Jackson County residents can soon take a virtual tour of the Rogue Valley, weaving through 3-D representations of neighborhoods generated by powerful software from Internet giant Google.
County commissioners this week agreed to give Google access to aerial photos of Jackson County in exchange for software that creates 3-D images that will be available on the county Web site, www.jacksoncounty.org and through the Google Earth software application, which is available for free to the public in its basic version. The software in the exchange helps create 3-D representations of buildings on the two-dimensional aerial photos that the county has already taken. Keith Massie, the county's geographic information system manager, said the new software, valued at $3,000, will allow the county to render buildings like the Lithia Springs Hotel in Ashland, or even create a mock-up of the proposed Lithia tower in Medford.
"People can then see how it fits into the downtown landscape." Massie said.
The software will allows anyone with access to a computer to see how their homes appear on their property or neighbor's property. It will also make it easier to identify the zoning on parcels.
By January, Massie expects much of Ashland will be viewable in 3-D on the county Web site because it was part of a pilot project last summer by a Southern Oregon University student. Soon after, he expects to have a 3-D version of Medford followed by the rest of the county.
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The county already makes available the regular 2-D images free of charge through the Front Counter application on the county Web site.
Google Earth is an Internet tool that allows viewers to zoom in on different parts of the world, picking out a house or landmark in sometimes great detail depending on the original image. Locations can be viewed using an address or manually zooming in on areas.
Oregon is one of the first states to partner with Google to provide local aerial photos, which are of higher quality than the photos Google currently gets from another national company, said Massie.
Commissioner Dave Gilmour said Google Earth allowed him to see his daughter's house in Auckland, N.Z., and identify her little red car and her husband's BMW, which makes him a little nervous about the technology.
"When it gets down to the point you can see individual cars, that's too intrusive," he said.
Commissioner Jack Walker also said he could see the new roof on a family member's house in Portland.
Despite questions about privacy, Gilmour said the new technology also has some advantages.
Rural fire districts could analyze where houses and roads are in the case of an advancing wildfire.
"It's not all bad," he said "But you have to use the information in ways that are respectful of people's rights."
Google's 3-D images are one of its newest features, available only in some areas like San Francisco, although those images are still fairly crude with 3-D white and gray building shapes placed over a 2-D photo image.
Josephine County also provides images to Google Earth under a similar agreement.
The software doesn't show an actual building, but extrapolates its size and dimensions from data compiled by the county to come up with a rendering.
The county first took aerial photos in 2002 and 2003 at a cost of $600,000, which came from federal grants.
In 2005, the state decided to take the lead in aerial photography. The county has since bought photos from the state at a cost of $3,500.
The new images are fairly detailed showing objects as small as a half meter, or about 1 1/2 feet, although not in a high resolution at that level of detail. A car in a parking lot would be identifiable in these photos.
Massie doesn't think the aerial photos provide so much detail that they might reveal too much about what's going on in the privacy of people's backyards.
Even though computer technology is advancing, Massie doesn't expect real-time aerial views of Jackson County anytime soon.
"I don't think so," he said. "In 20 years, sure."
Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476 or dmann@mailtribune.com.
