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Satellite Easter Eggs

TheChocolatay writes "Wired has a story on hidden finds in satellite images. They range from sporting events to natural disasters to bombs and firefights in Iraq. Some very interesting and cool pictures." From the article: "Part of it is that we collect so much imagery that a lot of times no eyes have seen a lot of this stuff,...And so (we) go to an area, pop it open, and wow, we didn't intend to capture this icebreaker pushing this submarine."

508 comments

  1. Imagery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The images that this headline conjured up are not very nice at all.

    1. Re:Imagery by cuzality · · Score: 5, Interesting

      For those of us not willing to simply imagine the images mentioned in the Wired story, try the mirrored story over at Mirrordot.

      For more sights to see...

      Interesting Google Satellite Maps (virtual sightseeing)
      highlights:
      • Bill Gates' house
      • White House- with "erased" rooftops
      Google Sightseeing (blog; new sites often)
      highlights:
      • perspective shift over Dallas (Apr 8)
      • Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant
  2. Please send beer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hi this is where I'm staying, please send beer. Suite 315, thanks!

    1. Re:Please send beer by WhitePanther5000 · · Score: 0

      I used to try the same tactic when I was in middle school too... but it never worked.

    2. Re:Please send beer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey, thats the Hilton that Reagan was shot at back in '81.

    3. Re:Please send beer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hmm.. a Slashdotter so close to Dupont?

    4. Re:Please send beer by tcd004 · · Score: 5, Funny
    5. Re:Please send beer by Lars+T. · · Score: 1

      Holy perspective mishap, Batman! That sight must have been stitched from at least 3 different images.

      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

    6. Re:Please send beer by Martin+Blank · · Score: 1

      Nah. That's just where M.C. Escher grew up.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
    7. Re:Please send beer by The_Rook · · Score: 2, Funny

      anybody got the latitude and longitude of the beachs of st. tropez?

      --
      when religion is no longer the opiate of the masses, governments will resort to real opiates.
    8. Re:Please send beer by SteelV · · Score: 2, Funny

      This guy already knew the liqour store. He posted the question as anon coward so he could be quick and have a funny response, I bet.

    9. Re:Please send beer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This looks kind of like Sim City to me...

    10. Re:Please send beer by jericho4.0 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      They were posted 50 minutes apart. That implies a cunning and dangerous personality. I think you should voice your suspisions to Homeland Security.

      --
      "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
    11. Re:Please send beer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those are just the actual forms of the buildings.

  3. Fuck by Realistic_Dragon · · Score: 5, Funny

    That'll teach me to do the bosses daughter outside.

    --
    Beep beep.
    1. Re:Fuck by zuzzabuzz · · Score: 5, Funny

      So large as to be easily seen from space?

      --
      -buzz
    2. Re:Fuck by Binestar · · Score: 4, Funny

      So large as to be easily seen from space?

      Don't say that to her face...

      --
      Do you Gentoo!?
    3. Re:Fuck by ggvaidya · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hmmm ... does this mean all those "13NGTH3N Y0UR53LF" e-mails I get actually work?

    4. Re:Fuck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      I have to pity the guy who went to the trouble of carving "I LOVE DONNA" in a heart in a cornfield, and he was turned down by his prospective gf.

      Donna, if you're reading this - cold. You're freaking cold.

    5. Re:Fuck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny
      Don't say that to her face...

      Which end is her face?
    6. Re:Fuck by Aggrav8d · · Score: 1

      She's so big I'd need a megaphone to be heard by both ears.

    7. Re:Fuck by Cpt_Kirks · · Score: 1

      The ugly end.

    8. Re:Fuck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Neither of the women on /. are named Donna, so drop it.

    9. Re:Fuck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Besides, they're seeing each other.

  4. Interesting, yet... by ackthpt · · Score: 4, Funny
    Something is always happening somewhere, so you're bound to capture some interesting event. Heck I'm sure Zapruder was quite surpised to capture what he did on film. It's not like it wouldn't have happened if nobody had a camera runing...

    "It was the Babylonians in 2300 B.C. that first etched the lay of the land on clay tablets. Google will be taking this to a whole new level."

    Indeed, the engravers were working so fast that they hardly noticed they had captured one of Sargon's armies on the move.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:Interesting, yet... by Rei · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Still, the places I'd find most "interesting" don't go very high res on google maps (at least, not yet). We can't zoom in far enough on Iraq to even see Fallujah, let alone look at detail. We can't see the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. For historic architecture buffs, Europe is sadly low res. As someone who will be going to Japan later this year, it is again, unfortunately, very zoom-limited. I'd love to be able to look at, say, the Three Gorges Dam, or the Pyramids of Giza, but they're not visible. Etc.

      It will be nice if Google maps actually showed most of the stuff that they're talking about.

      As an aside, a fun challenge is to find landmarks from space without looking at the "map" part - only satellite images. I did pretty well on Niagara Falls and the Golden Gate Bridge, but utterly failed at finding Old Faithful.

      --
      Margaret Thatcher died the other day. It was a sad day, but I like to think that she's looking up at us right now."
    2. Re:Interesting, yet... by ggvaidya · · Score: 1

      Indeed, the engravers were working so fast that they hardly noticed they had captured one of Sargon's armies on the move.

      Hey, that sounds interesting! What's the story there?

    3. Re:Interesting, yet... by Moofie · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Stupid American company that's only bought high-res photos of the country that it's...in.

      The service rolled out, what? Two months ago? Earth is big, and satellite photography is expensive. Quit your whining.

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    4. Re:Interesting, yet... by d_p · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Don't expect hi-res imagery of Israel. Congress passed a law requiring all commercial hi-res imagery of Israel to be reduced in quality so that its no better than the imagery being distributed by foreign commerical entities. That means 2m imagery of Israel. You can get .5m or 1m imagery of US military bases but not of Israel. I will withhold comment about foreign influence in the US govt, etc.

    5. Re:Interesting, yet... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i wish it could be integrated with landmarks, so while mapping a route, or trying to find some landmark, one could orient themselves...

    6. Re:Interesting, yet... by mmkkbb · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The first reference I can find to such a law is in the Journal for Historical Review. The home page of this institute seems awfully dedicated to Hitler, and the writeup of the law doesn't mention any specifics, and refers to the "Zionist state". Still skeptical, I found this in the Air Force Law Review, which looks a little more promising (search for 'Israel', but God knows I can't figure out where that shit is in the real law books)

      --
      -mkb
    7. Re:Interesting, yet... by d_p · · Score: 5, Informative

      In 1996, the US Congress passed the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment to the Defense Appropriations Act. That law says that the US government may not license an American remote sensing company to collect or disseminate imagery of Israel at a better resolution than what is generally available from remote sensing companies in other countries, i.e. 2 meters.

    8. Re:Interesting, yet... by haagmm · · Score: 1

      look at iceland. its really detailed (and really cool looking :p)

    9. Re:Interesting, yet... by bluephone · · Score: 2, Informative

      Google bought Keyhole. Keyhole brought you those cool satellite photos of Baghdad and Afghanistan on CNN the past couple years. I'm pretty sure Baghdad and Afghanistan aren't in the US.

      --
      jX [ Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler. - Einstein ]
    10. Re:Interesting, yet... by dbrower · · Score: 1
      If you use the (sadly windows only) subscription Keyhole service, you can get better resolution.

      Keyhole was the most fun 3d video game I bought last year.

