Color Maps of Earth - where to get them ?

Geology and Terrain
1

Hi,

I`ve spent few days googling internet but I only found sites that sell the color maps (taken by satellite) for ridiculous amounts of money.

Are there some color data available for more reasonable prices or even for free ? Lets say I would like to create 3D screensaver (I have my own tested fully-working 3D screensaver framework, where Id like to plug-in my recent terrain renderer enahncements). What are my options ?

2

this site may help, imagery made to be used in Celestia
http://celestiamotherlode.net/catalog/earth.php.
SeerBlue

3

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarble/BlueMarble_monthlies.html
http://planetpixelemporium.com/earth.html
http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/326956

4

Thanks for the links, they prove useful for high-orbit flythroughs around the earth - I didnt know there are 64k color maps available. But what about more detailed color maps ? It doesnt have to be full earth of course. Id concentrate on certain parts of it - say 100x100 km area. But Id like the area to be of pretty high resolution - 10-30 m/pixel (with 30 being almost unusable, but if it was free, it could still be usable).

What are my options in this case, beside obvious thousands-dollars worth of satellite imagery from well-known imagery providers ?

5

Ok, that’s a bit tricky… do you own a plane and a digital camera? :wink:
One option would be to make screenshots from google earth. Those overlays are of high wnough resolution for you. The worst problem will be, that they aren’t always derived from seamless shots.

Or you can go there: http://seamless.usgs.gov/website/seamless/viewer.php At least for the US you can get LOTS of data of all kinds - eleveation, forest coverage and other geographic stuff. And probably satellite color images too. :slight_smile:
(But I didn’t try the satellite images)

6

The problem with Google Earth (and similar programs) is that I cant use the output commercially(and usage in screensaver sold for money is definitely a commercial usage). The same problem is with DigitalGlobes Download service. You pay $100 for a image 3000x2400 - which would be sufficient for my purposes (even though Id have to buy 4 of them - but $400 is still reasonable amount). However, youre not allowed to use it commercially even though you pay $100 for one image.

As for USGS, last time I looked, it either didnt have satellite images for commercial usage or it was of very low resolution. Ill recheck today again.

In worst case, I might get away even with 100m/pixel resolution (if that is available somewhere for free or reasonable amount) and just adjust the camera height respectively. But that would affect the very purpose of the screensaver.

Earth Observatory has 500m/pixel resolution. Any ideas about higher resolution for commercial usage for a reasonable price ?