[OSM-talk] Updates to DigitalGlobe Imagery Layers

[Christoph Hormann]

On Saturday 29 June 2019, Kevin Bullock wrote:
> DigitalGlobe, now Maxar [1], is transitioning the OpenStreetMap
> imagery endpoints (from “DigitalGlobe Standard” to “Maxar Standard”;
> and from “DigitalGlobe Premium” to “Maxar Premium”). OSM users should
> see content parity between the old and the new layers by June 30,
> 2019. Starting July 1, 2019, there will be only two Maxar layers
> available from within the OSM editors – labeled with Beta.

My usual question: will there be image metadata available for these 
layers, preferably in a machine readable form that allows editors for a 
spatially selective suggestion of the best available imagery?

> The good news: imagery will be more recent and more frequently
> updated with our latest Maxar mosaic content. We hope that our
> improved production processes (bundle block adjustment, atmospheric
> compensation, continuous updates, etc.) will benefit OSM
> contributors.

A quick look at some critical areas shows that while coverage is similar 
or better than with the old layers there is a significant number of 
places where either the Standard and Premium layers now feature the 
same image or where a well mapping suitable image (at high latitudes 
usually: near snow and ice minimum) is being replaced by a less mapping 
suitable image:

https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=13/73.4207/54.9987
https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=13/75.8010/-83.9056

There seem to be some rendering artefacts at the lower zoom levels:

https://earthwatch.digitalglobe.com/earthservice/tmsaccess/tms/1.0.0/DigitalGlobe:ImageryTileService@EPSG:3857@jpg/11/1940/304.jpg?connectId=d9c5e3ef-6300-4cec-9562-c1f27da6b2d9
https://earthwatch.digitalglobe.com/earthservice/tmsaccess/tms/1.0.0/DigitalGlobe:ImageryTileService@EPSG:3857@jpg/13/2834/2333.jpg?connectId=d9c5e3ef-6300-4cec-9562-c1f27da6b2d9

Examples of useful improvements:

https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/-57.1171/-26.8197
https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=14/75.8120/137.6692
https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=14/81.5993/-16.6763
https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=13/-77.9505/166.6831

-- 
Christoph Hormann
http://www.imagico.de/