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Google Maps and select satellite view. Two Google maps

Google Maps service (Google Maps) is one of the most powerful mapping services in the world. Its capabilities allow you to enjoy satellite images of the surface of our planet. You can also use the interactive map, easily plot a convenient route from point A to point B, get up-to-date information about traffic jams and much more. However, not all users in to the fullest are familiar with the capabilities of this service, which in some way prevents its full use. This material designed to eliminate such “blank spots”, in it I will talk about Google maps, which are available online in real time and in excellent quality, and explain in detail how to use their capabilities.

Studying the functionality online service Google Maps

Google Maps is a web service that provides detailed visual information about geographic regions and places around the world. In addition to displaying a conventional road map, the service also offers aerial and satellite imagery of various locations, including images taken using a variety of vehicles.

This is what the Google Maps start screen looks like:

Google Map includes several popular services:

The route planner offers the creation of routes for drivers and pedestrians who want to get from point A to point B;
The Google Maps API makes it possible to insert maps from Google Maps into various websites;
Google Street View (Google Street View) allows users to view the streets of various cities around the world, virtually moving through them;
Google Maps for mobile platforms offers GPS navigation mobile devices to position the user on the map;
Ancillary services offer images of the Moon, Mars, clouds, etc. for astronomers and just amateurs.

To start working with Google maps in full screen, launch the service google.ru/maps. A schematic map of the world will open in front of you (depending on the user’s location, usually this is a map of Europe).

Instructions for using Google maps

The Google Maps service interface looks like this:

Additional options in the Menu item

Also in the Google Maps menu bar, which opens by clicking the menu button at the top left, the following useful options are presented:

« Satellite» - switches to photographic map display mode created using satellite photographs. Clicking this option again switches the map back to schematic mode;
« Traffic jams» - shows current ones on at the moment traffic jams in large cities. The color gradation from green to red shows the speed of traffic in the indicated traffic jams;
« Transport» — allows you to display a diagram of public transport movement in the right place;
« Relief» – will allow you to display the relief of a given area
« Transfer of geodata» - allows people to track each other's location using Google Maps;
« My places» — allows you to navigate between places you added in the Google Maps service;
« Your impressions» - will allow you to add some text impression about any of the places on the map (as well as attach a photo of this place).

Activating Google Maps satellite view

Displaying Google maps using satellite photos is one of the most popular forms of working with the Google Maps service. It allows you to enjoy the view of the desired geographical location, created using satellite images, as well as images from special devices operating at bird's eye height (from 240 to 460 meters).

The resulting photographs are regularly updated (their age is no more than 3 years). They enable each user to enjoy a satellite view of the desired places, visually plot the most convenient road from one place to another, and so on.

Google Earth - allows you to enjoy high-resolution images

Among the capabilities of the Google Maps service is the Google Earth service. In addition to the technology of the already well-known satellite mapping of the surface of the globe, Google Earth allows you to view 3D images of many colorful places, while photos of some famous tourist sites have the highest resolution.

A special feature of this service is also two, in our opinion, main functions:

Conclusion

The Google Maps service allows you to both view satellite maps in real time for free and use various forms navigation to create a user-friendly route. At the same time, Google Maps' competitors - Yandex.Maps, Bing Maps, Apple Maps and other analogs are generally inferior to Google maps both in coverage area and in general functionality. Therefore, we recommend using Google maps to search and visually view the geographic location you need.

What are Google Maps? This is a service that consists of several applications provided for free, and includes the mapping site Google Maps and a route planning program (Google Transit). Google Maps offers satellite views for many cities around the world and includes detailed diagram location of streets, houses, travel routes public transport or a car, a guide to various objects, etc.

Features of work

Google Maps is displayed in two variations:

ordinary traditional card(analogous to Mercator maps)

and satellite images (not online, but taken certain time back).

The scale of the maps is also based on the Mercator projection, that is, it is constant and changes from the poles to the equator downwards.

Another separate project of the corporation is closely related to Google Maps - Google Planet, which corresponds to a globe on which the regions of the Earth's poles are clearly visible.

What locations are satellite imagery available for? Not for everyone, but only for big cities Russia, England, America, Canada and others.

