Essen, from directly above
51.4556° N 7.0116° E · Germany
Sharpest free source hereNRW DOP (Germany 10cm)
Resolution10 cm/px
Free · no signup · view, download a georeferenced GeoTIFF, or time-travel to 2014.
Why this is sharper than Google Maps
Most people assume Google has the sharpest view. For Essen it doesn't: the imagery above comes from NRW DOP (Germany 10cm) at 10 cm/px, versus Google's typical ~30 cm. VNTG checks ~35 free imagery sources — national aerial surveys, Esri, live Sentinel-2 — and shows whichever is sharpest for the exact point you click. You're looking at the Zollverein and centre.
What you can do with Essen in VNTG
- Look closer than Google, free — down to 10 cm/px.
- Download a georeferenced GeoTIFF (EPSG:3857) or PNG + world file.
- Time-travel — step Essen back through every year since 2014 (Esri Wayback).
- See it fresh — render the latest Sentinel-2 pass, usually days old.
- Live overlays — active fires, cloud/weather, and precipitation radar.