NOTICE: help.openstreetmap.org is no longer in use from 1st March 2024. Please use the OpenStreetMap Community Forum

Hi all

Here is the problem statement: very often when doing mapping for HOT or mapping place I know I would like to make sure I use the latest imagery. I sometimes check manually by opening several imageries in JOSM e.g. Bing, DG, Mapbox, but it's a bit tedious, and it's not comprehensive, for exemple I don't go to OpenAerialMap, Mapillary or equivalent.

So my question is: is there a way to find which is the most recent imagery for a given place, or that will list all resources available for a given place?

Thanks!

asked 17 Feb '18, 03:42

David%20V's gravatar image

David V
116123
accept rate: 0%

edited 17 Feb '18, 03:42


For most imagery layers it seems not possible to know the capture date. For Bing in JOSM you can just right-click and check Show tile info: in Metadata Capture Date you will see the date the images were captured. But even in that case, you get sometimes a segment of time that spans 2 years...

In order to know (or guess) what is the most recent imagery, what I do is comparing the imagery providers for the area, looking for objects that are in construction. For example, you will notice some buildings present in one imagery and not in other. There can be surely buildings that existed in 2014 but were already destroyed in 2016, but the majority of buildings are constructed, not destroyed. Another object that helps are bridges, but there are many others. Just use your common sense, and you will surely find out which imagery is the newest of all.

permanent link

answered 17 Feb '18, 12:09

edvac's gravatar image

edvac
6652619
accept rate: 15%

1

… Often comparing is good anyway - to see different times of day, times of year and viewing angles. Though, knowing the most recent one would be a good starting point, indeed.

(17 Feb '18, 12:26) aseerel4c26 ♦
2

Thanks a lot for the tips Edvac. That doesn't really answer my question though. Those checks are what I already do, I was wondering if there is a sort of search engine of imagery, where you could type coordinates and find which imagery is available for that location (ideally with their date).

(17 Feb '18, 13:49) David V

Ok, I see. I don't really know if such search engine actually exists. In any case, your question is interesting. If only all the imagery had a standardized Metadata Capture Date field, it would make the job easier.

(18 Feb '18, 17:02) edvac

Well, you can always try to compare imagery that you can legally use with one that's available in Google Earth and has capture date specified. It has a clock icon which lets you load older images. I think you will be fine if you don't use information from Google Earth in mapping, only just to narrow down the age of whatever imagery we can use.

permanent link

answered 18 Feb '18, 20:12

RicoElectrico's gravatar image

RicoElectrico
37161117
accept rate: 0%

Both iD and vespucci will order imagery selection lists in sensible way taking the age of the imagery in to account together with other properties.

More detailed information where available can be found directly in the editor imagery index and for JOSM on JOSM background layers wiki.

permanent link

answered 18 Feb '18, 23:23

SimonPoole's gravatar image

SimonPoole ♦
44.7k13326701
accept rate: 18%

Your answer
toggle preview

Follow this question

By Email:

Once you sign in you will be able to subscribe for any updates here

By RSS:

Answers

Answers and Comments

Markdown Basics

  • *italic* or _italic_
  • **bold** or __bold__
  • link:[text](http://url.com/ "title")
  • image?![alt text](/path/img.jpg "title")
  • numbered list: 1. Foo 2. Bar
  • to add a line break simply add two spaces to where you would like the new line to be.
  • basic HTML tags are also supported

Question tags:

×85

question asked: 17 Feb '18, 03:42

question was seen: 3,942 times

last updated: 18 Feb '18, 23:23

NOTICE: help.openstreetmap.org is no longer in use from 1st March 2024. Please use the OpenStreetMap Community Forum