DigitalGlobe, the Longmont, CO-based satellite imagery provider, has once again turned to the crowd to help analyze its images as part of a disaster recovery effort, this time for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared Saturday.
DigitalGlobe is participating in the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared Saturday while flying from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing. The Boeing 777 jetliner was carrying 239 people.
For the search, DigitalGlobe is using its Tomnod platform, which crowdsources the analysis of satellite photos. Tomnod posts images and allows users to scan and tag features and landmarks. In this case, users would be looking for debris.
Xconomy ran a story on Tomnod in November, when the company used it to evaluate damage in the Philippines in the wake of Super Typhoon Haiyan.
According to the company's blog, two of Digital Globe's satellites on Sunday collected images of a 3,200-square-kilometer area in the Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea where the plane may have disappeared. The company has since expanded its search area as Malaysian authorities widen their search.
The story about DigitalGlobe's involvement in the search was first reported in the Denver Post.
I would suggest that the slow loading times are more a result of unusually heavy usage due to people helping in the search. Another factor may be the image details adding to download speeds. All-in-all, this is a great service.
I"ve been trying to get online (off and on) for an hour and a half but it won't let me on. I was able to set up an account but after that the map wouldn't load. I WANT TO LOOK TOO!! I have an idea where the plane might be.
Yes not working for me as well. Very upsetting! Has been down all day I believe. I just get blank page, all blue with tomnod logo on top left and DigitalGlobe logo on bottom right, nothing else!
I see a blue square, no images at all??????
I THINK I FOUND SOMETHING ON MAP 21962 LOWER RIGHT CORNER OF MAP TWO ANOMALYS. ONE JUST BELOW A CLOUD AND THE OTHER 45 DEGREES SOUTH WEST OF THE FIRST. ABOUT AN INCH FROM THE RIGHT HAND CORNER.
post a screenshot. so hard to find these.
I saw it too. Also 2 grids that had very pink looking clouds. The result of an explosion perhaps?
I see somethin like boat i guess on MAP 24091.
Check this out guys and let me know what do you think ??
okay, either there are a lot of 100 ft. long fishing boats on this grid or we have all found something. Wondering if the media or anyone will ever be mentioning this again. They seem quite slow to confirm or deny anything.
So hard to see anything because of their setup. I seem to have found 3 items very similar myself.
gone another couple of hundred miles in either directions if it was on auto pilot?
Slow loading speed: As I mentioned early on, the maps appear to load very slowly, even via my higher speed cable pipeline. As long as you are logged in & can see a message: "Map Loading" in the lower right corner, the system is working. Maps tend to load in small squares of info with hundreds of squares making up your search grid. You may have to just walk away from the machine for a while while they load.
Once the grid is fully loaded, I've found it's easiest to begin at one corner and scroll up or down one screen at a time, searching the screen before moving up or down to next view. Once you hit the top or bottom, scroll right or left one screen, then repeat in opposite direction. It's a lot like mowing a lawn or stepping through a sort of "swim lane" search grid.
I don't mean to sound really terrible but I don't get how this is helping. I've tried to get on many times over the last 24 hours and only have been to actually get on twice. I can't get back to where my tags are, the images are now 3 days old, and there are large areas that were cloud covered. I'm still going to keep trying for a while longer but I think it was a good idea that needs to be more accessible and relevant.
Could we check any of the abandoned airbases in Iran? There is a runway north west of Konarak suitable for landing large aircraft. A novice with only simulator experience could locate it by easily visible landmarks.
Is there a way to go to a certain coordinate on tomnod?
This was a great idea but the site loads slowly, there are no instructions, the features don't always work, the images are days old, trying to coordinate with other searchers on social media and look at their posted maps is impossible, and I just don't see how this could possibly be a valuable tool that so few people can use and/or know how to use. Even questions posted on twitter were not answered. I found zoom in/out by accident and never was able to go back to the tags I had made. Best of luck to future searchers.
, Malacca Strait. The satellites images should cover sea and land if possible.
I found a plane as well.. Dont know if its down..in flight or what. But it looks like a 'prop' plane..But i'm no expert.
Please have a look at maps 24306 of the oil rig then go direct I think south to map 23985 of two objects. what do you think.
Nothing loads. Shame, I wanted to help.
I seriously need to know if someone is really looking/reading through the comments here? is this map updated or live? I need help on getting some Maps and this is serious!
The map I am referring to was taken by digital globe wed 3/12 at 3:58am – can you see the pic I'm sharing?
If i need a map for a specific location.. is that possible?
Not sure – You might try to contact info@tomnod.com to get that info.
Thanks bud for putting me on the rite direction.. hope i get a positive response from them….
Looks like a boat. Seems to be a faint trail behind it.
Look at map 211787 on tomnod. It appears to be a full plane in upper left corner.
Wow, yeah. You're definitely on to something. I would show this to a new station!
Seriously, that is weird. I see it too. Is this a joke?
I looked at it 3 times to make sure myself before I posted it here. But no answer yet from Tomnod if they looked at it.
Strangely, google maps shows cloud cover over this location? Wtf?
@jimblydematt:disqus how do you pull the long/lat for a tomnod map?
I see the same plane in a different map altogether. Something weird here.
I see what may be a plane and wreckage around the same generalized area on Map #592161, #592929, #589882 debris and possible body…not sure….possible wing #584036, #592415 debris, #584534, #596722 not sure what it is…..
It could be "the" plane yet in flight? Is the imagery date compatible?
Could be a 757, they look very similar and the Malaysian 777 took off just after midnight on 3/8/2014 so no way it had the fuel to still be airborne.
Well NO ONE from Tomnod will get back to me on this map. I wonder at times is this site is really working?
WOW seems 90% of the time Tomnod will not load at all.. Wants to crash all the time.. FIX THE SITE so we can help!!! Please!
Maps 281317, 280142, and 27127 from 3/17/2014 need to be reviewed ASAP.
If tomnod would go to there grid map on 3/15/2014 at 4:10am utc map #126974 you might see something interesting there. Nobody is checking it out FBI and CNN might be surprised I contacted both. I found it but tomnod won't send me back to 3/15/2014 at 4:10am to map #126974.