For anyone tinged by paranoia, fear not, the eye in the sky has proven to have benevolent traits—especially if you live in the path of a natural disaster. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina last August and the Pakistan earthquake in October, Google Earth—a compilation of hundreds of thousands of images culled from satellites and aerial photography—has emerged as a vital tool in aid of rescue efforts. But as its user base grows, concerns emerge about its ability to help people in far-off places, as well as where to draw the line between disaster relief and spying.
Following Katrina, aerial images with resolutions as clear as 6 to 12 in. allowed rescue workers to quickly pinpoint the worst-hit areas and the location of people trapped on roofs. Because Google Earth is a free, searchable database, charitable organizations were also able to get in on the action—identifying surviving churches to serve as bases for their humanitarian efforts. As rescue efforts wound down in New Orleans, a devastating earthquake hit Pakistan. With the help of Google Earth, Pakistani and international rescue agencies were able to spot passable roads and effects to rural villages that may have otherwise gone unnoticed.
But places like Pakistan are where the problems with Google Earth and other satellite image databases surface, point out members of Global Connection—a partnership between Carnegie Mellon, NASA/Ames Research Center, Google and National Geographic—in a commentary in this week’s Nature. The resolution of photos taken in rural areas is often too low to distinguish details, if the image exists at all. Inaccuracies in the name and location of villages also exist across databases. Rapidly releasing the highest-resolution images and standardizing source data will be important steps toward overcoming these challenges—and continuing a technological revolution in disaster relief.—Adam Raymond
Image of New Orleans from Google Earth