Not all governments have approved such placement and use of images (as the placement of some objects that are clearly visible on maps can be used by terrorists to plan and carry out attacks).

That is why many objects on maps are shaded. Such “classified” objects include, for example, White House or the Capitol.

Different places on satellite images are shown in different resolutions - the less populated the area, the less detailed it is. Also, some places in the pictures may be hidden due to cloud shadows.

Google Maps online

switch to satellite mode- lower left corner;
zoom in/out- lower right corner.

The company barely introduced new service, a wave of interest in satellite images has swept across the world.

The creation of sites began on which free access satellite images began to be posted interesting places, unusual architectural landmarks, stadiums, man-made formations. Since 2008, the US Weather Service began using Google Maps to prepare its forecasts.

It should be noted that not all images were taken from satellites - most of the images were obtained through aerial photography from a height of 300 meters.

Online google maps Maps uses JavaScript quite extensively. As the user moves around the map by dragging it, new areas are downloaded from the server and displayed on the page.

If the user is looking for specific objects, the search result is inserted into the sidebar, and the page itself does not require a reload. The location on the map is displayed dynamically via a red marker icon.

In 2006 year the first version for mobile phones, and in 2007 a second version appeared. A service similar to GPS is used to determine the location of the phone.

In 2008 year Google Maps could be used for Android, Windows Mobile, Symbian, BlackBerry, Java (from 2+), IOS (Apple), Palm OS (Centro+).

In 2011 In 2018, the corporation announced that it provides mapping services to more than 150 million customers.

To allow owners of third-party sites to use Maps, Google announced in 2005 free service API (Application Programming Interface) cards.

The map can be placed on any website using this technology for interaction software. Today there are more than 350 thousand such sites around the world.

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 satellite images high resolution most countries.

Yandex maps is an online application from Russian developers, so Russian cities are more accurately detailed 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 of the plugin, we recommend using 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 presence of a 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 a quick search for the desired objects by name or coordinates;
take screenshots and record videos high quality;
work offline (preliminary synchronization via the Internet is required);
use a flight simulator for more convenient movement between objects;
save “favorite places” to quickly move 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 an 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). Control - using a computer mouse and keyboard (ctrl+mouse wheel for zooming, cursor for moving) 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 viewing modes:

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

The satellite image is automatically loaded at the point of approach, so a stable Internet connection is required for operation. For Google work Planet Earth in offline mode you need to download the 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 to the Internet.

Russia is located in the northern part of the Eurasian continent. The country is washed by the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, Caspian, Black, Baltic and Sea of Azov. 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. Western regions 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 into different sides and increase)

Russia is rich in huge reserves fresh water. TO 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 fauna. It is represented by polar bears, tigers, leopards, wolves and a huge variety other animal representatives.
Oil reserves have been explored almost throughout the country. The Siberian platform is rich in coal, potassium 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.
Thanks to 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. The northeastern part of the Far East and Siberia is rich in medium-altitude mountain ranges. On the Kamchatka Peninsula and Kuril Islands– volcanic areas.
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. 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.

In my own way state structure Russia belongs to federal republic presidential type. 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. At the moment, in addition to the usual resort tourism, a new direction is developing, for example rural tourism. There are various types 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, abundant beautiful views, holy springs, monasteries, deposits, the beauty of forests and fields, fishing on the lake, getting to know rural life, with traditional crafts, the opportunity to join the village environment and cultural heritage, and take walks, bike rides and horseback rides. 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.

Google Maps is a leader among modern mapping services providing satellite interactive maps online. At least a leader in the field of satellite imagery and in the number of various 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 as Yandex cannot surpass the quality and coverage of satellite photographs, at least in its own country.

With Google Maps, anyone can view free satellite photos of the Earth almost anywhere in the world.

Image quality

The highest resolution images are usually available for the largest cities in the world 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 the overall concept of Google " easy provision access for all users 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, in satellite photographs all the naturalness of nature and the objects being photographed is preserved, 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 you understand that railways are much larger highways influence the natural landscape around them. 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

In addition to 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 right house giving the opportunity to “look around” the area around this house and how you can drive/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 with 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 in the upper right corner of the map: Map / Satellite / Hybrid.