      -dB

      --
      "It if was easy to do, we'd find someone cheaper than you to do it."
    11. Re:Interesting, yet... by Analogy+Man · · Score: 2, Insightful

      In addition to the terrorist tactical usage there is the political...for example that damn wall blocking off people's homes from their olive orchards or other places of work.

      --
      When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
    12. Re:Interesting, yet... by biglig2 · · Score: 1

      Ah, but if a tree falls in the forest when no-one is there, does it make a sound?

      I found the satellite photos of Area 51 on google interesting. Not as secret as the buildings nect to the white hous, obviously.

      --
      ~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
    13. Re:Interesting, yet... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe you'll like this:
      http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/

    14. Re:Interesting, yet... by Daedalus_ · · Score: 1

      For the less educated, Zapruder is the one who captured JFK's assassiniation on film.

    15. Re:Interesting, yet... by jakel2k · · Score: 1

      Wow, some of these captures are over 2 years old. I'd though I'd check out Calgary, Alberta, Canada and while scanning over the city I noticed that a road / major intersection that was built over 2 years ago is under construction. A bit dated if you ask me.

      The funny thing is, the google water mark says 2005.

    16. Re:Interesting, yet... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And for the even less educated, it's spelled "assassination".

      HTH

    17. Re:Interesting, yet... by Single+GNU+Theory · · Score: 1

      Assuming that there is gravity enough to sustain an atmosphere for the forest to grow there, it will make a sound. That is, the motion of the tree will cause pressure waves in the surrounding air, even if there is no person there to perceive the pressure waves.

      However, if you had asked, "Does it make a noise?", then the answer is no. It does not make a noise if there is no one there to hear it. "Noise" is a human value judgement applied to a sound. Since there are no people to form an opinion about it, there isn't a value judgement.

      Aren't you glad you asked? :-)

      --
      Little Debian: America's #1 Snack Distro!
    18. Re:Interesting, yet... by Reaperducer · · Score: 1

      There's a difference between a copyright date and the date a photograph was taken. Naturally, they can't fly over every point of the Earth every couple of days. Calgary will get it's turn again eventually. As for the copyright date, it's updated automatically to the current year, just like the copyright date at the bottom of most web pages. You can look at a two-year-old story on Slashdot, and it will still say "1997-2005" at the bottom. Duh.

      --
      -- I'm old enough to have lived through six different meanings of the word "hacker."
    19. Re:Interesting, yet... by Moofie · · Score: 1

      I didn't say that there was no imagery from outside the US. That would have been a silly thing to say. It is silly to expect an American company, whose primary audience is Americans who want to navigate around America, to have as detailed imagery of France as they do of Pittsburgh.

      Criticising a company for catering to its primary audience is silly. Google isn't stopping anybody from making detailed maps of anywhere...they simply happen to provide more detailed maps of America than they do of Hungary.

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    20. Re:Interesting, yet... by bluephone · · Score: 1

      They have great imagrey of Pittsburgh (my hometown), but they need to get higher resolution images of the airport. I wanna see all the new construction in Moon. :)

      --
      jX [ Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler. - Einstein ]
    21. Re:Interesting, yet... by _xeno_ · · Score: 1

      Most of Google Maps appears to be a large public domain image of the Earth's surface that I'm pretty sure is actually false-color (unless you can really see ocean trenches from space).

      Take a look at Alaska - the western side is missing the "(C) 2005 Google" water mark, while the eastern side has it. Scroll over a little to where the actual change-over occurs, and you'll notice that the imagery has a much higher resolution on the eastern side.

      A lot of satelite imagery is simply not available right now - most of the available high-res stuff is only available in North America, and even then some areas aren't available all the way zoomed in.

      Hopefully they'll add more of this data in eventually. Along with map data for more than just the US and Canada while they're at it. Although it is funny to think of all of those roads to nowhere on the southern border of the US.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
    22. Re:Interesting, yet... by KKin8or · · Score: 1
      I managed to find several personal landmarks without the aid of a map or address-- just zooming in and recognizing landmarks and layout. I found the town I grew up in (couldn't zoom in any closer), my high school, where I went to college, my current home (yes, I could pick out the particular roof), etc. The pictures are at least a couple of years old-- there's a playing field at my college on the picture that has been taken over by dorms for the past couple of years. And my house appears to have a pool in the backyard, which it hasn't had for several years.

      It's fun. And a very good procrastination tool.

    23. Re:Interesting, yet... by HogynCymraeg · · Score: 1
      I will withhold comment about foreign influence in the US govt, etc.
      You have withheld nothing...
    24. Re:Interesting, yet... by Zouden · · Score: 1

      Try NASA's WorldWind.
      I can see the pyramids quite clearly with it, and the interface is more fun to use than Google Maps.

      --
      "A week in the lab saves an hour in the library"
    25. Re:Interesting, yet... by Rei · · Score: 1

      But does it run in wine? :P

      --
      Margaret Thatcher died the other day. It was a sad day, but I like to think that she's looking up at us right now."
    26. Re:Interesting, yet... by jericho4.0 · · Score: 1
      Google might be getting the majority of revenue and hits from the US at the present time, but they have a very international outlook. I'm sure by the time the 'beta' tag is removed, the content will reflect that.

      --
      "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
    27. Re:Interesting, yet... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

    28. Re:Interesting, yet... by Moofie · · Score: 1

      ...which only underscores my point.

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    29. Re:Interesting, yet... by mmkkbb · · Score: 1
      --
      -mkb
    30. Re:Interesting, yet... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      well the source is availible so if it doesn't run in wine it can be fixed ;)

  5. Zoom out and you see even more by mrRay720 · · Score: 5, Funny

    In one I saw Italy and Greece kissing when they thought we weren't looking.

    1. Re:Zoom out and you see even more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I saw Iraq attack Turkey from the rear.

      I think Greece would have helped...

  6. Nothing New by superpulpsicle · · Score: 2, Funny

    Didn't that old movie "Clear and Present Danger" already demonstrated satellites watching real events, real time somewhere 1000 miles away with no lag.

    1. Re:Nothing New by vurg · · Score: 1

      Enemy of the State

    2. Re:Nothing New by Conspiracy_Of_Doves · · Score: 1

      Not to mention "Enemy of the State"

    3. Re:Nothing New by fitten · · Score: 3, Funny

      Old movies showed giant lizards tearing up Tokyo while breathing radioactive rays. Also, another showed events that happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

    4. Re:Nothing New by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope, that was Patriot Games, they zoomed into the terrorist training camp and could tell that the one person was a girl by the shading her breasts caused in the image.

    5. Re:Nothing New by AviLazar · · Score: 1

      Under Siege 2 used satellite imagery, an airplanes transponder signal and a satellite with freakin laser beams to create an earthquake in the sky.

      --

      I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
    6. Re:Nothing New by MrAnnoyanceToYou · · Score: 1

      Uh.... They went into their video games in Tron years ago, and I'm still freaking waiting.

    7. Re:Nothing New by topham · · Score: 1

      Actually, I think it was Patriot games.

      Except, nobody has ever shown evidence of an Imaging satellite actually being able to do it. They are normally in an obit that is way too low, and they move way too fast over a given area.

      It would be like taking photo's of a baseball game from a train passing by 2 feet off the firstbase line.

    8. Re:Nothing New by bluephone · · Score: 1

      And the frickin' laser had a shark on it's head.

