Worth Remembering

There's an interesting item on the Google Earth Blog -- Aerial Photography Getting Boost from Google Earth -- that points to an article in the Scotsdale (AZ) Times on the growing prevalence of aerial imagery available on-line.

The article -- Eyes In The Sky -- is a bit sensationalist, as the Google Earth Blog points out, but it does highlight how public access to imagery has proven a marketing boon to the imagery industry.

It also reminds us that, as we go before state, county and local governments seeking funding for imagery updates, we now face an audience used to Googling, MSNinating, and Yahoovering their way to what appears to be a ready-made public data trove.

That leaves us with the challenge of explaining why we need to pay for updates. But it also gives us an audience that now has an appreciation of the value of aerial imagery.