“Earth’s Wonders Like You’ve Never Seen Them Before”: These Angled Satellite Images Are Like Aerial Photos From 280 Miles Up

Nadir view of Monte Fitz Roy, Chile and Argentina. March 2, 2016. RapidEye. Image ©2018 Planet Labs, Inc.

Satellite photos are generally shot straight down at the Earth and make the world look like flat, detailed maps. But shoot satellite photos at an angle, and suddenly they look like aerial photos captured from impossible heights with the world’s longest telephoto lens.

“It’s like getting a view out the window of an airplane 450 kilometers [~280 miles] high,” writes Robert Simmon, an engineer at Planet, operator of the world’s largest commercial satellite network.

Planet recently used its constellation of 13 SkySat satellites to shoot “a series of experimental, off-angle images that capture some of the world’s most stunning vertical features.” It’s a perspective that makes the real cities look like the computer game Sim City, Engadget writes.

More info: Medium h/t: petapixel

Oblique view of Monte Fitz Roy. March 19, 2018. SkySat. Image ©2018 Planet Labs, Inc. cc-by-sa 4.0.

Doha, Qatar. November 11, 2017. Image ©2018 Planet Labs, Inc. cc-by-sa 4.0.

Houston, Texas. March 14, 2018. Image ©2018 Planet Labs, Inc. cc-by-sa 4.0.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. March 10, 2018. Image ©2018 Planet Labs, Inc. cc-by-sa 4.0.

Bilbao, Spain. March 13, 2018. Image ©2018 Planet Labs, Inc. cc-by-sa 4.0.

Shanghai, China. March 9, 2018. Image ©2018 Planet Labs, Inc. cc-by-sa 4.0.

Osaka, Japan. March 13, 2018. Image ©2018 Planet Labs, Inc. cc-by-sa 4.0.

São Paulo, Brazil. March 12, 2018. Image ©2018 Planet Labs, Inc. cc-by-sa 4.0.

Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa. March 19, 2018. Image ©2018 Planet Labs, Inc. cc-by-sa 4.0.

Salto Angel, Venezuela. March 23, 2018. Image ©2018 Planet Labs, Inc. cc-by-sa 4.0.

Gasherbrum Massif, Pakistan. March 11, 2018. Image ©2018 Planet Labs, Inc. cc-by-sa 4.0.

Blue Mountains, Australia. March 17, 2018. Image ©2018 Planet Labs, Inc. cc-by-sa 4.0.

Mount Etna, Italy. March 10, 2018. Image ©2018 Planet Labs, Inc. cc-by-sa 4.0.

Zion National Park. United States. March 21, 2018. Image ©2018 Planet Labs, Inc. cc-by-sa 4.0.

Bora Bora, French Polynesia. March 9, 2018. Image ©2018 Planet Labs, Inc. cc-by-sa 4.0.

Klyuchevskaya Volcano, Russia. March 11, 2018. Image ©2018 Planet Labs, Inc. cc-by-sa 4.0.

Deccan Traps, India. March 22, 2018. Image ©2018 Planet Labs, Inc. cc-by-sa 4.0.

All photographs © 2018 Planet Labs, Inc. and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0