      --
      jX [ Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler. - Einstein ]
    9. Re:Nothing New by haagmm · · Score: 1

      it was patriot games, but atleast in the book, it was planned so that the team would hit the target as the satalight came over the visable horizen. and the sat moved out very quickly. a train passing by 2 feet off the firstbase line is a poor analogy, mainly because they dont move THAT fast, realative to thier height. it would however be a chalenging issue to maintain a proper zoom, and point, for the changing position. (Geodesics are not that fun)

    10. Re:Nothing New by biglig2 · · Score: 1

      Pah! Last week CSI did that thing they do every week where they zoom in on a security camera tape so much they could see the suspect in the reflection in somebodys eye.

      So:
      Integrate that technology into Google ...?
      Profit!

      --
      ~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
    11. Re:Nothing New by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      With infinite zoom/ image enhance if i recall.. and from directly above the whole time...

    12. Re:Nothing New by As+Seen+On+TV · · Score: 1

      Reconnaissance satellites are steerable. They can be tasked as little as an hour in advance to be over a specific point at a specific time. And yes, they can transmit high-resolution images to ground stations in real time.

    13. Re:Nothing New by ArsonSmith · · Score: 1

      State all the evidence you want but I still don't belive that satalites can track people in real time.

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
    14. Re:Nothing New by coopex · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's not the orbit height or the speed, it's basic physics. Assuming you have some satellite with a 3m lens in orbit at 400km. We use visible light that is on average about 500nm wavelength. The minimum resolvable angle for a circular lens is theta = 1.22*lambda/D, which comes out to be, 203*10^-9, so the absolute maximum resolution is about 8cm via some trig, and more like at least twice that because of atmospheric effects.

      --
      The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
    15. Re:Nothing New by tylernt · · Score: 1

      "Reconnaissance satellites are steerable...to be over a specific point"

      Can you post some sources backing this claim? Satellites are highly unlikely to be capable of being steered to a specific point over the globe. Satellites have very limited room for propellant/reaction fuel. You could only change a satellite's orbit, a little bit, a few times, before running out of fuel.

      A satellite's orbit is mostly determined by it's launch trajectory. The fuel required to significantly change its orbit would be enormous -- a radically different orbit would require more fuel than it took to get the satellite off the ground in the first place. The ISS can't even carry enough fuel to boost it's own orbit, and it has way more room for spare fuel than a spy satellite.

      Now, you may be able to steer the angle that the camera is looking at, but I highly doubt the entire satellite can alter its orbit, significantly, more than a handful of times. Most satellites have only enough fuel for attitude control, and even that tends to run out after a few years.

      Again, if you can post some sources supporting your claims, I will gladly admit that I am wrong. But it seems awfully unlikely to me.

      --
      DRM 'manages access' in the same way that a prison 'manages freedom'
    16. Re:Nothing New by As+Seen+On+TV · · Score: 1

      Why do you call it a "claim?" I didn't claim anything. I simply stated the facts.

      If you don't like them, you're free to ignore me. But I don't understand all this talk of "claims."

    17. Re:Nothing New by tylernt · · Score: 1

      "I simply stated the facts"

      Well then, educate me please. How can a satellite steer its orbit and arrive at a certain point over the earth within an hour? How many times can it do this before it runs out of fuel?

      --
      DRM 'manages access' in the same way that a prison 'manages freedom'
    18. Re:Nothing New by As+Seen+On+TV · · Score: 0

      How can a satellite steer its orbit and arrive at a certain point over the earth within an hour?

      Obviously a satellite can't ... which is why we have more than one. See?

      How many times can it do this before it runs out of fuel?

      Well, considering it's done wth gyroscopes powered by solar cells, indefinitely.

      Are thinks becoming clear to you now? Or are you still all confuzzled?

    19. Re:Nothing New by tylernt · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Gyroscopes are excellent for attitude control. They can be used to rotate a spacecraft around the X, Y, and Z axises. Gyroscopes cannot, however, be used to impart linear velocity to a mass (unless it is detached), so they can't be used to change the orbit of a spacecraft. Which is why the ISS needs a capsule to dock and boost its orbit, rather than simply bringing a few gyroscopes on board.

      You: "Reconnaissance satellites are steerable"

      Me: "How can a satellite steer its orbit"

      You: "Obviously a satellite can't"

      You: "it's done wth gyroscopes"

      You seem to be contradicting yourself there. First you assert that they are steeable, and now you are saying they are not. Then you go on to say that they are steerable with gyroscopes. Which is it? I guess "thinks" are still "confuzzled".

      --
      DRM 'manages access' in the same way that a prison 'manages freedom'
    20. Re:Nothing New by As+Seen+On+TV · · Score: 1

      Are you just being an asshole for fun? I think you understood my comment perfectly well and you're just trying to get a rise out of me.

      Pass.

  7. What eggs? by winkydink · · Score: 4, Funny

    All I see are pictures of dirt and fields and water & junk. Not a dammned egg in the bunch! :)

    --

    "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

  8. Now if ... by ethernetmonkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    I could only find that image that when viewed from a distance looks like the Virgin Mary with her arm around Pope John Paul II I'd be an eBay millionare (and prob. have a /. article as well).

    1. Re:Now if ... by Hatta · · Score: 1

      I could only find that image that when viewed from a distance looks like the Virgin Mary with her arm around Pope John Paul II I'd be an eBay millionare (and prob. have a /. article as well).

      Wow a slashdot article!

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    2. Re:Now if ... by SpongeBobLinuxPants · · Score: 1, Funny

      (and prob. have a /. article as well).
      probably 2 or 3...

  9. Uhhh... by alwsn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    and even a 747 landing in Tokyo, something difficult to capture given that the satellite is moving at 17,000 mph.

    Yes, I am often amazed that I'm able to jump on Earth while moving at 29.77 km/s*.


    *Speed of the Earth in Orbit

    1. Re:Uhhh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Reminds me of the time I jumped while INSIDE a 747, I went from being in first class to being in the back with the flight attendants in less than a second.

    2. Re:Uhhh... by paradizelost · · Score: 1
      *Speed of the Earth in Orbit


      Yeah, relative to the sun, but what about within the galaxy, or within the universe? our solar system moves much faster than that through the galaxy, the galaxy moves faster through the universe, in relation to other galaxies, of course.
      --
      "In a world without walls and fences, who needs Windows and Gates?"
    3. Re:Uhhh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      liar

    4. Re:Uhhh... by AviLazar · · Score: 1

      *Speed of the Earth in Orbit

      As opposed to the Speed of Earth out of Orbit? I hope not :)

      --

      I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
    5. Re:Uhhh... by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      I guess you did that while the plain was excelerating. Otherwise you are breaking the laws of physics you you are a good longjumper.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    6. Re:Uhhh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      READ THIS: "plane" "accelerating" "basic literacy" "long jumper"

    7. Re:Uhhh... by Hatta · · Score: 1

      Yeah, relative to the sun, but what about within the galaxy, or within the universe? our solar system moves much faster than that through the galaxy, the galaxy moves faster through the universe, in relation to other galaxies, of course.

      The speed of the sun in the milky way is 220 km/s. I don't know about the speed of the galaxy, it would depend on what you used as a frame of reference.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    8. Re:Uhhh... by ElvenMonkey · · Score: 1

      Yeah, relative to the sun, but what about within the galaxy, or within the universe? our solar system moves much faster than that through the galaxy, the galaxy moves faster through the universe, in relation to other galaxies, of course.

      Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
      And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
      That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
      A sun that is the source of all our power.
      The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
      Are moving at a million miles a day
      In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
      Of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'

      --
      "Joy is not in things; it is in us." Richard Wagner
    9. Re:Uhhh... by Coward+Anonymous · · Score: 1

      Actually, it appears these pictures are quite common SFO

    10. Re:Uhhh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The earth also revolves you realize.

    11. Re:Uhhh... by SpongeBobLinuxPants · · Score: 0

      Could you please post that in speed of a bicyle units? I have no idea what 29.77 km/s is.

    12. Re:Uhhh... by Nodar · · Score: 1

      this doesn't prove that it's common, this is a photo OF AN AIRPORT. This is like saying that lakes are very commmon and showing photos of michigan.

      --
      Don't Blame me if I seem bitter, I'm at work, and the TV only plays soap operas.
    13. Re:Uhhh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, I am often amazed that I'm able to jump on Earth while moving at 29.77 km/s*.

      Not as amazing if the satellite was able to snap a picture of you at the same time you jumped.

      Jumping up and down is nothing special. Everyone can do it. The amazing part is if someone in a good distance while moving really fast is able to see it at the right moment.

    14. Re:Uhhh... by Coward+Anonymous · · Score: 1

      Ooh, look, here is another one! ATL
      Large airports are likely to always have an airplane in takeoff/landing since they are trying to be as efficient as possible with their runways. The Tokyo 747 in the article is about as exciting as the SFO picture and the ATL picture. Not very.

    15. Re:Uhhh... by coopex · · Score: 1

      It's the velocity of a bicycle traveling 29.77 km/s.

      --
      The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
    16. Re:Uhhh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not to mention an axial wobble.

    17. Re:Uhhh... by Cappy+Red · · Score: 1

      let's not start this frame of reference argument again. :) http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=143453&cid=120 22806

      --
      This is my sig. It's prescription, I swear. I need it for reading things... on the other side of things
  10. Best Game for Bored Workers by NardofDoom · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Catching planes on Google's Satellite Imagery. [url=http://maps.google.com/maps?q=castaic,ca&ll=3 4.517348,-118.607926&spn=0.005697,0.007027&t=k&hl= en]One of the cooler ones.[/url]

    --
    You have two hands and one brain, so always code twice as much as you think!
    1. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by NardofDoom · · Score: 2, Informative

      BBcode on the brain. Real linky.

      --
      You have two hands and one brain, so always code twice as much as you think!
    2. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by Kewjoe · · Score: 1

      That link did not show anything besides the "We're sorry but we don't have imagery at this zoom level for this region"

    3. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by Profane+MuthaFucka · · Score: 1

      The form for the URL is

      LESSTHAN "URL" COLON (the URL goes here) GREATER THAN

      http://maps.google.com/maps?q=castaic,ca&ll=34.517 348,-118.607926&spn=0.005697,0.007027&t=k&hl=en

      --
      Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
    4. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by nocomment · · Score: 1

      I like this one :-)

      --
      /* oops I accidentally made a comment, sorry */
      /* http://allyourbasearebelongto.us */
    5. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by ptomblin · · Score: 1

      I like this one better because it's a small general aviation plane: St. Hubert, Quebec

      --
      The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
    6. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by nacturation · · Score: 1

      For the non-PHPBB addicts, here's a link.

      One thing I think Google should do is allow searching by region and date. So if you are viewing the map at a certain zoom level, Google Maps could highlight the regions that were taken on a certain day. So you could zoom out to a certain area of interest, select your historical date of interest (eg: September 11, 2001), and see what shows up. How about night images? Ever wonder what's going on for a new year's party at a certain place?

      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
    7. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by Marc+Desrochers · · Score: 1

      I pass by this every day on my way to work. That building on the right is the Canadian Space Agency.

    8. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by suckamc_0x90 · · Score: 1
    9. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by ptomblin · · Score: 1

      Ah, CYTZ. I'm going to be landing there on Sunday.

      --
      The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
    10. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Here is area 51, really: Area 51

      A plane taking off at SFO

      Edwards, with two SR-71 Blackbird

      Niagara Falls

      Norfolk, with two aircraft carrier

      Mount St-Helens

      Hollywood, litterally

      To find the picture of a particular position, use:
      http://maps.google.com/?t=k&z=3&ll=LATTITUDE,LONGI TUDE
      LATTITUDE and LONGITUDE in degree (like 100.003441).

      Enjoy!

    11. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by chris81 · · Score: 1

      AFAIK, Area 51 is situated at Groom Lake, NW of Las Vegas, Nevada. Zoom in on the dry lake I've centered, you should find the airstrip as well as the buildings. Area 51

    12. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by Honig+the+Apothecary · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Plane Taking off from ATL If you follow that frame east northeast you can watch as it gains altitude. One of the best ones I found yet.

      The Keyhole LT Client is kind of fun to play with as well.

    13. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      That's not area 51 you idiot.


      Your search - "area 51" - did not match any locations.


      But this is.
    14. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by topham · · Score: 1

      How's this one:
      http://tinyurl.com/8q8g6

    15. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by temojen · · Score: 1

      Another example of the harm BBCode is doing to the web.

    16. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by Kimos · · Score: 1

      Awww... Beat me to it! That's three blocks from my apartment!

    17. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by bcmm · · Score: 1

      That genuinely is "Area 51".

      It's a base for testing experimental aircraft. No aliens, sorry. The really paranoid security is probably because what goes on there is largely blatently illegal; U2 is thought to have been tested there for example (also the reason for that ridiculously long runway).

      Interestingly, there were reports of "strange triangular aircraft" before the Stealth Bomber was made public, which kind of discredits a lot of the UFO stuff.

      --
      # cat /dev/mem | strings | grep -i llama
      Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
    18. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by cob666 · · Score: 1
      --
      Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law - Aleister Crowley
    19. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by portwojc · · Score: 1

      Actually I think there are three planes in that one. One near the runway. One behind it. Then one way behind it just right at the island. All in a line.

    20. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by mmkkbb · · Score: 1

      Mapquest offered a similar satellite imagery service for a while.

      The towers were still up on Sept 11 according to their database.

      --
      -mkb
    21. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by yourexhalekiss · · Score: 1

      I added this to del.icio.us

      Awesome.

    22. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually that is the same plane. Look up a few comments and you will see one with 3 images of the same plane as it takes off and gains altitude.

    23. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually it's the same plane three times... basically just an accident cuz the sat was snapping pictures as the plane was moving. Real planes tend not to fly so close to each other (especially during landing!)...

    24. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All 3 (see sibling poster) planes are actually the same plane. It is landing, and the satellite was travelling at a speed such that these were the pictures of the locations as it travelled along.

    25. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by Richard_at_work · · Score: 4, Informative

      You want a high definition sat image of Area 51? Your wish is my command.

    26. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is a plane taking off at SFO as well.

    27. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by EastCoastSurfer · · Score: 1

      There as a good show on the History channel about area 51. Some people who worked there got really sick. The sick people took the gov. to court and the gov. argued that since where they worked didn't exists they could be in no way liable. How everyone in the courtroom kept a straight face I have no idea. I think the conclusion came with the gov. never having to admit anything, but to stop burning unknown nonexistent chemicals upwind of the nonexistent base where these people had worked.

