3D Digital Earth: Big Pics

Oct. 19, 2011 -- Draping satellite imagery over a three-dimensional model aids civil engineers in planning highways, provides overviews of cultural and environmentally significant lands, and helps mining companies search for natural resources, said Mike Abrams, science team leader at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. But it also looks really cool. The above image for example is the latest 3D topography map of the Grand Canyon.

Earlier this week NASA and Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) released an updated version of their global digital elevation model with 260,000 more stereo-pair images. The result is a 3D digital topographic map of the world. The stereo-pair aspect comes from "merging two slightly offset two-dimensional images to create the three-dimensional effect of depth," NASA explained in a statement.

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NASA's Terra spacecraft has on board the Japanese Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument, which takes the images used to make the map. "The ASTER data cover 99 percent of Earth's landmass and span from 83 degrees north latitude to 83 degrees south. Each elevation measurement point in the data is 98 feet (30 meters) apart," the NASA team reported.

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Above is the latest 3D model of California's Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States at 14,505 feet (4,421 meters) in elevation.

This flyover of the Hawaiian island of Oahu was made by draping Jan. 13, 2010, image data from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft over new ASTER Version 2 digital elevation data. Credit: NASA

IMAGES: In this perspective view looking to the northeast, the buildings and roads in the center foreground are Grand Canyon Village. The Bright Angel Trail can be seen descending 3,000 feet (914 meters) to Indian Garden, before continuing to the Colorado River far below. Completing the 25-mile (40-kilometer) rim-to-rim hike takes the hiker to the North Rim and the North Rim Lodge. The ASTER image is located near 36 degrees north latitude, 112.1 degrees west longitude.

Credit for both images: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team