Satellite image online. Google Maps (Google maps)

Google Maps is a leader among modern mapping services that provide satellite interactive maps online. By at least leader in the field of satellite images and in the number of diverse additional services and tools (Google Earth, Google Mars, various weather and transport services, one of the most powerful APIs).

In the field of schematic maps, at some point, this leadership “was lost” in favor of Open Street Maps - a unique mapping service in the spirit of Wikipedia, where every volunteer can contribute data to the site.

However, despite this, the popularity of Google Maps remains perhaps one of the highest of all other mapping services. Part of the reason is that Google Maps is where we can find the most detailed satellite photos for the largest regions of any country. Even in Russia such a large and successful company How Yandex cannot surpass the quality and coverage of satellite photographs, at least in its own country.

With cards Google anyone Anyone can view satellite photographs of the Earth for free almost anywhere in the world.

Image quality

Pictures of himself high resolution usually available for the world's largest cities in America, Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Asia, Oceania. Currently, high-quality images are available for cities with a population of more than 1 million inhabitants. For smaller cities and other populated areas, satellite imagery is only available in limited resolution.

Possibilities

Google Maps or “Google Maps” was a real discovery for Internet users and indeed all PC users, giving an unheard of and previously unseen opportunity to look at their home, their village, cottage, lake or river where they vacationed in the summer - from a satellite. To see it from above, from a perspective from which it would be impossible to see it under any other circumstances. The discovery, the very idea of ​​giving people easy access to satellite photos, fits harmoniously into Google's overall vision of “easily providing everyone with access to any information on the planet.”

Google Maps allows you to see from a satellite simultaneously those things and objects that cannot be observed at the same time when observed from the ground. Satellite maps differ from regular maps in that they simple maps colors and natural forms of natural objects are distorted by editorial processing for further publication. However, satellite photographs preserve all the naturalness of nature and the objects being photographed, natural colors, shapes of lakes, rivers, fields and forests.

Looking at the map, one can only guess what is there: a forest, a field or a swamp, while on satellite photography it is immediately clear: objects, usually round or oval in shape, with a unique swamp color, are swamps. The light green spots or areas in the photograph are fields, and the dark green ones are forests. With enough experience in orientation in Google Maps, you can even distinguish whether it is a coniferous forest or a mixed forest: coniferous has a browner tint. Also on the map you can distinguish specific broken lines piercing the forests and fields of the vast Russian expanses - these are railways. Only by looking from a satellite can one understand that railways have a much greater influence on the natural landscape surrounding them than roads. Also in Google Maps, it is possible to overlay maps with the names of regions, roads, settlements on a national scale and the names of streets, house numbers, metro stations on a city scale on a satellite image of an area or city.

Map mode and satellite view mode

Except satellite images It is possible to switch to the “map” mode, in which it is possible to view any territory on the surface of the Earth and study in detail the layout and location of houses of any more or less large city. In the "map" mode it is especially convenient to plan your movements around the city if you have already seen enough satellite views of your city.

The search function by house number will easily point you to the desired house, giving you the opportunity to “look around” the area around this house and how you can drive up/approach it. To search for the required object, just type in Russian in the search bar a query like: “City, street, house number” and the site will display to you the location of the object you are looking for using a special marker.

How to use Google Maps

To begin, open some place.

To move around the map, left-click on the map and drag it in any order. To return to the original position, press the centering button located between the four direction buttons.

To enlarge the map, click on the button "+" or roll the mouse roller when the cursor is over the map. You can also enlarge the map double click mouse in the location you are interested in.

To switch between satellite, mixed (hybrid) and map views, use the corresponding buttons on the right top corner cards: Map / Satellite / Hybrid.

Russia is located in the northern part of the Eurasian continent. The country is washed by the Arctic and Pacific oceans, the Caspian, Black, Baltic and Azov seas. Russia has common borders with 18 countries. The area of ​​the territory is 17,098,246 sq. km.

Plains and lowlands make up more than 70% of the country's total area. The western regions are located on the East European Plain, where lowlands (Caspian, etc.) and highlands (Central Russian, Valdai, etc.) alternate. The Ural mountain system separates the East European Plain from the West Siberian Lowland.

