Before and After pictures of Japan | Hacker News Reader

Before and After pictures of Japan

abc.net.au

122 pointsforesterh18 comments

The "after" pictures are in a different tint or colour scheme which means they are biased (or rather, you are biased by the colours like the missing green). Bad comparison.

Différent hue yet you can't not be struck by the sheer expression of powerful devastation of those pictures.

Why are the images tinted though? They did the same interface for some flooding that happened in Australia, and the 'after' images were also tinted similarly.

They aren’t tinted. It’s all about white balance and levels.

My guess is that satellite images are usually heavily edited to give them a natural appearance (and also to make them consistent with other satellite images) but right after a disaster that editing step is probably skipped due to time constraints. I would imagine that the post-disaster images are much closer to the raw satellite output. I turned on grayscale on my Mac – that helps a bit in that it eliminates the color differences but contrast and levels still do not match.

The destruction is still very obvious. Pay, or example, close attention to bridges, buildings and trees.

Some photos have a no-destructed area that is useful for comparing the differences in the colors.

  #8: Kashima in Minamisoma
  #9: Haranomachi in Minamisoma

The clearer contrast is in the built-up areas in "before" photos that are wiped clean of man-made structures "after". It's hard to imagine how anyone in or near those survived.

I wasn't paying nearly as much attention to the colors, myself...

I think the presence of buildings in the before, and the absence of buildings in the after is pretty noticeable color or no color.

I could be spatially challenged enough to not really see it, as the imagery is lacking perspective, but these pictures aren't much after seeing the video footage of the waves rolling in. That was a much starker (re-)realization of their power, similar to 2004.

Perhaps images from a helicopter or high ground would be more evocative.

I, I cannot write my accurate feeling to the article. It is amazing as web interface, but these images almost make me cry...

This interface is so good it's freaky. It's too good. It makes me feel almost responsible for the power of that wave — even as every rational cell in my body begs me that this is not so.

What is the point of "I, I [...]"?

Third picture from the bottom, a new building magically appears in the after picture

Old satellite imagery in the "before" shot, meaning that building is fairly brand new if a bit recently weathered.

Apparently the earthquake moved the whole island by about 8 meters!

I wonder how that's going to affect GPS maps. 8 meters is enough to put you in a different street on your map.

Edit: Oops. 2.4 meters, about 8 feet.

8 feet - a little less then 3 meters. But impressive nonetheless.

As a tool, these visual diffs are amazing. I'd love to see this feature built into the Google Maps satellite view.

Very nice link thanks.With those pictures, we can realize how terrific was the impact of this tsunami..

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