Error in Google Earth

Error in Google Earth

The top and bottom photos are of the same area near the summit of Bridge Mountain, NV; the top image is from Terraserver (via ExpertGPS), and the bottom is from Google Earth. The same two GPS tracks are plotted on both images; the tracks are slightly different, as I took slightly different routes up and down on that particular day. However, on both trips I went over the natural arch, and also went up the diagonal crack on the eastern summit. The Terraserver image is correctly registered; the Google Earth image is off by several hundred feet, with a displacement (of the image) to the east (at least, that was the case in Feb '07). In places, the Google image puts the track in the air south of a huge cliff. Terraserver is often misregistered as well; in fact, it was misregistered in this very area until this last year. However, in the Mojave-southern NV-western AZ area, Google seems almost universally misregistered in non-city areas. This image is meant to be informative. PLEASE don't vote on it as a "thing of beauty".
MoapaPk
on Apr 5, 2007 12:56 pm
Image ID: 282823

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cp0915

cp0915 - Apr 5, 2007 3:53 pm - Voted 10/10

Informative

10 of 10.

mgeo

mgeo - Apr 5, 2007 8:40 pm - Hasn't voted

Datums and Projections

If your map and your GPS unit are using different datums and projections, this is always going to be an issue.

MoapaPk

MoapaPk - Apr 5, 2007 9:38 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: Datums and Projections

Supposedly, Google earth is WGS84. The tracks are WGS84. In other nearby areas, more citified, the choice of WGS84 gives very close registration.

The vast majority of programs will assume WGS84 for upload and download of tracks; other datums on the GPS are mainly for the GPS display. NMEA communications are an exception, and some programs (like Nat Geo) must have explicit instructions.

SusanM

SusanM - Apr 11, 2007 8:56 am - Voted 10/10

Interesting

to see the differences.

Viewing: 1-4 of 4