IMINT & Analysis: Libyan NFZ: The SAM Threat
Sean O’Connor over at IMINT & Analysis has a thorough exposition of the Libyan anti-aircraft surface-to-air missile bases that the US and UK Tomahawk missiles have likely been targeting.

Separately, IMINT & Analysis also updates the available intelligence on the newest class of Chinese submarines, spotting one in the North Sea Fleet in the latest imagery available on Google Earth. The submarine in question is moored outside the “secret underground submarine base” much-blogged here on previous occasions.

Global Heritage Fund: Global Heritage Network
The Global Heritage Fund, a non-profit dedicated to preserving the world’s cultural heritage, has just launched Global Heritage Network, a very impressive browser-based augmented Google Earth application that overlays all manner of geospatial information over threatened world cultural sites. Included in the entry for Kashgar are some of the photos I took in August 2010 (blogged here). I found this web app to be surprisingly usable and useful — often, these kinds of projects don’t work beyond being a technology demonstration. (To get a URL link for a view of a specific location, perform a search for it and click on the resulting link.)

Nikon Rumors: Satellite images of Nikon Sendai plant before and after earthquake
Goole Earth and Maps has been used in many ways to document the the earthquakes and the tsunami’s devastating effects in Japan this past week (See Google Lat Long Blog, Japan Quake Map). One more unusual use of the post-tsunami satellite imagery was by Nikon Rumors, which was able to confirm a lack of damage to one of the main Nikon factories, located in Sendai. No doubt equity analysts the world over are doing the same so as to adjust their portfolios. One thing to remember when looking at the before and after imagery: It can only show damage to physical capital, not human capital — it won’t tell if or how many Nikon plant workers, living nearby, perished.