    28. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by cob666 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that makes more sense then the planes coming in that close to each other. I grew up near the beach there and used to watch the planes coming in.
      Another interesting one - Here's a pic of a marsh fire somewhere around Salem, MA
      http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=42.492456,-70.91125 5&sll=42.493422,-70.908465&spn=0.025878,0.029912&s spn=0.025878,0.029912&t=k&hl=en

      --
      Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law - Aleister Crowley
    29. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by Honig+the+Apothecary · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Two NASA test stands for engine and spacecraft development.
      Dynamic Engine test stands at Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. Used to test the F1 Engines for the Saturn V as well as the Space Shuttle main engines.
      Dynamic test stand also at MSFC.
      Also if you look to the upper left you can see the first test stand that was used at Redstone Arsenal for rocket engine testing by Werner Von Braun and his team. :)

      Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL
      Here you can see one Saturn V on its side, one mock up Space Shuttle with Fuel Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters, one full size Saturn V replica standing upright, and a whole bunch of other rockets from the last 60+ years. There is also an A12 (SR-71 predecessor) out front close to the the interstate, but it does not show up that well in the image.

    30. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by danielobvt · · Score: 1

      goes on there is largely blatently illegal
      ? A reasonable amount of secrecy around the US's most advanced aerospace assets is illegal?

    31. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by craters · · Score: 1
    32. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by el_gordo101 · · Score: 1

      They were up on the 11th, at least in the morning. Try the 12th.

      --
      TODO: Insert witty sig
    33. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by mbourgon · · Score: 1

      Here's another one:
      7200 west freeway 76116

      --
      "Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
    34. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by mmkkbb · · Score: 1

      I checked during the evening of September 11th, 2001, (and several days later) and the photo archive still showed the twin towers. The service is no longer active, so I can't check. The reason this happens is that the images in the database refresh very slowly (mentioned in the article)

      --
      -mkb
    35. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by el_gordo101 · · Score: 1

      Gotcha. Forgive my wise-assedness.

      --
      TODO: Insert witty sig
    36. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by Mignon · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I once invented a game with Mapquest when I was very bored. It should be easy to adapt to Google maps. How boring the game is itself should give you some idea of how bored I was:

      1. Think of an address or intersection - e.g. your house, or a landmark you've visited.
      2. Start here (a fully zoomed-out view of the US)
      3. Try to get to a fully zoomed-in view of the location you thought of in as few clicks as possible, just using the zoom control and the map itself. I.e. don't go back and type the location into the search field ;)
    37. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by br0ck · · Score: 1

      If you go all the way to the bottom left runway you can see a plane on the tarmac and if you pan left you can see the same plane in the air about to land.

    38. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by bcmm · · Score: 1

      Um...

      WTF? You think U2 was legal? The US government continued to deney it's existance even after the Soviet Union caputured one.

      --
      # cat /dev/mem | strings | grep -i llama
      Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
    39. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by onepoint · · Score: 1

      please note the universal UFO landing area in the lower left. 3 wheels, box and home shape :P

      --
      if you see me, smile and say hello.
    40. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by pyro_dude · · Score: 1
      IIRC, there was such as case as you describe, where the government was denying the existence of such a place. Only the defendants at one point had lawyers who basically said "This place does exist. We can walk you to a hill where you can see it from a distance. It's viewable by anyone." And so the judge and so forth went out to actually see the place. I remember seeing this on a program perhaps the discovery channel.

      Anyhow, after this fiasco, it is said that top-security missions were moved elsewhere, for obvious reasons.

      --
      --pyro_dude
    41. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by pyro_dude · · Score: 1

      I bet those of us on the coast or near bodies of water have a better shot at finding our homes in fewer clicks. This is especially the case when you live on a big island along the coastline.

      --
      --pyro_dude
    42. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by dragunsflame · · Score: 1

      Found this plane in the middle of nowhere near my home. I was quite surprised. The nearest large airport is in Dallas...over 100 miles away.

      http://maps.google.com/maps?q=DFW&ll=31.844580,-94 .965005&spn=0.005504,0.007918&t=k&hl=en/

    43. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by RubberDogBone · · Score: 1

      Pan two clicks to the right and there's another plane just passing over the building where I work.

      This is normal: the planes are usually so low over our building that we can see people in the windows and read the tail number.

      Yes, we CAN hear the planes inside the building. No, triple-insulated windows aren't enough. The sound still comes through the roof. You just get used to it after a while.

      It's only going to bother me that one time when I hear something really loud and look up in time to see a big orange ball of fire coming at me. Ooopsie, missed approach. No go-around.

      --
      Sig for hire.
    44. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by Bitsy+Boffin · · Score: 1

      WTF? You think U2 was legal? The US government continued to deney it's existance even after the Soviet Union caputured one.

      For somethign to be illegal, it has to be in breach of a law. So what law did the US government breach by denying the existence of the U2?

      not that I like the US government, but I don't think what you are saying is correct.

      --
      NZ Electronics Enthusiasts: Check out my Trade Me Listings
    45. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by zx-6e · · Score: 2, Interesting
    46. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by bcmm · · Score: 1

      Internationtal law usually says you need to get permission and check in with local air traffic control before flying over a country. The US would doubtless do the same thing the USSR did, and shoot down unidentified high-altitude aircraft trying to avoid detection deep inside their airspace.

      --
      # cat /dev/mem | strings | grep -i llama
      Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
    47. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd be pissed with all that noise but even _more_ pissed if the last thing I saw out of my window was a giant fireball heading my way.

    48. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

      The outcome was actually more insidious than that. The Pentagon admitted for the first time that Groom Dry Lake Research Facility (commonly known as Area 51) existed, and was used for top secret aircraft tests. They wouldnt release the records that said what was being burned, so these people couldnt be treated. The case was finally 'resolved' when Bill Clinton signed an executive order (special type of Presidential proclamation) that Area 51 was exempt from all environmental laws.

      The guys lawyer in the case actually had his office put under a military top secret seal, and only he has, to ths day, been allowed entry to that office. Noone else can enter, noone can remove documents. Its quite strange.

    49. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by RubberDogBone · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but you're only going to be pissed for a couple seconds.

      On October 12, 1992, A general aviation aircraft (small plane) N111JC crashed on the street next to me while I was driving along down the road. One moment there's a big shadow over the car (semi must be passing me, said I), then a tail number flashes by the car (uh oh, that's NOT good, said I), then the road and everything was suddenly on fire.

      The plane hit a couple utility poles which ripped open the fuel tanks, then the plane tumbled on down the road for a few hundred yard, bumped into a bridge abutment and basically exploded. Those who survived the crash were badly burned. One or two of them later died at the hospital.

      After seeing that, I don't particularly want to survive such a crash. I don't want to be HALFWAY burned to death.

      Accident report for the curious: http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001211X 15803&key=1

      --
      Sig for hire.
  11. Ok, I give up by Tebriel · · Score: 5, Funny

    Where's Waldo?

    --
    The Blaster Master Fighting for Truth, Justice, and Evil Pie since 1979
    1. Re:Ok, I give up by vurg · · Score: 1

      I can clearly see him right here. Lower left off center.

    2. Re:Ok, I give up by Ark42 · · Score: 2, Funny


      Here, I guess

    3. Re:Ok, I give up by Zelig · · Score: 1
    4. Re:Ok, I give up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where's Waldo?

      In my pants. I'm tellin' you that Waldo's in my pants.

