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Can anyone point to a resource that lists the accuracy of measurements taken in Google Earth?

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How accurate are you looking for? metre/feet or nano-metre/inch? – Mapperz♦ May 27 '11 at 14:30
Feet would be sufficient. Was really just looking for any sort of information on it. – Zachary May 27 '11 at 16:36

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up vote 6 down vote accepted

Apparently, the measurment ruler is not accurate over long distances > 5,000 km.

Google's offical stance says, "makes no claims as to the accuracy of the coordinates in Google Earth. These are provided for entertainment only and should not be used for any navigational or other purpose requiring any accuracy whatsoever".

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Thanks for the response. Can you add a link to the page where you found the official stance? – Zachary May 27 '11 at 16:34
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google.com/support/forum/p/earth/… is the official stance – Mapperz♦ May 27 '11 at 16:44
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@Mapperz that's the accuracy of the imagery coordinates. Distance calculations could be much less accurate than that. @art A quick test (measuring a great circle of 40,000 km) suggests the accuracy is pretty good--far greater than one would expect from the orthographic projection used. What are you citing when you refer to "long distances > 5,000 km"? – whuber♦ May 27 '11 at 20:24
@whuber, the 5K km distance was just a blog conversation that I hit on a google search. – artwork21 May 29 '11 at 3:31
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After just installing a break water and knowing all the dimensions, i checked it on google earth to see how close the eye in the sky is, on 470 ft it showed 477 ft, I tried google earth pro it did not make a difference. I have used it before and it seemed the accuracy was better. The location used was 48d38'59.33"N x 123d33'07.23"W The long leg of the east to west break water sections is accually 470'7" x 20' wide.

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