Google Maps & Google Earth

[Brad]

3D was checked, but the other adjacent buildings were not showing 3D as well. That's why it stood out to me.

I usually leave it off so not too familiar with it, but I think only some buildings have 3D models.

I leave 3D Buildings off and "Terrain" off as well, it can effect which aerial photos you see too.

[TitosBuritoBarn]

Question on Google Earth aerial view.

I was looking at aerials in the Westroads Mall area, and noticed that the main building for the mall is the same no matter what date is chosen on historical view. For reference I have added the aerial from 1985.

Why is it like this?

That looks like a 3D model for it. Go to View > Sidebar and then uncheck 3D Buildings.

3D was checked, but the other adjacent buildings were not showing 3D as well. That's why it stood out to me.

IIRC the public can make and submit 3D models of buildings for Google to include. Google's own 3D rendering system can't always create them properly with the quality of the aerials they get, so they rely on content creation from third party entities. I may have made that up, but I have a strong memory that that at least used to be the case. That would be why you see the main parts of Westroads, but not the surrounding area.

[BRoss]

Google Earth now has imagery from 1/26/2025. It's mostly within the 680 loop but also goes out west along West Center.

[BRoss]

Updated imagery from March 16th is on Google Earth for most of the area now.

[Brad]

Updated imagery from March 16th is on Google Earth for most of the area now.

Unfortunately its one of the lower quality images, probably from a satellite and not a plane.

That said, you can see
Outline of the Mutual Tower above the parking garage, and 2 floors of steel up.
tons of air-conditioner units on the roof of the Duo
Park Fair Mall Gone
Council Bluffs Riverfront work
Creighton Softball Stadium
Airport Terminal Construction
49th and Dodge Apartment
UNMC Apartments
UNMC Core
UNMC Edge District
Diverging diamond interchange at 192 & Dodge
Warhorse Casino
And all kinds of stuff in SW Omaha

[BRoss]

Updated imagery from March 16th is on Google Earth for most of the area now.

Unfortunately its one of the lower quality images, probably from a satellite and not a plane.

That said, you can see
Outline of the Mutual Tower above the parking garage, and 2 floors of steel up.
tons of air-conditioner units on the roof of the Duo
Park Fair Mall Gone
Council Bluffs Riverfront work
Creighton Softball Stadium
Airport Terminal Construction
49th and Dodge Apartment
UNMC Apartments
UNMC Core
UNMC Edge District
Diverging diamond interchange at 192 & Dodge
Warhorse Casino
And all kinds of stuff in SW Omaha

To add to that -

• Construction on the downtown convention center expansion
• Baby Bob pretty much completed
• 168th through Zorinski
• Madison Ave interchange in Council Bluffs
• Completion of the I-480/I-29 interchange
• Progress of the 72nd Street bridge south of I-80
• MUD facility on Blair High Road & development across the street to the south
• Google Data Center on Blair High road
• Apartments north of Millard North - you can see the foundation for the footprint around the garage
• New construction around 180th & Maple
• A bunch of new neighborhoods all over

[bbinks]

I think the date is the 17th. My trash bins are at the end of the driveway for Monday pickup.

[JohnFN]

2025 Historical Imagery up on DOGIS: https://www.dogis.org/Html5Viewer/?viewer=dogis

Judging by what's on my porch and the trees it looks like it's from Feb-Apr this year.

[Brad]

2025 Historical Imagery up on DOGIS: https://www.dogis.org/Html5Viewer/?viewer=dogis

Judging by what's on my porch and the trees it looks like it's from Feb-Apr this year.

Looking at the Mutual Tower, the first pieces of steel were going up and also the eastern half of the yellow form on the core was being taken apart so it should be really easy to date within a couple days.

[remline]

2025 Historical Imagery up on DOGIS: https://www.dogis.org/Html5Viewer/?viewer=dogis

Judging by what's on my porch and the trees it looks like it's from Feb-Apr this year.

