Orbimage’s satellite photos of New Orleans post-Katrina, here and here, are in black and white; as a result, the detail is much sharper and the flooded parts of the city are much more visible, as the example above (courtesy Orbimage) shows.

False-colour images can be more revealing than straight photography, too: Spot Image’s infrared photo of the city brings the flooded areas clearly into view, especially when compared with a similar 2001 photo.

Via Cartography.