Above – Infographics for the People

TWO DIFFERENT WAYS OF LOOKING AT OUR PLANET.

Composite
For his project “Exodus,” Marcus Lyon assembles multiple photographs to make large, richly-detailed visions of extreme mass transit. There are around 1,000 photographs of Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road in this image. They were taken from the roof of a hotel. The 750 vehicles represent the 750,000 miles that the average motorist drives in a lifetime. Click on the image for a larger version.
See more of “Exodus,” and other projects at http://www.marcuslyon.com

Air traffic over London.

Containers in Hong Kong.

Ships in the South China Sea.

Images © Marcus Lyons.

Oblique reality
Planet Labs (https://www.planet.com) uses more than 190 Dove, RapidEye and SkySat satellites to capture comprehensive real-time imagery of the Earth. The miniature Doves (which Planet Labs manufactures) make a satellite constellation that once a day makes a complete image of the globe at 3 meter resolution.
Dove dimensions: 3.9 x 3.9 x 11.8 inches (10 x 10 x 30 cm).

They capture not only the kind of satellite views we’re used to seeing, from directly above, but also can give us views from oblique angles.
Below, Cape Town.