Tag Archives: satellite


Satellite Images of Homes

A new home brochure or an MLS listing will provide you with a good deal of information about a new home but sometimes it’s beneficial (and fun) to experience a view of the property from space i.e., a satellite image. Where is your home in relation to the nearby school, highway or shopping centre? If you are relocating to another city and don’t have the luxury of researching the surroundings in person, then viewing a satellite image is a very worthwhile task.

One of the most popular means to view satellite imagery is Google Earth which allows visitors to travel over and zoom in on stitched together satellite photos of the world. In addition to viewing a home, Google Earth can be used to find driving directions, local restaurants and other points of interest, determine the distance between two locations and research various destinations around the world. You can explore rich geographical content, save your toured searches and share the information with others.

Google Earth 5.0 was released on February 2, 2009 as a free version available for download. It can even be downloaded to your iPhone and iPod Touch with the same features as the desktop version.

How to View a Satellite Image of Your Home:

– In the Search Panel on the left of the screen, click Fly To
Enter the address of the home in the input box and click the Search button
– In the search results, double click the address
– Google Earth will now fly you to this location
– Zoom in and out, turn the map or tilt the view by using the tool in the top right corner
– In the Layers Panel on the left side, you have the ability to turn on or off (by checking the boxes) certain layers of geographic content. Some layers are not visible until you zoom into an area. Some examples of layers are roads, borders and labels, schools, parks and shopping.

Google Earth acquires imagery which is approximately one to three years old. The approximate date of the displayed imagery can be found in the status bar at the bottom of the 3D viewer. Up-to-date satellite image sets are more expensive the newer they are so Google Earth, being a free product, uses images that are a little older. Google Earth allows you to print, save and email your searched images and views as a placemark in Google Earth or regular JPG image.

Many of the features of Google Earth and now being incorporated into Google Maps, so it is not entirely necessary to download it. If you want to view a location through Google Maps, just type in the address as you would normally and when the location appears, click on “Satellite” in the top right corner. You still have the ability to view or hide layers, although you can’t specify which ones.

If you’ve tried to view a satellite image of your home or another location, did you find it useful?