Bing Maps Adds Variety Of Hi-Res Image Improvements

Bing Maps has announced a series of updates to its high-resolution imagery, including expanded coverage, better mapping of ocean floors, cloud filtering and more. The prime features that Bing is touting involve what it calls “top of the world” imagery — those hi-res, top-down images. Improvements there include: Cloud cover filtering: Bing processes its base […]

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Bing Maps has announced a series of updates to its high-resolution imagery, including expanded coverage, better mapping of ocean floors, cloud filtering and more.

The prime features that Bing is touting involve what it calls “top of the world” imagery — those hi-res, top-down images. Improvements there include:

Cloud cover filtering: Bing processes its base satellite imagery and reduces cloud cover in areas where views are often blocked by persistent cloud cover. Bing’s example photos of Oahu show how that works:

bing-maps-oahu

Another improvement involves the addition of ocean topography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Ocean floor depths are now indicated by color shading, and the images are processed to minimize cloud and ice coverage. Here’s an example set of images of Fiji showing this addition:

bing-maps-ocean

Overall, Bing says it’s added more than 13 million square kilometers of new top-of-the-world imagery. It’s available on Bing Maps and within the Windows 8 Map App.


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About the author

Matt McGee
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Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.

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