The API will give developers access to Getmapping’s complete archive of aerial photography of Britain, at a variety of zoom levels up to 12.5 cms per pixel. Because of the increased clarity provided by the photography, mobile users will be able to see details on the ground as small as garden furniture and road markings anywhere in the country.
The API is a light-weight REST-based interface that will make it easy for application developers to integrate Getmapping’s imagery into mobile services.
Gopal Krishnan, Getmapping’s technical director said: “It has been clear for several years that imagery would one day have an important part to play in mobile location-based services, but until now mobile devices have not had the power or the screen sizes to handle such detail effectively. However, the new generation of mobiles can handle these images and we expect that imagery-based applications will soon be commonplace”.
Getmapping also believes that the success of imagery-based mobile applications will depend on a simple and affordable pricing model. This will make the imagery attractive to users and application partners alike.