Keep in mind that for measuring roof areas, this measuring technique is only usefully accurate for low-slope or “flat” roofs.
I believe they all got that figure from an old post on the Google Earth blog that has since been deleted.Īnyway, if you’re going to measure a roof using satellite images, you should try to be sure the roof hasn’t been altered recently. There is currently no official guidance from Google about the average age of the images used in Google Earth, but there are a lot of websites claiming the average image is 1 to 3 years old. But the images they use are typically anywhere from a few weeks to a few years old. Google Earth works by compiling a massive database of satellite images which they combine to create a seamless collage that covers almost the entire globe in amazing detail. Nobody on Earth has the capacity to let millions of random users control a camera on a satellite at the same time, which is what would be necessary for that.Īnd they certainly wouldn’t let anyone use a satellite-based camera for free. To do that, you would have to be able take control of the camera on a satellite, point it at your house and zoom in. If you’re here wondering if you can see a real-time satellite image of your roof, the answer is “no, you can’t”. Some Notes Before We Start No, You Can’t See a Satellite View of Your Roof in Real Time
