I'm not sure where else to ask this, so perhaps someone here can answer my question.

I have two computers I use: my home laptop and my school work computer (I teach 9th grade).

My home computer receives its WiFi from Cox San Diego, whereas my school computer receives its WiFi from the school district.

Everything else opens up identical from one computer to the other: e-mail, Facebook, Google, etc. But there are two different versions of Google Maps and Google Satellites.

The home version is very current. As of today, March 14, 2023, Terminal 1 is "missing" the deconstructed gates at the far east end, the area has been dug up, and construction is beginning on the new Terminal 1. SLC airport has its new terminals in place, MSY (New Orleans) is fully completed, and EWR's new Terminal A is (almost) ready. I know Google Satellite view doesn't update daily, but it does a great job.

But for some reason, the school version of Google Satellite View is outdated to the point of being ridiculous. On this version, San Diego & Tijuana's Cross Border Xpress hasn't even broken ground. SLC still has the old pier system (even the E gates, the first taken down, are still in use!), construction hasn't broken ground on the new passenger facility at MSY, and EWR hasn't started on the new Terminal A.

For the life of me, I can NOT understand why Google keeps two sets of images, nor why I can access one on one particular set-up and the other only on the other.

Any insights?

PSAatSAN4Ever wrote:

I'm not sure where else to ask this, so perhaps someone here can answer my question.

I have two computers I use: my home laptop and my school work computer (I teach 9th grade).

My home computer receives its WiFi from Cox San Diego, whereas my school computer receives its WiFi from the school district.

Everything else opens up identical from one computer to the other: e-mail, Facebook, Google, etc. But there are two different versions of Google Maps and Google Satellites.

The home version is very current. As of today, March 14, 2023, Terminal 1 is "missing" the deconstructed gates at the far east end, the area has been dug up, and construction is beginning on the new Terminal 1. SLC airport has its new terminals in place, MSY (New Orleans) is fully completed, and EWR's new Terminal A is (almost) ready. I know Google Satellite view doesn't update daily, but it does a great job.

But for some reason, the school version of Google Satellite View is outdated to the point of being ridiculous. On this version, San Diego & Tijuana's Cross Border Xpress hasn't even broken ground. SLC still has the old pier system (even the E gates, the first taken down, are still in use!), construction hasn't broken ground on the new passenger facility at MSY, and EWR hasn't started on the new Terminal A.

For the life of me, I can NOT understand why Google keeps two sets of images, nor why I can access one on one particular set-up and the other only on the other.

Any insights?

I suspect it's a licensing fee issue, Google earth gets their image from Landsat / Copernicus and they possibly pay based on views. The educational system contract is fixed price over years, so they cut costs by using something that has little value to anyone else.

Now that you remind me, I may decide to pay for the professional version of Google Earth, if it has more up to date graphics.

There's alternative maps available for Flight Simulator these days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mTnsvPicQI

Thank you for the response! That sounds quite logical. I'll go with that unless someone from my school district says otherwise.

PSAatSAN4Ever wrote:

Thank you for the response! That sounds quite logical. I'll go with that unless someone from my school district says otherwise.

Question - is this all through the same URL? Just maps.google.com, right?

bluecrew wrote:

PSAatSAN4Ever wrote:

Thank you for the response! That sounds quite logical. I'll go with that unless someone from my school district says otherwise.

Question - is this all through the same URL? Just maps.google.com, right?

It is! I have tried repeatedly to tweak that title, but to no end.

Just to be clear on the up to date version you can still see older views. On Google Earth. On Google Maps only the street view.

On a similar theme, I noticed that FlightRadar's satellite imagery data updated a few weeks before Google Earth Pro did. I found that quite interesting and surprising.

And yes as Aesma says, the history tool in Google Earth is invaluable. We are doing some works outside in the garden, so it's really useful to be able to look back and see previous iterations of the landscape, and to look back to drier periods, to see where land drains and hidden ditches are located.

PlymSpotter wrote:

On a similar theme, I noticed that FlightRadar's satellite imagery data updated a few weeks before Google Earth Pro did. I found that quite interesting and surprising.

And yes as Aesma says, the history tool in Google Earth is invaluable. We are doing some works outside in the garden, so it's really useful to be able to look back and see previous iterations of the landscape, and to look back to drier periods, to see where land drains and hidden ditches are located.

FR-24 uses Bing, not GE. Unless you have the enhanced graphics program running.