The huge image update that was added to Google Earth a couple of weeks ago has started to appear in Google Maps, so get suggesting all those cool new places!

Update: Since posting this 4 hours ago, Mount Oyama has been updated to some jaw-dropping high-resolution imagery. Timing huh!?

This is Mount Oyama on the Japanese island of Miyakejima, which is seen here spouting a rather impressive plume of steam. In August 2000 all the island’s inhabitants were evacuated due to the eruptions which started in July of that year. Described as a “3,000 foot column of steam, smoke, and ash [rising] skyward”, could this be a picture of that eruption?

The islands residents weren’t allowed to return return permanently until February 2005 – nearly 5 years later!

Thanks to Greenek.

Probably the most famous volcano of all, this is the mighty Mount Vesuvius. Here you can see the crater, which was captured on this day shrouded in clouds.

Way back in 79 AD, Vesuvius underwent a catastrophic eruption which buried the Roman city of Pompeii and its inhabitants under many feet of ash. The city was lost for 1,600 years before its accidental rediscovery, and is a now a major tourist destination – having already provided historians with valuable insight into the day-to-day lives of the Romans.

In Pompeii you can see the layout of the houses (which long ago lost their roofs), and the Basilica is also clearly visible, but here’s a good map which should help you identify loads more of Pompeii’s places (including the brothel!)

Vesuvius is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years, and is today regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world – not least because 3 million people live in close proximity. The last time it erupted was in 1944, when it destroyed all 88 planes in a U.S. B-25 bomber squadron, and its current dormant period is its longest in 500 years.

Check the wikipedia pages for Pompeii and Mount_Vesuvius for the full history.

Thanks to Tim, Mr.Tea, Jeff Burton, tony, Adam Orford, Ben, Kyle, Garrett, Garrett, Stephen Bates, Tijd, Joez, John Lewis, Clint, Mark Ross, Boniface, Serge Lyubomudrov, n.darcq, Rob B and the other 92 people who submitted this since I missed it out last year!

Last year we mentioned that Nicaragua has loads of volcanoes, but that they weren’t yet in high-resolution. Since then Nicaragua’s most active volcano Masaya, has received fantastic coverage of its multiple nested pit craters Masaya, Santiago, Nindiri and San Pedro (Wikipedia page).

In April this year, Mount Merapi began erupting for the first time since 2002. Indonesia’s most active volcano, it has erupted 68 times since 1548 – thoroughly earning its name, which means “Mountain of Fire”.

Just over a week ago 2 people were sadly killed by the volcano, and tragically some 5,000 people were killed and 200,000 were left homeless by an earthquake which struck to the south west on the 27th of May.

And unfortunately it seems that Merapi isn’t finished yet.

Thanks to Mathieu Villeneuve.