Thanks for the link. That is really useful.

If I'm not getting lost in the metadata weeds, 2025_Douglas_County_NE_Imagery > info > iteminfo tells us the imagery capture date:

1" orthoimagery of Douglas County NE captured by Eagleview between March 13-25, 2025

[bbinks]

Why is the current image on DOGIS not on Google historical view? I have not noticed it before. In the DOGIS view my dog is seen in the yard.

[Garrett]

Why is the current image on DOGIS not on Google historical view? I have not noticed it before. In the DOGIS view my dog is seen in the yard.

DOGIS uses its own commissioned imagery as far as I’m able to tell.

[BRoss]

Google Earth has updated imagery south of about Center as well as west of around 96th St. So basically mostly outside of the I-680 loop.

A lot of it is from November and some further west around 204th St is from September. Some of it around the Millard area to Zorinsky is unfortunately a little cloudy tough, but not too bad. Nice to finally get an update since March.

[Brad]

Completely new dogis website.

https://maps.dogis.org/

Click on "Launch New dogis"

[Louie]

No Google Earth 3D updates for close to 3 years in the core. Hopefully that is coming soon.

[Cermak]

No Google Earth 3D updates for close to 3 years in the core. Hopefully that is coming soon.

Agree hopefully get an update soon. What they have now is way old.

[WiinterU]

In my opinion, they are most likely waiting for the Mutual of Omaha Headquarters Tower to be completed before updating it.

[Garrett]

I haven't looked around a ton, but there is May 2026 streetview imagery in downtown

[skinzfan23]

Nice find. I looked a little and it appears its just on a few streets downtown. But maybe more will be coming soon.

[locoluke]

There’s new imagery in the area of 132nd and L as well

[Brad]

No Google Earth 3D updates for close to 3 years in the core. Hopefully that is coming soon.

Agree hopefully get an update soon. What they have now is way old.

Google is killing off the Google Earth Desktop App...

Hi Google Earth Community,

We’re continuing to make Google Earth on web and mobile (Android | iOS) the best place for people to get helpful geospatial insights. While you can continue using the legacy Google Earth Pro desktop app, it will no longer be available for new downloads beginning on June 25, 2027. We encourage using web and mobile for the best Google Earth experience.
Google Earth on web includes the desktop app’s most popular features, in addition to the latest updates like historical Street View, advanced measurement, a robust environment data catalog, project sharing and editing and AI-powered capabilities.

[Louie]

That shouldn’t affect updating the available imagery.

[Brad]

That shouldn’t affect updating the available imagery.

No, but there is a chance those of us that use the Desktop app won't see it. These companies have a way of pushing people away from products they are discontinuing.

[TitosBuritoBarn]

That shouldn’t affect updating the available imagery.

No, but there is a chance those of us that use the Desktop app won't see it. These companies have a way of pushing people away from products they are discontinuing.

That's my main concern. I use Google Earth for looking at historic aerials and making KMZs. It's much easier than going to a county assessor's GIS site.

[nebugeater]

Remember Google Desktop

The search engine for your personal hard drive(s). It was discontinued in the early 2010's, and before it went away, I used it a lot even though I feel my digital filing methods have always been pretty organized. Nothing like the way it functioned has replaced it.

[BRoss]

That shouldn’t affect updating the available imagery.

Interestingly it appears that it does. They recently added new imagery with most being back in February of this year and the web version doesn't have it whereas the desktop one does.

[Louie]

That shouldn’t affect updating the available imagery.

Interestingly it appears that it does. They recently added new imagery with most being back in February of this year and the web version doesn't have it whereas the desktop one does.

For Earth? Or just Maps?

[BRoss]

That shouldn’t affect updating the available imagery.

Interestingly it appears that it does. They recently added new imagery with most being back in February of this year and the web version doesn't have it whereas the desktop one does.

For Earth? Or just Maps?

For Earth.