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<img height="122" src="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/new_new_orleans.jpg" width="207" border="0" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 5px 5px" />Prompted by public outcry over Google Earth's recent imagery update, Google has rushed out yet another image update providing new, improved, high-resolution imagery of New Orleans in its post-Katrina state.
Over the weekend Google replaced its satellite images of New Orleans with pre-Katrina images causing some, including a U.S. senator (PDF), to cry "conspiracy" and accuse Google of trying to rewrite history.
However, a post this morning on the Google Blog claims that the [updated images were the result of a resolution upgrade][3] and not part of some larger attempt to bury evidence of Katrina.
John Hanke, on of the Product Directors for Google Earth, writes of the Katrina images:
We continued to make available the Katrina imagery, and associated overlays such as damage assessments and Red Cross shelters, on a [dedicated site][1]. Our goal throughout has been to produce a global earth database of the best quality -- accounting for timeliness, resolution, cloud cover, light conditions, and color balancing.
Hanke goes on to say that Google was surprised at the reaction to the updated images, but has, as a result, "expedited the processing of recent (2006) aerial photography for the Gulf Coast area" and released another update late Sunday evening.
The new update restores the post Katrina imagery in higher resolution, a change the Google says it was planning on making anyway, but thanks to internet outcry you can now have your high resolution images and your Katrina damage.
Check out 27B Stroke 6 for [more coverage on the initial image change][2].
[1]: earth.google.com/katrina.html "dedicated Katrina images"
[2]: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/04/google_rebuilds.html "Google Rebuilds New Orleans Overnight"
[3]: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/about-new-orleans-imagery-in-google.html "About the New Orleans imagery in Google Maps and Earth"
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