History of Earth Imaging
The possibility of producing an accurate aerial map came to be with the discovery of safe means of flying and invention of photography. The history of aerial maps can be traced with the rich history of map-making during the time that Babylonians engraved map images in stone tablets. Maps drawn in the ancient times depicted a flat world and ancient people accepted this as reality since there were no means to prove otherwise.
In 1858, the very first image of aerial map was taken in a hot air balloon yet this photo no longer exists today. It is an image taken by French photographer and balloon devotee, Felix Nadar, of a village in Paris, France called Petit-Bectre.
From the very first map made by Babylonians to the first accurate aerial image taken until the modern day aerial map display, the process and visual outputs has drastically changed. Nowadays, digital imaging through satellite feeds allows precise creation of aerial map images where visual outputs appeared very real and data obtained are updated up to the last second. Three-dimensional images are obtained from the modern means of aerial map-making. Along with the vivid images, aerial surveillance permits the collection of elevation map data that can be used for further activities such as rendering of 3D models, geographical analyses of terrains, flight simulation and automotive safety.
Nowadays, Google Earth is one of the most accessible and easy to use software that allows display of aerials maps from any part of the globe. This software allows viewing of any city, terrain, island or sea with the latest timestamp.