3 ms·

Huge database aside, I would be more curious to know what is the most valuable data/metadata in the database. Anyone have any thoughts?

• jws 11y ago
  The list of areas they are required to obfuscate?
• mike_hearn 11y ago
  Valuable as in cost? Aerial imagery in general is very expensive, especially from satellites. That's why the Earth/Maps team don't have an open protocol (or one reason). They aren't allowed to just give the imagery away for free: it's licensed specifically for that application. If you try and download the entire dataset there are systems in place that will fight you, to defend the rights of the imagery companies.
• ufmace 11y ago
  I would tend to think it's the fine Maps detail on every road in every country that Navigation works in - all of the details of every single intersection, how many lanes, what turns you can make from where, etc. The maps and images are expensive, but they already exist and can be bought, if you're willing to pay the price. That detail info doesn't even exist anywhere, at least not in any kind of consistent and reliable way. The only way to get it is to employ a virtual army of drivers to drive every single road in every country, record a ton of info about them all, and figure out how to store it all in a searchable format. And then keep doing it forever, because those roads all change periodically, and often nobody every documents how or where or when.