France discovered a swimming pool for men via satellite. But could you do it using Google Maps?

The use of satellite images is common in military or government operations, like what happened to a French citizen: they discovered his swimming pool by analyzing satellite photos. And a question arose: could we do the same thing using applications like Google Maps or Earth? The truth is yesalthough with many nuances.

Currently we are used to knowing what a place looks like by opening our Google Maps and clicking on the satellite layer (also in Street View). Images captured from space allow you to visit almost any part of the globe with a ease and realism that we would not have imagined thirty years ago. In addition, it is free, which must also be valued, because a satellite involves an investment of hundreds of millions. Having an aerial camera is just a few clicks away.

If you are not looking for a classified area, you will have a satellite image

Companies like Google include satellite images in their mapping applications that are linked together precisely to square up plans and aerial photos (except in China of course). This allows us to travel anywhere without getting up from our chair. And “spy” on any house as if we were a cheap James Bond.

We might think that if a government has access to satellite images to monitor its citizens, why can’t we do the same if there are apps that offer this information? Generally speaking, parallelism exists, and it is not in vain in both cases. aerial images obtained by a satellite orbiting the Earth. Although there are two key differences:

• The definition of the image. Civilian applications do not offer high resolution satellite images. Yes, we can certainly detect the swimming pool that a neighbor is building if it is very large, but not if the construction is small.
• The latest images. A government has access to images in real time (or almost, depending on when the satellite crosses the surveillance zone), in a mobile application these images can take years to update.

Yes, we could check if our neighbor built a swimming pool and filled it despite water restrictions. We might even know if he parks the car in front of the door when we’re not there. But the image displayed by the application should be coincides with the date on which the events occurred.

Companies like Google use a combination of providers to map the entire Earth via satellite, making it almost impossible to escape their Big Brother eye. And we say almost because There are areas where satellite maps are blurry, classified areas impossible to access from Google Maps (military installations, prisons, critical infrastructures, etc.). If we do not live in one of these “secret” areas, our house will be accessible to anyone who opens the satellite view.

Refresh rate is key

A satellite image taken seven years ago, for example, is useless, at least if you want to see something recent. Although there is no uniform update frequency: depending on the map area, Google updates satellite images every few weeks, months or years. In more populated areas, the update frequency is higher, they are more reliable in making changes visible on the surface.

How do governments obtain their satellite mapping? Just like Google, I will companies that own satellites and distribute captured content. And we can do it too: for example, Airbus has its own satellite constellation that sells images to governments, businesses and individuals. Even we could get them ourselves; with high resolution up to 30 cm.

It would be difficult to find a recently built pool through Google Maps or Google Earth, it all depends on whether we live in an area where Google updates frequently and whether the satellite imagery update is recent enough. But this same basin surely cannot escape a government that is looking for land registry fraudsters.

Cover image | Ivan Linares

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