Updated 1:14 p.m. EST
Google has taken the incredible “Black Marble” nighttime imagery of Earth released last week by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and turned it into a new Google Maps image layer. The data, which clearly shows off the clusters of light from major cities around the globe, was captured over a nine-day period by the Suomi NPP satellite. Check out the view here (screenshot below):
Late update: Science journalist Peter Aldhous, San Francisco Bureau Chief of New Scientist, on December 6 created and released his own version of a “Black Marble” map using the same data and MapBox’s TileMill software (which relies on OpenStreetMap). Unlike Google Maps, Aldhous’s version includes city names layered atop the lights, but does lacks an address search function.
