TruEarth® TruViewer™
Google Maps-based TruEarth® 15-meter Global Imagery Viewer

Notes:
1) To see TruEarth® imagery with map overlays, click the "Hybrid" button in the upper-right of the viewer window. Map overlays are provided for location reference only. TruEarth® imagery does not include the map overlay layer.
2) TruEarth® imagery does not include the light blue ocean or ocean relief seen in the TruViewer™, this has been added by Google Maps. Actual TruEarth® satellite imagery is provided as captured by the satellite and appears very dark or nearly black in deep ocean areas. Shallow water and all inland water features will have identical coloring as seen in the TruViewer™.

Current cursor location:  
TruEarth® tile under cursor:

TruEarth® TruViewer™ FAQs.
Use the TruEarth® TruViewer™ to peruse the full TruEarth® global dataset.
With the TruEarth® TruViewer™, you can quickly evaluate the complete global TruEarth® 15-meter basemap imagery dataset. Geographic location and TruEarth® tile names are provided below the display to help in locating your specific area of interest and determining the TruEarth® tiles required to cover the area. TruEarth® tiles are named using the geographic coordinates of their upper-left (northwest) corner.

How to use TruEarth® TruViewer™.
 You begin with a view over the Atlantic ocean.
The red grid lines show the TruEarth® 1-degree x 1-degree image tile boundaries.

Move to a point of interest: Click and drag the image, use the positioning keys on the left-side toolbar or move the blue rectangle in the lower-right overview window
Zoom in one level: Double-click the location or use the + key on the left-side toolbar
Zoom out one level: Right double-click the location or use the - key on the left-side toolbar
Adjust to an arbitrary zoom level: Use the slider on the left-side toolbar
Select Hybrid map type: Shows roadway and map data over TruEarth® satellite imagery; use the upper-right button to select
Select Satellite map type (default): Shows TruEarth® satellite imagery without roadway map data; use the upper-right button to select

The TruEarth® 15-meter basemap dataset.
The TruEarth® 15-meter basemap imagery comprises 3.5 Terabytes of data originating from the ETM+ sensor on the LANDSAT 7 spacecraft operated by the USGS and NASA. Over 8,000 individual LANDSAT scenes were processed based on "best-of" available data circa year 2000. Acquired and processed under NASA contract, the data represents the best quality full-global-coverage dataset ever assembled. The TruEarth® 15-meter global dataset is divided into over 23,000 1-degree x 1-degree fully-uncompressed GeoTIFF image tiles -- each 7,200 x 7,200 pixels in size. TruEarth® color processing provides the natural color appearance.

The server process.
 The TruEarth® 15-meter basemap imagery is served into the TruEarth® TruViewer™ client side application by the Google Earth/Google Maps satellite imagery and map data servers. As you browse the dataset using your web browser, asynchronous requests for image blocks are issued to the Google server. The server extracts the requested image data and delivers the completed image block via the Internet to your browser for display. The complete process takes a fraction of a second and is interleaved with the requests of many other simultaneous users.

The web-browser client process.
The TruEarth® TruViewer™ web client application is built using the Google Maps API, see code.google.com/apis/maps for more information.

Let us know what you think about the TruEarth® dataset!
We appreciate your comments. TruEarth® is used in applications including visualization, simulation, web mapping services, geographic information systems, weather, broadcast news, feature film and television animation and print... let us know how we can support your project.