Bird's eye view of Silom ...

[Smiles]

Can't recall which recent post mentioned this, but it was regarding upgrades made to GoogleEarth and a new picture quality/definition etc etc.

Hadn't gone there in some time, so I took a look this morning and that post was quite correct. For Bangkok at least the picture definition is getting much better.
For quite some time the GoogleEarth photo details were on the blury side (they stll are if you zoom in too close) for photos of foreign cities: the very best definition was reserved for US cities like New York and LA.

But this is quite good I think. This is a shot above Silom Road. One corner of Lumphini Park where it meets Rama 4 & Silom is on the upper left, and you can easily see Saladaeng Skytrain station on Silom Rd. Silom Centre is lower middle.
DJ Station is down there in the middle somewhere :bounce:


http://members.shaw.ca/dcproject/Images/silom_rama4.jpg


http://members.shaw.ca/dcproject/Images/saphan%20taksin.jpg

Cheers ...

Amazing.......... looks quiet & clean.

They need to zoom in closer!

[Jetsam]

They need to zoom in closer!


Indeed , great way to keep an eye on your "bf" when you are 10000 km away :bom:

[Smiles]

A few months ago GoogleEarth had not updated their program and the Pattaya/Jomtien area was just a greeny/brown/white jumble where nothing could be made out.

Now it's quite clear all the way past Bahn Saray. Jomtien now shows up quite well . . .


http://members.shaw.ca/dcproject/Images/jomtien.jpg


Can anyone point out the area where the planned 90-story monstrosity will be built?


Cheers ...

[Jetsam]

Great view of the Jomtien complex Smiles, but it must be an old image because I miss the big twin tower hotel next to jomtien complex in this one. I guess the 90 story building will be build on the area behind the Bondi, there was heavy construction work last may.



ok , maybe the big twin tower, are the little white squares :clown: from above it's less impressive

[catawampuscat]

I would be amazed if this tower actually gets built, especially in the current "wait and see real estate environment...

I would check on the new Pattaya real estate website, if the new owner and most esteemed poster on this forum would advise
us of it's internet address.. Somehow, I think that scoop should be made by the owner , who has been surprising quiet about
this amazing and very well done internet site.. I wonder why he hasn't broken the news.. ummmmmmmm :cat:

[Impulse]

very nice Smiles,Jetsam the 90 story building will not be built where you are refering to but several blocks southeast of the Bondi.Even that building if it gets done will look small on google earth.

[jimnbkk]

Smiles' photos are great. Jetsam, you cannot see the Jomtien towers, but you can see their shadows just fine in the photos.

The 91-storey monster will be built just about an inch above the word "Posiedan" (sic) in the photo. It's in the first vacant lot below the double quonset-hut looking buildings in the photo. The photo is apparently a couple of years old in that View Talay Residences 3 and 4 are not shown at all in the photo, but VT Residence 1 and 2 are there. Residences 3 and 4 are essentially complete now.

[Jetsam]

Nice view on Sunee Plaza :geek:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v70/Jetsam/sunee.jpg

Monty's poolbar is in the shadow of the Yensabai Condo.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v70/Jetsam/sunee2.jpg

Im almost sure i saw Edith in all her finery on one of those! pics

Smiles, thank you for the annotated photographs :)

I wonder if the images (that Google are publishing) are not a bit old -- if we use the shadows cast by View Talay 2 as a measurement, it appears that View Talay 5 is not built yet in this image. And while other swimming pools are a quite visible bright blue colour, the Avalon Hotel pool is not visible.

[Smiles]

" ... I wonder if the images (that Google are publishing) are not a bit old -- if we use the shadows cast by View Talay 2 as a measurement, it appears that View Talay 5 is not built yet in this image. And while other swimming pools are a quite visible bright blue colour, the Avalon Hotel pool is not visible ... "
I've wondered that as well. I haven't really looked too closely at the Google download, but I will when I get a chance and will see if I can find out the dates things were photographed.

I assume that Google uses some country's satellite and rents time from them to take these photos, and really it must be a very long process as they have thousands and thousands of clear shots from everywhere in the world. But of course, within weeks or months of uploading them, the've changed (new buildings go up, airports get built etc etc.) I'm sure it's a huge chore to update continually.

But they are not TOO old . . . one of the shots I've saved shows the new Bangkok airport substantially built, and it wasn't that long ago that the runways and terminal were still being constructed.

Cheers ....

Monty's poolbar is in the shadow of the Yensabai Condo.

More likely Monty's poolbar is in the shadow of Billy's enormous gut

" ... [i]
I assume that Google uses some country's satellite and rents time from them to take these photos, and really it must be a very long process as they have thousands and thousands of clear shots from everywhere in the world. But of course, within weeks or months of uploading them, the've changed (new buildings go up, airports get built etc etc.) I'm sure it's a huge chore to update continually.


Yes -- Google buys them from Space Imaging (or one of their channels), who sell ground stations and other cool toys, then buy back images from their customers when needed. Typical images are as old as 18 days, but I doubt if Google is buying refreshed images that often (satellite images are *expensive*). It would appear that they are buying images at an infrequent interval to save costs. I remember the Avalon Hotel already being built during my Chinese New Year holiday (February), so these must be at least 6 months old.

An for a bit of detective work -- I would guess that Google only purchase the medium resolution images we see here for areas that get a given number of 'clicks.' Given that this application is database-driven, it shouldn't take too long to do a mass update of images.

Anyway -- it's a cool service, and the guess work was eliminated by the time you spent putting in the annotations :)

Try tilting the image and "flying" above the landscape in Google Earth. Quite a nice 3-D effect.