      (Apologies to John Keister, et al.)

    5. Re:Ok, I give up by SmokeHalo · · Score: 1
      --
      I'm not good in groups. It's difficult to work in a group when you're omnipotent. - Q
    6. Re:Ok, I give up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He's below my current threshold.

  12. google maps by mks113 · · Score: 0

    I've been poking around google maps for a week, thrilled to see the detail in places, but I havent' found an "easter egg" yet! It is pretty amazing that they cover the globe with satellite photos (not maps), but I'd love to see more detail, particularly in Africa.

    1. Re:google maps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      >> but I'd love to see more detail, particularly in Africa.

      That's how my home looks, you insensitive clod!

    2. Re:google maps by Osty · · Score: 1

      I've been poking around google maps for a week, thrilled to see the detail in places, but I havent' found an "easter egg" yet!

      Not on Google Maps, and not much of an easter egg, but while looking at my place of work on TerraServer, I could clearly make out my own car parked outside of the building. Pretty neat, but not cool on the scale of a firefight captured on satellite.

  13. In Related News ... by ReidMaynard · · Score: 3, Funny

    In every USA satellite photo of Castro, he appears to be mooning.

    Coincidence?

    --
    -- www.globaltics.net

    Political discussion for a new world

    1. Re:In Related News ... by Leroy_Brown242 · · Score: 1

      Dude, that's your mom!

    2. Re:In Related News ... by kin_korn_karn · · Score: 1

      you're too far north, that's Randy Moss.

  14. railfan by Russ+Nelson · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Okay, so it's not so much discovery as rediscovery, but an industrial archaeologist like myself can find all sorts of interesting railroad remains using mapper.acme.com or my interface to the same data mapview. I like to play "spot the hidden trolley" north of Canandaigua, or south of Minneto.
    -russ

    --
    Don't piss off The Angry Economist
    1. Re:railfan by Joe+U · · Score: 1

      Strange, I'm not the only one doing that...

      Old Whitepot Junction, LIRR

      ROW, LIRR Woodhaven line Turned into a school bus parking lot.

      Ok, this one isn't abandoned, but it's the Empire Builder at the St. Paul station. Rare, considering the train is only there once a day and only for a couple of minutes.

      The Empire Builder

    2. Re:railfan by Russ+Nelson · · Score: 1

      Cute. Did you know about the Kissena Corridor? It used to be a railbed many years ago. Then the tracks were pulled up, and it was railbanked. Yes, over a hundred years ago, and except for a school and a few apartment buildings, the right-of-way is still intact.

      And then there's the LIMP (Long Island Motor Parkway), which has been preserved in Queens, destroyed in Nassau, and kept as a powerline ROW and/or roads in Suffolk.
      -russ

      --
      Don't piss off The Angry Economist
    3. Re:railfan by Joe+U · · Score: 1

      I've walked most of the Corridor and biked the length of the Motor Parkway in Queens.

      I used to walk the Woodhaven/Rockaway line years ago, it's really falling apart now.

      I'm a huge fan of hidden and forgotten New York, and I found a great resource called Forgotten NY.

      The great thing about the Google Satellite maps is how easy it is to find the old ROWs and follow them around.

    4. Re:railfan by Russ+Nelson · · Score: 1

      Cool stuff, eh? Check out http://pygps.org/#mapview. I'm using it to create a GIS layer of all the abandoned ROWs in New York State. I have almost all of the adirondacks covered, courtesy of Kudish's Railroads of the Adirondacks. You simply MUST purchase this book if you have any interest in old railroads in and around the adirondacks. If you're ever in the North Country (Potsdam), bring your bike and I'll show you some great rides. http://russnelson.com/

      --
      Don't piss off The Angry Economist
  15. Google Maps doesn't work right by stratjakt · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    At least not for my home address or work address, I'm not sure what it's showing me, but I just know the images aren't right since I live right next to a major geographical feature (ie; the Chesapeake bay), so it's pretty easy to tell.

    Still, it's neat to scroll around and whatnot online. The technology isn't really new, our mapping software has had layers for aerial photos for a long while now.

    Anyhow Zonk, why is it that every post I make to one of your stories eventually gets modbombed with "offtopics", after it's been modded up? Coincidence?

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    1. Re:Google Maps doesn't work right by TykeClone · · Score: 1
      My address works right, but my parents' doesn't (it's only about a mile off, but it's not right).

      I did take a look at the google sat pictures, and they don't have my hometown in very good resolution, but it is good enough to see my parents' acreage.

      --
      A fine is a tax you pay for doing wrong and a tax is a fine you pay for doing all right.
    2. Re:Google Maps doesn't work right by Thieron · · Score: 1

      Ditto on several addresses I've tried. It isn't off by much but it is off.

    3. Re:Google Maps doesn't work right by E+IS+mC(Square) · · Score: 1

      If Google does not show Chesapeake bay, then its not there, simple! But you still see it? Must be something wrong with you.

      Try locating somewhere which has correct google map of it. Will be good for you.

  16. Boring by qwasty · · Score: 1

    ...a shot of the Washington Monument from 1999 -- included something no one had expected: two presidential helicopters just north of the obelisk.

    Who cares? Helicopters? I hear at least two of those every day, and I never bother to go outside to look at it. When I read the headliner for this post, I expected something like a satellite photo of someone famous picking their nose. Now THAT's interesting!

    1. Re:Boring by xmas2003 · · Score: 1

      Not a famous person, but here is your nose-picking photo ...

      --
      Hulk SMASH Celiac Disease
  17. I guess by A+beautiful+mind · · Score: 4, Informative

    that this is similar a bit to Google Sightseeing

    --
    It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
    Be yourself no matter what they say
  18. How are these Easter Eggs? by rminsk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Easter Eggs are intentionally hidden objects. How do these qualify as an Easter Egg? Google did not try to hide anything in the images. They just happen to be real life things happening at the time the images were taken.

    1. Re:How are these Easter Eggs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      on some days, it's cloudy, &c. -- someone has to go through all of the satalite pics and find nice, clear images to piece together into the mosaic that you see, when you go to the site. if those picking and choosing have e.g. five shots of Ann Arbor, three of them on a clear day, and one of them with the UM cheerleaders running the "naked mile"... *that*'s how you get the "Easter Eggs".

    2. Re:How are these Easter Eggs? by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Perhaps you're being a little too literal. According to children, Easter eggs are hidden by the mythical Easter Bunny. From the point of view of the seeker, it doesn't matter that the Easter Bunny is real or just Mom and Dad. Likewise, from the point of view of the seeker, interesting things "hidden" in satellite images are just as fun to find whether hidden by Mom, Google, the Easter Bunny or just by chance.

      When I first heard of Terraserver, I spent several hours looking for stadiums full of people. I considered it an Easter Egg hunt. BTW, I never found any.

      --
      I am not a crackpot.
    3. Re:How are these Easter Eggs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "it doesn't matter that the Easter Bunny is real or just Mom and Dad"

      WHAT???????!!!!!!

    4. Re:How are these Easter Eggs? by Technician · · Score: 1

      Easter Eggs are intentionally hidden objects. How do these qualify as an Easter Egg?

      What I found interesting was the link in the article to Burning Man. It's location and how to get there was kind of a secret except by those registered. The link provided the LAT and LON. Zooming in gives me the location of the center of Black Rock City. Viewing the surrounding area provides the road into Black Rock City.

