Using AI to clean up Google Earth Maps

On the left, Dragonfly and Sandpiper Ponds
downloaded from Google Earth.
On the right, same download, Bass Pond,
enhanced using Gemini Nano Banana.   

By Bill Prater 

You’re likely right to be concerned about where technology is taking this world, anglers and hunters along with everyone else. But meanwhile, there’s a new software tool called “Gemini Nano Banana” that can wring the last useful details out of your Google Earth satellite images. I tried it out while using Gemini to restore old family photos, and found it also works magic on images taken from space. 

Trust me on this. And just forget about some other futuristic electronics like “forward facing sonar,” which lets you spy on fish through a high definition camera, like a pervert in a public restroom. Not that those things don’t work – we all know artificial intelligence is changing the nature of tournament fishing, and helping even novices empty some lakes and ponds of their biggest fish. Too much technology can turn the honorable sport of fishing into a wet video game. 

On the other hand, hopefully you’re already using Google Earth to assess your home waters or new ones, so trying this out will be easy.. Short of a drone with a camera mount, this software is the gold standard for studying Mother Earth from above. Google Earth lets you fly around a digital twin of our world, zoom in for a closer look, and then save the results on your computer for a closer exam. Great stuff, but the images are often grainy, as if taken with a low-quality camera. 

Running those results through Gemini Nano Banana, though, you can dramatically refine the images of your favorite fishing or hunting spots, transforming an “acceptable” web image into a sort of high definition map. I call it “digital scouting.” The technique works from a Loveland pond to Flaming Gorge or Lake McConaughey.

Using Google Earth as an aid to fishing and hunting has been around for more than a decade, but running it through Nano Banana is a game changer. (This is not a tutorial or an ad for Google, by the way; I’m just pointing you in the right direction, and advising you to try something new and useful.)

You may already be using Nano Banana to restore faded and battered old family photos. Even novices can produce amazing results with Great Aunt Maggie, and they get better with practice and consistency. I suggest making your own satellite images and turning them into hunting or fishing guides. 

At the top of this article is a side-by-side comparison of the original Google Earth image I made of Loveland's Rivers Edge Natural Area. That’s Sandpiper and Dragonfly Ponds on the left, with the crystal clear version of the adjacent Bass Pond on the right. Notice the details, and how all the “muck” disappears and the shoreline pops. By Gemini’s own estimation, which I think is pretty accurate, I’ve turned a grainy satellite image of three ponds into a high-definition map of the three Rivers Edge ponds, with nearly 14 times the number of pixels, a basic measure of a digital image’s sharpness.

Map your own "Honey Hole"

So. Download Google Earth and Gemini and play with them instead of Facebook or your Tinder membership. (Nano Banana is the brain inside Gemini that handles images) Both have free versions; you’re just limited in the number of Nano Banana images you can work within a 24-hour window. With a few hours’ practice you can fly around the world and zoom in on interesting places. Here’s how to start:

• In Google Earth, Flatten and Orient your body of water: Once you’ve zoomed in, press "U" on your keyboard to reset the tilt for a perfect top-down view. Then, press "R" to ensure the direction North is pointing up. 
• Strip the Clutter: You don't want road names or grocery store icons blocking your view of a prime lily pad field. Under the Map Style menu, select "Clean." This removes all labels and markers. It’s like taking a weed whacker to your map. It chops down all the digital clutter so you can see all the water.
• Export the Image: In the web version, click the Menu (three lines), select Export Image, and choose the highest resolution available. In the Desktop Pro version, go to File > Save > Save Image, and set the resolution to 4K (3840 x 2160).

So far, this is something you’ve been able to do for several years. But now you’re ready to run it through Gemini Nano Banana. (If you need to, crop the image using Google Photos or another photo editing tool. Your kid can help)

Now download and familiarize yourself with Gemini. (It may already be loaded) As software goes, it’s pretty user friendly. You just tell Gemini what you want it to do in plain English, with what is known as an “AI Prompt," and out pops the image. Below is the exact language I used for  River’s Edge, and you can start fresh with your own. Either way, you’ll want to emphasize the need to retain and enhance details, which is the "Golden Rule" for any map. Here is the prompt I used:

"Enhance this satellite landscape photo into a high-fidelity aerial orthophoto. Sharpen terrain textures and maximize contrast at the land-water interface to reveal shoreline structure. Retain all original borders and labels exactly. 6x4 aspect ratio, 4K resolution."

(The term "Aerial orthophoto" tells the AI to treat the image like a technical map rather than a pretty picture.

"Land-water interface": This specifically tells the model to focus on the edges of the pond—where the fish are—ensuring those drop-offs and weed lines aren't blurred away.

That’s it. I’m pretty impressed with myself, for knowing what to tell Gemini that I wanted it to do.

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