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Before and After pictures of Japan
- rue 16y agoI could be spatially challenged enough to not really see it, as the imagery is lacking perspective, but these pictures aren't much after seeing the video footage of the waves rolling in. That was a much starker (re-)realization of their power, similar to 2004. Perhaps images from a helicopter or high ground would be more evocative.
- yoshiks 16y agoI, I cannot write my accurate feeling to the article. It is amazing as web interface, but these images almost make me cry...
- aw3c2 16y agoThe "after" pictures are in a different tint or colour scheme which means they are biased (or rather, you are biased by the colours like the missing green). Bad comparison.
- lloeki 16y agoDifférent hue yet you can't not be struck by the sheer expression of powerful devastation of those pictures.
- pyre 16y agoWhy are the images tinted though? They did the same interface for some flooding that happened in Australia, and the 'after' images were also tinted similarly.
- ugh 16y agoThey aren’t tinted. It’s all about white balance and levels. My guess is that satellite images are usually heavily edited to give them a natural appearance (and also to make them consistent with other satellite images) but right after a disaster that editing step is probably skipped due to time constraints. I would imagine that the post-disaster images are much closer to the raw satellite output. I turned on grayscale on my Mac – that helps a bit in that it eliminates the color differences but contrast and levels still do not match. The destruction is still very obvious. Pay, or example, close attention to bridges, buildings and trees.
- gus_massa 16y agoSome photos have a no-destructed area that is useful for comparing the differences in the colors. #8: Kashima in Minamisoma #9: Haranomachi in Minamisoma
- rst 16y agoThe clearer contrast is in the built-up areas in "before" photos that are wiped clean of man-made structures "after". It's hard to imagine how anyone in or near those survived. I wasn't paying nearly as much attention to the colors, myself...
- bane 16y agoI think the presence of buildings in the before, and the absence of buildings in the after is pretty noticeable color or no color.
- andrewgulus 16y agoThird picture from the bottom, a new building magically appears in the after picture
- timerickson 16y agoOld satellite imagery in the "before" shot, meaning that building is fairly brand new if a bit recently weathered.
- ars 16y agoApparently the earthquake moved the whole island by about 8 meters! I wonder how that's going to affect GPS maps. 8 meters is enough to put you in a different street on your map. Edit: Oops. 2.4 meters, about 8 feet.
- radu_floricica 16y ago8 feet - a little less then 3 meters. But impressive nonetheless.
- kifou1 16y agoVery nice link thanks.With those pictures, we can realize how terrific was the impact of this tsunami..
- qjz 16y agoAs a tool, these visual diffs are amazing. I'd love to see this feature built into the Google Maps satellite view.
- rabidsnail 16y agoPlease don't use hover for performing actions; your page won't work on touchscreen browsers.