Oblique aerial imagery for Canadian cities

someone123 · #1 Posted **Apr 30, 2012, 8:46 PM**

As many of you probably know, Bing has oblique aerial imagery for many Canadian cities: http://www.bing.com/maps/

Here's an example. Oblique aerials are shot from an angle so that you can see buildings. In a satellite photo the view is top-down so you don't get much detail:

(source: Bing)

A few cities now have oblique imagery available at a larger scale (zoomed out). Some only have zoomed in imagery (Victoria, for example), and Winnipeg sadly doesn't seem to have any at all. Most of the imagery seems to be from around 2008 or 2009.

Google Maps has oblique aerial imagery but right now it is only for a limited number of locations. San Diego was one of the first cities to get it. Hopefully soon they will have imagery for Canadian cities as well.

The zoomed out aerial photos are a great way to get a sense of how built up a city is:

Vancouver

Halifax

I'll leave it to others to post other cities.

Rico Rommheim · #2 Posted **Apr 30, 2012, 8:52 PM**

Wow that tool is amazing. I'm already addicted!

Ramako · #3 Posted **Apr 30, 2012, 8:54 PM**

Toronto's is pretty out of date, however Nokia's 3D Maps offers a high-detail 3D view of Toronto, which is less out of date.

Unfortunately the feature is not available for any other Canadian cities.

DizzyEdge · #4 Posted **Apr 30, 2012, 8:55 PM**

Looks like Calgary just has the zoomed in type.

Rico Rommheim · #5 Posted **Apr 30, 2012, 8:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ramako

.

Unfortunately the feature is not available for any other Canadian cities.

Of course not, why would it? It's not like if there are other cities. Everybody knows.

Ramako · #6 Posted **Apr 30, 2012, 9:05 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

Of course not, why would it? It's not like if there are other cities. Everybody knows.

It's not available for most cities on the planet. I believe they've only done 23 cities so far (up from the original 20).

Chinook Arch · #7 Posted **Apr 30, 2012, 9:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

Looks like Calgary just has the zoomed in type.

Calgary does have the bird's eye view from the angle, but it's quite outdated. Bankers Court is still u/c in the images.

Coldrsx · #8 Posted **Apr 30, 2012, 9:09 PM**

Ridiculously cool, although Edmonton is 4 years out of date.

Metro-One · #9 Posted **Apr 30, 2012, 9:40 PM**

OK guys, no need to point out how out of date every city is.

Given that this is based off of public domain optical remote sensing the temporal resolution will be very poor, therefore every city is going to be a few years out of date.

No one is going to think less of your city simply because a few new buildings are not represented yet.

Bdog · #10 Posted **Apr 30, 2012, 10:29 PM**

Looks like Sim City to me

le calmar · #11 Posted **Apr 30, 2012, 10:58 PM**

From left to right: downtown, Saint-Henri, Verdun, Lasalle, Nuns' island

The typical Montreal neighbourhoods

flar · #12 Posted **Apr 30, 2012, 11:10 PM**

I noticed that google maps has an oblique view for central Ottawa, but only when you zoom in. Not sure what other cities have it so far.

Robertpuant · #13 Posted **Apr 30, 2012, 11:15 PM**

Without cheating (using Google map), I'm looking for Le Marché Jean-Talon in that pic. Is it in there?

Rico Rommheim · #14 Posted **Apr 30, 2012, 11:19 PM**

I reckon the typical Montreal hoods could use some green roof initiatives. Imagine the potential for urban farming and green roofing with the tens of thousands of flat-top rowhouses!

Also, I just took a tour of the port of Montreal, which is not something you can do in real life. Fascinatingly, huge. I like it.

Also, I suggest to fly over the Olympic stadium, insane.

le calmar · #15 Posted **Apr 30, 2012, 11:20 PM**

Marché Jean-Talon doesn't appear in this shot. It would be 4 or 5 streets further to the right though. The large brown building in the middle is the hôpital Jean-Talon.

vanatox · #16 Posted **Apr 30, 2012, 11:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robertpuant

Without cheating (using Google map), I'm looking for Le Marché Jean-Talon in that pic. Is it in there?

Look just above the 2012, you will see the Bell building on Jean-Talon near St-Denis. Le marché Jean-Talon is just outside that pic at the bottom right...

Wharn · #17 Posted **May 1, 2012, 1:39 AM**

Only a very small part of downtown seems to have oblique view. Being London is suffering.

Hybrid247 · #18 Posted **May 1, 2012, 4:10 AM**

Ottawa

Phil McAvity · #19 Posted **May 1, 2012, 7:49 AM**

Bing maps aren't as good as Virtual Earth used to be a few years ago before Microsoft renamed them "Bing" maps for some reason. Virtual Earth used to let you zoom in and out 3 or 4 times whereas Bing maps only offer two zoom settings. Still pretty cool though and way better than anything i've ever seen from Google.

matthew6 · #20 Posted **May 1, 2012, 9:10 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by vanatox

Look just above the 2012, you will see the Bell building on Jean-Talon near St-Denis. Le marché Jean-Talon is just outside that pic at the bottom right...

Actually you just located Marche Atwater.