[OSM-talk] sub meter imagery for Israel and Palestine

[Mikel Maron]

I don't typically announce "product launches" like this, but given the implications for OSM and an area of the world I care about deeply, wanted to share.

https://www.mapbox.com/blog/new-israel-palestine-imagery

What this means is that OSM editing in Israel and Palestine can now take advantage of high resolution imagery. This has long been impossible because of US law limiting resolution to 2m. That law has changed. Use the Mapbox imagery in editors in order to take advantage of this higher resolution.

What a change from before. Part of the origin story of HOT was fundraising for imagery in 2009, amidst the Israel-Gaza conflict then. All the maps at that time were terrible. We had to buy imagery from Digital Globe, and it was still on 2m resolution. Prior to that I helped kick off mapping of the West Bank -- entirely GPS based of course, since we had only devices to rely on. Spent a lot of time wandering the wonders of Jerusalem, but with no eyes from above.

Hope this helps!

-Mikel

* Mikel Maron * +14152835207 @mikel s:mikelmaron