DigitalGlobe satellite imagery launch for OpenStreetMap

The blog post is... not so much misleading, but it doesn&#x27;t clearly communicate the impact of this. It&#x27;s a press release that&#x27;s light on facts and is worded such that the reader will assume the best.<p>A better source is the OpenStreetMap Wiki page on DigitalGlobe [1], which is linked from the article, and has been updated by DigitalGlobe with new info.<p><i>As of May 9th 2017, DigitalGlobe has just announced availability of satellite imagery directly through a newly launched imagery service. <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.digitalglobe.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;digitalglobe-satellite-imagery-launch-for-openstreetmap" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.digitalglobe.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;digitalglobe-satellite-ima...</a><p>DigitalGlobe-Premium is a mosaic composed of DigitalGlobe basemap with select regions filled with +Vivid or custom area of interest imagery, 50cm resolution or better, and refreshed more frequently with ongoing updates DigitalGlobe-Standard is a curated set of imagery covering 86% of the earth&#x27;s landmass, with 30-60cm or resolution where available, backfilled by Landsat. Average age is 2.31 years, with some areas updated 2x year.</i><p><i>DigitalGlobe Satellite EULA: DigitalGlobe, Inc. is pleased to provide its high resolution satellite imagery to OpenStreetMap in support of its mapping initiatives. By using our imagery in the OSM editor, you understand and agree that you may only use our imagery to trace, and validate edits that must be contributed back to OSM. You cannot download our imagery or use our imagery for any other purpose. We retain all right, title and interest in and to our imagery. We provide our imagery “as is,” with all faults and as available; we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, to the extent permitted by applicable law. You can recover from us only direct damages up to an amount equal to the fees you have paid to us to use our imagery on OSM, if any. We are not liable for any other damages, including consequential, lost profits, special, indirect, incidental or punitive damages. Happy mapping!</i><p>Still, this is beautiful and recent imagery and will help greatly for OpenStreetMap contributors to trace up-to-date features.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wiki.openstreetmap.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;DigitalGlobe" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wiki.openstreetmap.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;DigitalGlobe</a>

As a long time contributor to OpenStreetMap, this is hugely appreciated. Getting direct support from Digital Globe is important and hopefully helps signal that OSM is worthy of people&#x27;s time and contributions.

At first I thought it was a data donation, but it seems like it&#x27;s only API integration with support.<p>Still pretty cool as an alternative to Bing satellite data, I guess it&#x27;s pretty unlikely we&#x27;ll have open-licensed satellite data in the near future.

Darn... Doesn&#x27;t look like this is in a JOSM [1] release yet. Really, really looking forward to this. (Mapping areas near my house, especially parks, is something that I find to be a great way to relax in the evenings.)<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;josm.openstreetmap.de&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;josm.openstreetmap.de&#x2F;</a>

This will make a big difference for the rural area I moved to. I was able to trace many of the houses around the outskirts of my village from aerial imagery. However, on the day that both Bing Maps and Mapbox shot their imagery, a massive cloud blanked out the center, the place where most outsiders would be bound for and where most of the POIs are located.