Bright Blue Marble Next Gen Imagery: 500m Resolution World Basemap from 2004

April 2004 imagery from NASA's MODIS satellite, processed into a 500-meter resolution global basemap. The 86400x43200 pixel image was color-compressed and noise-filtered for use under hillshading, made available as a 357 MB JPEG-compressed GeoTiff. The Australian Ocean Data Network hosts this layer as part of the Bright Earth basemap dataset.

Use Cases

• Create color-enhanced topographic maps based on the processed basemap layer designed for hillshading.
• Visualize global land cover patterns in Autumn 2004 based on the MODIS-derived satellite imagery.
• Generate reference maps for high-latitude regions based on the snow-covered depiction of countries like Russia and Canada.

Strengths

• 500-meter spatial resolution provides a detailed global view.
• 86400x43200 pixel dimensions offer a high level of detail for a single global image.
• Processing included color and tonal adjustments specifically to optimize the layer for use as a basemap under hillshading.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The image represents a single snapshot from April 2004, limiting temporal analysis.
• The description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

NASA MODIS satellite imagery, processed by the NERP TE 13.1 eAtlas project.

Collection Method

Derived from the Blue Marble Next Generation image, processed in Photoshop and georeferenced with GDAL.

Time Range

April 2004

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-10 21:07:52.357694; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global