"Even satellites can utilize the charts. Here’s a chart as seen by the satellite used for Google Maps"
It's not clear that that is a satellite photograph. Just because it was taken from above it doesn't mean a satellite did it. Mapping services (such as a Google's) do a disservice to call all this overhead photography 'satellite'. It's the sort of looseness that causes people to think cellular telephones also talk to satellites.
I just spoke to someone who thought that internet connections from the US to Europe go via satellite because there is so much water in between and you cannot just put a cable there. The cables are amazing (baffling even) but come on, they've been there for 150 years!
> Two American commercial satellite imagery firms — DigitalGlobe and GeoEye — have joined forces with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in support of the global team of space and satellite agencies that constitute the International Charter "Space and Major Disasters".
> GeoEye satellite imaging technology is state-of-the-art. The geospatial data we capture provides clients with the highest resolution, most accurate satellite imagery in the world. ... We own and operate a constellation of Earth-imaging satellites and an international network of ground stations.
^ They even have pictures of the satellites (in case there is still any question that GeoEye is being misleading when they use the word "satellite" ;P).
Can you say more? I am more than happy to believe I'm analyzing the copyright wrong. Is the idea that that location is covered by a few different things, and the copyright is based on the location, not the data actually being shown? I had assumed that there was some complex relationship between the USGS and the localities involved in the photography.
Not really, I don't know a lot about it. My assumption is that Google shows attributions by lat/long and not zoom. I found one page about it, it doesn't say much:
I also assume that the USGS collects imagery from localities, but I think they are simply aggregating anything of sufficient quality that would be available under a FOIA request (or so, basically, cooperating with anyone that cooperates).
edit: USGS would be pulling in local data because it was more recent.
It's not that far off, there is a ton of satellite photography in Google Maps. It's the other way around, but satellites talk to cell phones and I don't fault people for not knowing it's one-way.
> It's the sort of looseness that causes people to think cellular telephones also talk to satellites.
Anyone who hasn't heard of a "cell tower" in 2013 just doesn't care about what makes the phone go. Cell phones have been around, talking to towers and not satellites, for decades. You can't help everyone.
It's not clear that that is a satellite photograph. Just because it was taken from above it doesn't mean a satellite did it. Mapping services (such as a Google's) do a disservice to call all this overhead photography 'satellite'. It's the sort of looseness that causes people to think cellular telephones also talk to satellites.