The Gargett Mine (48.9712N, 121.6476W) has been closed for years, but since I was evaluating the use of Virtual Earth or Google Earth for a client on the US/Canadian border, I thought I would see how the Gargett Mine area displayed in both.
Well, basically it came down to this – Microsoft’s Virtual Earth smokes Google Earth for imagery for the North Cascades on the US side of the border with very hi-res BW imagery. Google Earth however is better than Virtual Earth on the Canadian side of the border with moderately hi-res Color imagery.
Now since my client is interested in the US side, I have recommended they use Virtual Earth, but for cross-border operations (happens in search and rescue) you need both Virtual Earth and Google Earth. Thing is, you can do search and rescue planning on the US side with the Virtual Earth because of the hi res imagery, but even with the moderate hi res imagery in Google it is difficult as the imagery does break down relatively quickly.
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- Google Earth For Gargett Mine – Note This is as good as it gets
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- Virtual Earth For Gargett Mine – Note It gets much better and you can zoom way in.
If anyone wants the full 1900×1200 7 meg files, let me know, but your better off going to maps.live.com and going to the Gargett Mine (look at it in 3D) and comparing it to the Google Earth (I use the Pro version) for the same location. (Lat/Long is at top of post)
By the way, besides the obvious benefits of having the hi-res imagery from Virtual Earth for Search and Rescue, the 3D views of the area are outstanding. This has clear benefit as well for wild land fires.
