At this moment, dozens of government satellites are taking high-resolution pictures of the planet. But citizens get only limited services such as Google Earth, which provides imagery that’s sometimes 10 years old. This fall, however, the Canada-based company UrtheCast (in partnership with the Russian space agency) will install two cameras on the International Space Station (ISS) that will continuously capture still images and high-resolution video and upload them to a free public database online, where the curious can study their yards and the entrepreneurial can obtain needed data.

 

Will I be able to find myself?
No, but you could find your car or house. UrtheCast’s video camera has a three-foot resolution and can distinguish groups of people, not individuals. It will shoot approximately 150 video clips a day. The still camera has a 16-foot resolution that can capture buildings, rivers, and roads. It will take a photo every millisecond.