The Map Room

Ryan Strynatka compares oblique imagery to top-down imagery. In a nutshell, tall buildings. “One problem with nadir imagery is that it can be difficult to tell how tall buildings are, or gather any information about buildings (or anything other features with a ‘vertical’ aspect). Oblique photography allows users to see the sides of buildings and other objects, which has a lot of appeal for a variety of applications,” he writes. “The downside of oblique imagery is that, depending on the angle, objects in the foreground (e.g. highrises) can obstruct the view of anything behind them.” As usual, it depends on what you’re looking for.