Google Maps, Earth updated with high-resolution imagery

In time for the Olympic opening ceremony, Google released a huge update of aerial and satellite imagery for both Google Maps and Google Earth, including for the Olympic Park in London.
Google has added fresh high-resolution aerial and satellite imagery to its mapping services for 25 cities and 72 countries.

Among the imagery to get an update is the Olympic Park, London, where athletes around the world are currently vying for medals in the London 2012 games.

Google noted on its LatLong blog that the pictures show the "final construction touches" being added to the East London stadium, suggesting the images are no more than a month old.

More than 20 U.S. cities have been also updated with 45-degree imagery, which Google users to build its urban 3D models, as part of the refresh. Meanwhile, other major European cities in the U.K., Spain, and Germany also saw upgraded satellite imagery, as did parts of Latin and South America, the Middle East, and Australia.

The new imagery will be available in Google Maps, the online mapping service, as well as Google Earth, the downloadable desktop application.

The refresh comes only a fortnight after Microsoft updated Bing Maps with high-resolution "Bird's Eye" imagery, which allows the viewer to see landmarks and cities from a 45-degree angle, with photos taken from low-flying aircraft rather than satellites.

In the past month, Google has also updated its maps of Antarctica, by adding street-level imagery of the ceremonial South Pole.

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