      Lots of local routes that were local secrets can now be discovered by someone other that the Government. I think it's a great equalizer.

      --
      The truth shall set you free!
  19. Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by ahecht · · Score: 2, Informative
    I don't really see the appeal of Google Maps Satellite imagery, since terraserver-usa.com has been offering color aerial photos that are four times the resolution, larger in size, and free of watermarks. Plus, unlike google, Terraserver-USA has a link that makes it easy to download large images.

    Sure, Google Maps is great if you want your route overlayed on the images, but for finding easter eggs it's nothing special.

    1. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by itp · · Score: 1

      I think in large part because Google has an interface that doesn't Suck Ass.

    2. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by Rude+Turnip · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The latest map they have on Terraserver of where I work (Princeton) is from 1997. The map they have of where my dad's house should be shows the empty field that was there before they developed the neighborhood. Google's maps are more current. And, I can't navigate their maps by dragging the images around, so navigation is rather awkward. I think Google has Terraserver beat on being up-to-date and easier to navigate.

    3. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by harks · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I looked up my house on Terraserver, it is not color and not as closely zoomed in as Google Maps. The image was also from 1991, I'm not sure when Google's pictures are from, but I know they are newer by the buildings around. Also, Google Maps makes it easier to scroll around by click and drag than clicking up, left, up, over and over.

    4. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's all about the interface -- the way you can scroll Google Maps makes it much more useful than stuff like Terraserver.

    5. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by 604badder · · Score: 1

      It's all about usability my friend. Google Maps's drag and view feature is so much better than clicking again and again

    6. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by Moofie · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Four times the resolution? Not on the page I'm looking at.

      And it's slow, and you can't scroll.

      Just because you can't see the appeal, doesn't mean it's not there. But I'm sure it makes you feel like all validated and stuff that you've been doing this for four years. Where is your article in Wired? What, you never bothered to do what these guys actually did? And you're complaining about what exactly?

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    7. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by ahecht · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you select the Urban Areas data, you get .25m resolution maps. Google, as far as I know, only goes down to 1m resolution.

    8. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by 00squirrel · · Score: 1, Funny

      Yet another reason is the terraserver-usa.com maps are black and white. Google's are in color. Plus, Google's interface is 10^100 times better!

    9. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by AvantLegion · · Score: 1
      Terraserver also doesn't have the coverage of Google Maps. In my parents' California town, all they've got is photos from 1993/1994. Whoopie-di-doo.

    10. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by jumpingfred · · Score: 1

      How are you getting the high resolution color images from terraserver? I get black and white with lower resolution from terra server.

    11. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Could somebody explain why terraserver.com always returns a blank image inside an otherwise correct looking webpage? (firefox w js, no java). This happens for all image searches for any region of the world.

    12. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 1

      The resolution for my area is about 1 meter, they haven't captured all the US at 1 meter or better. And the interface is cool and easy to use.

    13. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by at_slashdot · · Score: 1

      No color for me either and no dragging with the mouse and doesn't have 4x larger resolution .

      --
      "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -- Prof. Dumbledore
    14. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by forum__32 · · Score: 1

      In case you didnt know... there are other countries on earth, and not everyone likes the USA enough to live there.

    15. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They both suck.

      I live right near the state capitol building and--wouldn't you know it?--I can't get a high-res satellite photo of my house for shit.

      So I guess I have to rent a plane and circle around taking pictures of my house--which I believe should result in a free vacation to Cuba.

      Not that I really NEED high-res satellite photos of my house, but c'mon, terrorist plans aren't exactly foiled when they can't get hi-res photos of the capitol either.

    16. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by the_rev_matt · · Score: 1
      For all the complaints about the currency of terraserver, the google pic of my neighborhood is over two years old, based on some of the buildings that are (and aren't) in the pic.

      The terraserver pic appears to be slightly older but I can get a much closer view than with google.

      Just because it's from google doesn't necessarily mean it's cooler.

      --
      this is getting old and so are you

      blog

    17. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by buddhahat · · Score: 1

      Hmmmm...Teraserver seems to be a bit out of date. Twin towers are still there in NYC.

      --
      ------ How can making people laugh lead to bad karma?
    18. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by Your+Pal+Dave · · Score: 1

      Some of the Google photos are the Urban Area photos, at least in the Denver area. Compare the shadows and vehicle locations on Google and Terraserver for the Colorado state capitol building.

      Google just doesn't let you zoom in as close.

    19. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by Solandri · · Score: 1
      How are you getting the high resolution color images from terraserver? I get black and white with lower resolution from terra server.

      The US Government has an ongoing project to cover the entire country with aerial photography. If you're in on of the regions that have already been photographed, it'll show up on Terraserver at 0.5m resolution or better. I'm in one of the preliminary regions - San Bernardino/Riverside county in California - and managed to snag some gorgeous aerial photos of the hiking trails near my workplace.

      For California stuff, I find The California Spatial Information Library site to be more useful. The interface is a bit clunky, but they offer a wider variety of photos.

    20. Re:Why is everyone so impressed with Google Maps? by Toresica · · Score: 1

      Because Google allows me to see *my* neighbourhood, in Canada.

  20. The Plane capture by fracai · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I think the most interesting thing about the plane capture is that the plane appears double. This is probably due to the combined speed of the plane and satellite as well as how the image was taken. It seems that the plane had moved 30 feet or so in the time that the blue channel was imaged. Does that sound right?

    --
    -- i am jack's amusing sig file
    1. Re:The Plane capture by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought it was just the shadow of the plane.

      - Jim

    2. Re:The Plane capture by NarrMaster · · Score: 1

      Judging by the position, it looks like a shadow.

      --
      That's right. All your base.
    3. Re:The Plane capture by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is called a shadow.

    4. Re:The Plane capture by Timothy+Chu · · Score: 2, Informative
    5. Re:The Plane capture by Timothy+Chu · · Score: 1

      Also, if you scroll to the right in the image I linked, real shadows of buildings will point almost 45 degrees NE, whereas this airplane artifact is due east (in the direction the plane is travelling).

    6. Re:The Plane capture by RackinFrackin · · Score: 1

      Here's another picture where you can see what appears to be multiple images of the same plane. Well, actually in this picture you can only see it once, but if you scroll east you can see it five more times, each one progressively higher.

      It could be five different planes, but I doubt it.

    7. Re:The Plane capture by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 1

      Looks more like an artifact from the reflection/shadow in the water. Water turbidity could account for the color difference

    8. Re:The Plane capture by cyberassasin · · Score: 1

      Well, it's not a shadow, and anyone who thought it was would be a horrible image analyst. Look at the ground shadows, and you can judge the apparent position of the sun. If the top of the image is north, then the sun is shining from the southwest, producing shadows on the top and right areas of the objects depicted. The plane would produce a similar shadow, but instead the image we see is to the bottom and right.

      Now is it the time lapse between channels recording? That I don't know. But it is an interesting question...

      --
      Who is the master of foxhounds, and who says the hunt has begun? -Pink Floyd
    9. Re:The Plane capture by taniwha · · Score: 1

      that is cool - you can see a couple of images of the plane landing on the lower runway (or something really bad is about to happen)

    10. Re:The Plane capture by taniwha · · Score: 1

      that far from that airport the plane better not be that close to the water and it's IMHO the wrong color (ie it's not a shadow) - I think it's probably an artifact of stitching together the photos

    11. Re:The Plane capture by NarrMaster · · Score: 1

      You are probably correct. I was erroneously referring to a different photo of a plane.