Map of Russia from satellite online

Map of Russia from satellite. Cities of Russia from satellite
(This map allows you to explore roads and individual cities in various viewing modes. For detailed study the map can be dragged to different sides and increase)

Russia is rich in huge reserves of fresh water. The largest rivers include: Lena, Angara, Yenisei, Amur, Volga, Ob, Pechora and others with their numerous tributaries. Baikal is the greatest freshwater lake.
The flora of Russia consists of 24,700 plant species. The largest number of plants is in the Caucasus (6000) and the Far East (up to 2000). Forests account for 40% of the territory.
Diverse animal world. It is represented by polar bears, tigers, leopards, wolves and a huge variety of other animal representatives.
Oil reserves have been explored almost throughout the country. The Siberian platform is rich in coal, potash and rock salts, gas and oil. The Kursk magnetic anomaly includes the largest iron ore deposits, and on the Kola Peninsula - deposits of copper-nickel ores. In the Altai Mountains there is a lot of iron ore, asbestos, talc, phosphorites, tungsten, and molybdenum. The Chukotka region is rich in deposits of gold, tin, mercury, and tungsten.
Due to its geographical location, Russia belongs to different climatic zones: arctic, subarctic, temperate and partially subtropical. The average January temperature (in different regions) ranges from plus 6 to minus 50°C, July – plus 1-25°C. The annual precipitation is 150-2000 mm. 65% of the country's territory is permafrost (Siberia, Far East).
The extreme south of the European part includes the Greater Caucasus Mountains. The south of Siberia is occupied by Altai and the Sayans. North-eastern part Far East and Siberia is rich in mid-altitude mountain ranges. There are volcanic territories on the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Kuril Islands.
The population of Russia by 2013 was 143 million people. Representatives of over 200 nationalities live in the country. Of these, Russians make up approximately 80%. The rest are Tatars, Chuvash, Bashkirs, Ukrainians, Chechens, Mordovians, Belarusians, Yakuts and many others.
Russian peoples speak 100 or more languages ​​belonging to the Indo-European, Ural, and Altai language families. The most common spoken languages: Russian (state), Belarusian, Ukrainian, Armenian, Tatar, German, Chuvash, Chechen and others.
Russia has the largest Orthodox population in the world - 75% of Russians. Other common faiths are: Islam, Buddhism, Judaism.

According to its state structure, Russia is a federal presidential republic. It consists of 83 entities, including:
— regions — 46,
— republics — 21,
— edges — 9,
— federal cities — 2,
— autonomous okrugs — 4,
- autonomous region - one.

Russia has enormous tourism potential. However, this area is still waiting for its development. On this moment In addition to the usual resort tourism, new directions are developing, for example rural tourism. Exist different kinds rural tourism: ethnographic, agricultural, environmental, educational, culinary (gastronomic), fishing, sports, adventure, educational, exotic, health and combined.

Rural tourism (agricultural tourism) is, first of all, surrounding nature on all sides, architectural monuments and historical places. Roosters crowing in the morning and fresh milk for dinner, natural food and tourist routes, abounding in beautiful views, holy springs, monasteries, deposits, the beauty of forests and fields, fishing on the shore of the lake, getting to know rural life, traditional crafts, the opportunity to become familiar with the village environment and cultural heritage, walking, cycling and horseback riding. In addition, rural tourism raises the role of local history.

This type of tourism is thriving in Europe, but in Russia it is still an incomprehensible curiosity, however, there are more and more people wanting to relax in the “country” style.

Such a vacation away from the bustle and noise of the city gives a tremendous boost of energy.

To observe the Earth's surface for free and view satellite images online, you can use several applications. In Russia, two of them are most popular: Google Maps and Yandex Maps. Both services boast good quality high-resolution satellite images of most countries.

Yandex maps - online application from Russian developers, therefore, the cities of Russia are more accurately described in it. It has built-in functionality for viewing traffic load data (large settlements), demographic and geodata. Google maps contain no less high-quality satellite images of the territory of the Russian Federation, but data on land plots and traffic are available only for the USA.

