, Salzburg in Austria and the UK’s Olympic Park are just a few of the locations featuring new high-res aerial imagery, together with a bunch of places across the US.

New 45-degree imagery has been introduced for 23 US cities – among them Bend OR, Buffalo NY, Cincinnati OH and Wilmington NC – as well as seven international locations, including Bordeaux and Marseille in France, and Blanes in Spain.

The entire list of places displaying new or updated imagery can be found in Kolb’s blog post here.

Google is continuing to work hard on improving its map-based offerings, with new features and updates being introduced all the time. Other companies are beginning to move into the space, encouraged by businesses and app developers looking elsewhere for Web-based mapping data following Google’s decision to start charging for it.

OpenStreetMap has been gaining a lot of fans recently, and at next week’s Apple event we should be getting a launch date for iOS 6, which will bring the Cupertino’s own Maps app to the home screen of millions of iPhones and iPads around the world, replacing Google Maps as the default map provider.