VentureBeat

One the most important parts of online mapping tools is the satellite imagery that is used. Right now, the images used by Google, Microsoft and Yahoo in rival products are all roughly the same. But Google just bought an exclusive ticket to hitch a ride with a new satellite going up that could make its offering a lot better.

Google has signed a deal with satellite imagery company GeoEye for exclusive use of the images produced by the company’s new GeoEye-1 satellite, according to Reuters. The satellite will reside 423 miles above the Earth and will be able to produce imagery that is so sharp, Google will have to tone it down to put it on the web.

The GeoEye-1 will be able to get details with a resolution of 41 centimeters, but current licenses with the U.S. government will limit usage to 50 cm or worse. Most commercial imagery satellites have a resolution of 60 cm, a Google spokesperson tells CNET.

Google is unlikely to use images that sharp anyway as 41 cm is the resolution for black and white images only, color images have a maximum resolution of 1.65 meters.

Google currently uses satellite imagery from GeoEye rival DigitalGlobe. Others, including Microsoft, use it as well. The new GeoEye imagery will be used in both the Google Maps and Google Earth products.

Thanks to the exclusive deal, Google also gets to place a logo on the rocket which will carry the GeoEye-1 into orbit. You can watch the countdown to launch on the site. It will blast off in almost exactly six days and it will be streamed live.

Below is a sample image of what 1 meter versus 50 cm resolution imagery would look like. If there was a game going on, you could almost watch a play at the plate in 50 cm resolution.

[images via GeoEye]

We’re one week away from the opening of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Most of us stateside likely won’t be making the long trip, but there are a few interesting ways to keep up to date on the action around the web.

First and foremost, NBC will be streaming over 2,000 hours of live content and 3,000 hours of on-demand video to the Internet via its site NBCOlympics.com, reports CNET. This will not only be a big test for Microsoft’s Flash competitor Silverlight, which will power the site’s web video player, but also for the viability of large-scale live web video itself.

Earlier this year, CBS earned rave reviews for its streaming of the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament on the web. It was so popular that some employers even had to block access to the site. However, on the opposite end, MLB.tv revamped its site for live baseball game coverage this year and has been marred with problems.

Also looking to capitalize on the excitement is Google. Today, Google’s Maps team updated its data to include new imagery footage above Beijing that is less than two weeks old, according to the Google Lat Long Blog. The new images look great. (See below)

View Larger Map

This Google Maps and Google Earth (the imagery is updated for both) China coverage update is somewhat surprising for two reasons:

First, as Google itself notes, “it’s very hard to get good satellite photos of Beijing due to clouds and other atmospheric conditions.” By that it means pollution, which is a major problem in the city. So much so that the use of cars has been restricted to try and curb emissions leading up to the games. Google credits its partners GeoEye and DigitalGlobe with cutting through the fog (or smog).

Second, it’s no secret that China is notoriously restrictive when it comes to the web and access to its people. High resolution satellite imagery of the country would seem like something China would definitely be against, but perhaps it made some compromises for the Olympic coverage. Apparently the areas with the new coverage are Beijing, Tianjin, Shenyang and Quindao.

There has also been a FriendFeed room set up to cover the Olympics live and on-location. Blogger Chad Catacchio (also the marketing director at ZoomProspector), is over in China for the games and will be piping in live updates, news and pictures among other things into his Beijing Olympics FriendFeed room.

Covering events using FriendFeed has worked well for us in the past, it should be interesting to see how the Olympics unfold on the other side of the world.