View a map of Planet Earth from satellite online

Below you can see the Google map built into the site. For more stable operation We recommend using the plugin Google browser Chrome. If you see an error message, please update the specified plugin and then reload the page.

Watch Google Earth from satellite, in real time online:

Another advantage of Google Maps is the availability client application for working with satellite images. This means that the service can be accessed not only through a browser, but also through a pre-downloaded program. It has many more opportunities for viewing and studying satellite images and working with a three-dimensional virtual globe.

3D satellite map from Google (downloadable app, not online version) allows:

• use quick search desired objects by name or coordinates;
• take screenshots and record high quality videos;
• work offline (preliminary synchronization via the Internet is required);
• use a flight simulator for more convenient movement between objects;
• save “favorite places” for fast travel between them;
• view not only the Earth's surface, but also images of other celestial bodies(Mars, Moon, etc.).

You can work with Google satellite maps through a client application or browser. A plugin is available on the official page of the program that allows you to use interactive map on any web resource. All you have to do is embed her address in program code site. For display, you can select either the entire surface or a specific area (you will have to enter the coordinates). Management - using computer mouse and keyboard (ctrl+mouse wheel to zoom, cursor to move) or using the icons indicated on the map (“plus” - zoom in, “minus” - zoom out, move with the cursor).

The Google Earth service in real time allows you to work with several types of maps, each of which reflects certain data on satellite images. It’s convenient to switch between them “without losing progress” (the program remembers where you “were”). Available modes viewing:

• landscape map from satellite (geographical objects, features of the Earth's surface);
• physical map (detailed satellite images of the surface, cities, streets, their names);
• a schematic geographic map for a more accurate study of surface images.

The satellite image is automatically loaded at the approaching location, so it requires stable internet compound. For work Google Planet Earth in offline mode you need to download an application for Windows or another operating system. Its operation also requires the Internet, but only for the first launch, after which the program synchronizes all the necessary data (satellite images of the surface, 3D models of buildings, names of geographical and other objects) after which it will be possible to work with the received data without direct access in Internet.

Many users are interested in online satellite maps, which give them the opportunity to enjoy a bird's-eye view of their favorite places on our planet. There are quite a number of such services on the Internet, but all their diversity should not be misleading - most of these sites use the classic API from Google Maps. However, there are also a number of resources that use their own tools to create high-quality satellite maps. In this material I will talk about the best high-resolution satellite maps available online in 2017-2018, and also explain how to use them.

When creating satellite maps of the earth's surface, they are usually used as images from space satellites, as well as photos from special aircraft that allow photography at bird's eye height (250-500 meters).

Satellite maps created in this way highest quality resolutions are regularly updated, and usually images from them are no more than 2-3 years old.

Most online services do not have the ability to create their own satellite maps. They usually use maps from other, more powerful services (usually Google Maps). At the same time, at the bottom (or top) of the screen you can find a mention of the copyright of a company for displaying these maps.

Viewing real-time satellite maps is no longer available for regular user, since such tools are used primarily for military purposes. Users have access to maps, photographs for which were taken during last months(or even years). It is worth understanding that any military objects may be deliberately retouched in order to hide them from interested parties.

Let's move on to a description of the services that allow us to enjoy the capabilities of satellite maps.

Google Maps - view from space in high resolution

Bing Maps – online satellite map service

Among the cartographic online services of decent quality, you cannot ignore the Bing Maps service, which is the brainchild of Microsoft. Like the other resources I have described, this site provides quite high quality photos surfaces created using satellite and aerial photography.

Bing Maps is one of the most popular mapping services in the United States.

The functionality of the service is similar to the analogues already described above:

In this case, using the search button you can determine online location specific satellite, and by clicking on any satellite on the map you will get brief information about it (country, size, launch date, etc.).

Conclusion

To display high-resolution satellite maps online, you should use one of the network solutions I listed. The Google Maps service is the most popular worldwide, so I recommend using this resource to work with satellite maps online. If you are interested in viewing geolocations on the territory of the Russian Federation, then it is better to use the Yandex.Maps toolkit. The frequency of their updates on our country’s relations exceeds the similar frequency from Google Maps.