During broadcasts of the evening World Cup games, Das Erste TV
offers its viewers a special, eye-catching treat: images taken
from space zooming directly into the playing fields show the
World Cup stadiums in a whole new perspective. Such views, not
previously available, are made possible thanks to satellite data
provided by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). These animated
zoom views should not be compared with images usually found on
the web. Instead, they comprise data from actual satellite
photographs combined with sophisticated digital image processing
and high-resolution computer animation. Additionally, the
satellite images are enhanced with high-resolution picture data
gathered by aircraft in order to make additional details
recognizable. The space images are provided by scientific
satellites conducting Earth observation missions and the
animated zooms are created by processing images taken at
different resolutions. Among other support, the commercial firm
European Space Imaging served as partner to D