I initially got pretty excited by this discovery on http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ as some of the imagery is 2-4 ft in resolution and dates from the mid-60’s to mid-70’s. It was de-classified in two batches; 1996 and 2002. However, it seems that most of the imagery is quite cloudy (coincidence ?) and there is not much of the 2-4 ft stuff. Additional frustrations are that is costs money (alebeit a small amount – around $30) and cannot be downloaded. But anyone determined enough should be able to their hands on this.
I’m sure there a much larger collections that are not yet de-classified, covering the entire Khmer Rouge period in Cambodia. I wonder why.
Sceenshot of Black and white KH-7 High Resolution Surveillance Photo North of Phnom Penh. Image Date: 1967/05/24. Camera Resolution: 2 to 4 feet
Screen shot of image covering parts of Kampong Thom and Kampong Cham. Acquisition Date: 17-JAN-76. Camera Resolution: 20 to 30 feet.
[…] Hypothetically this could be really amazing. I’m not doing very well with the website interface though. Here are some images gathered through the site by Aruna Technology of De-Classified 60′s Imagery. […]