The Japanese Advanced Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, or ASTER, is an instrument on board NASA’s Terra spacecraft. The map it produces is called a global digital elevation model, and gets its 3D effect by combining two slightly offset two-dimensional images. The update to the ASTER data adds 260,000 images to the already-expansive map and improves basically every measurement — spatial recognition, horizontal and vertical accuracy, recognition of bodies of water. The map covers 99 per cent of Earth’s landmass, and its measurement points are just 30m apart. Read More
