Google agrees to update New Orleans imagery in Maps and Earth

Google Inc. has agreed to replace pre-Katrina satellite imagery of New Orleans with images of the city after the devastation of the 2005 hurricane, according to a blog post by John Hanke, director of Google Maps/Local/Earth.

The company made the decision after receiving a letter (download PDF) from U.S. Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, on Google's decision to "resurrect" the city of New Orleans by replacing satellite imagery from after Hurricane Katrina on its Web site with images taken before the storm.

In his March 30 letter, Miller gave Google a week to answer questions for the subcommittee, including who made the decision to replace the posthurricane photos with the prehurricane photos, whether Google talked to New Orleans officials before making the change, when Google Maps last updated the satellite imagery for the New Orleans area and whether Google was contacted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency or any other governmental agency about making changes to the satellite images of the New Orleans area.

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Regards,
Kumar Thirumal.