Researcher Wants To Build Real Time Internet Satellite Surveillance System

from the sounds-like-fun dept

Just a month after Google bought Keyhole, a researcher is claiming the ability to create a Keyhole-like system that will let you zoom in via satellite in real time, to a resolution where you could even determine the make of a car. It's not at all clear how this is actually done. The basic description of the service sounds exactly like Keyhole, right down to the quote: "You'll see a globe, like a virtual Earth, and then you can fly in from outer space and zoom all the way in to a city and even to street level, which will be updated by very nice, high-resolution imagery." If you've ever used Keyhole, you'll know this is exactly how it works. However, it then claims that it meshes satellite imagery with "real-time remote sensors" monitoring weather and traffic to make the system more real-time. While the article goes on to quote people worried about the privacy implications, honestly, this sounds exactly like Keyhole, but with traffic and weather data overlayed -- something Google/Keyhole could probably implement within a month if it wanted to. If it's simply using still satellite imagery, then the surveillance issues seem fairly minor.

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