Living at some distance from New Orleans, I can't offer current word-on-the-street news about our meeting's host city. But this morning's Seattle Times had an AP story that y'all will want to see, because it joins our geographical interest (New Orleans) with our professional interest (information technology): New Orleans locals perplexed by pre-Katrina maps on Google, Seattle Times, March 30, 2007.
Google's popular map portal has replaced post-Hurricane Katrina satellite imagery with pictures taken before the storm, leaving locals feeling like they're in a time loop and even fueling suspicions of a conspiracy.Yet another good example to remind us that not everything on the Internet is absolutely accurate...
Scroll across the city and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and everything is back to normal: Marinas are filled with boats, bridges are intact and parks are filled with healthy, full-bodied trees.
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Chikai Ohazama, a Google product manager for satellite imagery, said the maps now available are the best the company can offer. Numerous factors decide what goes into the databases, "everything from resolution, to quality, to when the actual imagery was acquired."
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