      --
      That's right. All your base.
    12. Re:The Plane capture by NarrMaster · · Score: 1

      I was referring to a different image. Whoopsi.

      --
      That's right. All your base.
    13. Re:The Plane capture by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Satellites capture images in spectral bands as they orbit the earth. The color images are post-processed from the raw spectral data. As the satellite is flying over the earth, it is moving, and the processing assumes the earth is not. When the plane moves, it gets captured on a different spot on the earth by the different spectral bands, and thus the weird colored artifact on the final image.

  21. During the Cold War... by d_p · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...Soviet soldiers stationed at missle bases in the USSR used to carve "Fuck you USA" into the tundra and on tarmacs in huge letters with their snowplows.

    1. Re:During the Cold War... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Awkward graffitti was turning up on Soviet submarines throughout the cold war.

    2. Re:During the Cold War... by mikael · · Score: 1

      French farmers used to do that when the US president (Clinton?) was visiting to discuss open trade agreements on wheat and other products.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    3. Re:During the Cold War... by zippthorne · · Score: 2, Funny

      That's not a very good way to hide a missile base.

      --
      Can you be Even More Awesome?!
    4. Re:During the Cold War... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      French farmers used to do that when the US president (Clinton?) was visiting to discuss open trade agreements on wheat and other products.

      It *can't* be Clinton. From what I hear, the French loved us like brothers until Bush came along.

    5. Re:During the Cold War... by mikael · · Score: 1

      Yes, the French did. but the French farmers don't like anyone who tries to take away their subsidies.

      More details

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    6. Re:During the Cold War... by Cplus · · Score: 1

      I'm sure American wheat farmers feel the same way about the Canadian wheat farmers who are losing their farms and complaining about American subsidies.

      --
      "Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality." -- Dalai Lama
    7. Re:During the Cold War... by mikael · · Score: 1

      That is sad to hear. I've worked in Ontario and they have something like 80,000 farms left, which sounds a lot, but they are converting something like 2000 farms each year into housing subdivisions. What are they going to do in 40 years time?

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    8. Re:During the Cold War... by Cplus · · Score: 1

      Well, it's a product of countries not adhereing to GATT, America isn't the only one. There are countries in southeast asia that now import rather than export rice, strange to comprehend...it just makes more sense for them to focus on other aspects of their economies than it does to compete.

      Forty years in the past the area of Ontario I live in had a textile based economy and exported more wool than anywhere else in the world, now that's all done in other places and you rarely see a sheep in a field. Change happens.

      I would imagine that in forty years time we'll be buying our food from other countries and our economy will be purely information based. The divide between these two worlds will be more complete than it is now, and I'll be telling my Grandkids about the birth of the internet and the computer. Either that or we'll all be eaten by space vampires.

      --
      "Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality." -- Dalai Lama
    9. Re:During the Cold War... by ErikZ · · Score: 1

      Revert to canibalism.

      --
      Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
  22. Where's the grassy knoll? by screwthemoderators · · Score: 1

    After the article and captions, I was expecting more. Smoke over Bagdad- who'd a thunk it? Cars parked at a stadium- what are the chances of that? This is more like reality television meets satellite photos. Yawn.

    1. Re:Where's the grassy knoll? by kzinti · · Score: 1

      It's right here.

  23. horn tooting by tedtimmons · · Score: 4, Informative
    1. Re:horn tooting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here is area 51, really: Area 51

      A plane taking off at SFO

      Edwards, with two SR-71 Blackbird

      Niagara Falls

      Norfolk, with two aircraft carrier

      Mount St-Helens

      Hollywood, litterally

      To find the picture of a particular position, use:
      http://maps.google.com/?t=k&z=3&ll=LATTITUDE,LONGI TUDE
      LATTITUDE and LONGITUDE in degree (like 100.003441).

      Enjoy!

    2. Re:horn tooting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Speaking of 'Horn Tooting' I noticed under the first link that one of the newest imagery destinations was Ken's Erection

      I hadn't realized the resolution got that good!

  24. I guess I was at work that day... by daivzhavue · · Score: 2, Funny

    I see my truck in the parking lot. Cool.

    --
    "A REAL computer has ONE speed and the only powersaving it permits is when you pull the power leads out of the back!"
  25. And the lost continent of Atlantis too... by Flywheels+of+Fire · · Score: 2, Interesting
    (PRWEB) April 14, 2005 -- While searching for the secrets of the Bermuda Tri-angle, Chris Shearer stumbled upon a picture of what he believes is the concentric rings and canal system where Atlantis once flourished. Finding even more pictures on the subject he then concluded that with earlier pictures of the area showed much more sedimentary sand deposits. The hurricanes and tropical storms that happened last year and some of the previous years removed some of the sedimentary sand that was on top of the parts of Atlantis which are now visible. Back in the thirties Edgar Cayce who was a world renowned psychic was quoted as saying that parts of Atlantis would rise in 68 or 69, and indeed they did. The Bimini roads were then discovered along with under water temples which are also visible.

    Read more and see the image

    1. Re:And the lost continent of Atlantis too... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uh, the "Atlantis" idea doesn't jump out at me as being obvious.

  26. Satellite maps are out of date by tyates · · Score: 1

    My friend rents a house that's relatively new (two or three years?). If you check out the street map, you can get to his place, but if you look at the satellite map, all you see is a bulldozer, a port-a-john, and bunch of construction workers standing around scratching themselves. (Ok, slight exaggeration, but yeah, there's nothing there.) It would be nice if google could get these maps more up to date.

    --
    Tristan Yates
    1. Re:Satellite maps are out of date by Dorsai65 · · Score: 1

      It's not like Google is launching their own satellites, tasked exclusively to them...

      --
      --- Asking inconvenient questions for over 30 years...
    2. Re:Satellite maps are out of date by HTL2001 · · Score: 1

      in my case, the topo map is out of date... it doesn't have the road going through one area that it should. Satilite has the right idea... the road is not new or anything

      --
      By reading this, you have given me brief control of your mind.
  27. What's This? by NardofDoom · · Score: 4, Funny
    I found this really weird airstrip in the middle of the Nevada desert outside of Las Vegas. It looks like the longest runway in the world, but there's nothing nearby.

    And the really weird part is that the US military says it doesn't exist.

    --
    You have two hands and one brain, so always code twice as much as you think!
    1. Re:What's This? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      what's really funny is that i found that the other day by searching for 'groom lake road' in nevada, followed by a query for 'secret government base'

      this popped right up

    2. Re:What's This? by WAG24601G · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you look at the URL, you'll notice the location is Groom Lake, NV. Groom Lake is a location commonly used to test "black aircraft" (experimental, spy, etc). If you do a bit of research on the name, you'll find a number of books referencing aircraft tests there in the last 50 years. The fact that the planes operated there are mostly experimental accounts for an abnormally long airstrip (in case of mishaps). The whole location is actually just an old dried up lake bed, which is ideally flat for aircraft operations. Lockheed's Skunk Works worked out of Groom Lake several times, though the names of the specific projects escape me.

      --
      Everything is easy when you don't understand the problem.
    3. Re:What's This? by goates · · Score: 2, Interesting

      And try going a little to the north and west and you will find another runway with nothing around at all.

      http://maps.google.com/maps?q=groom+lake,nv&ll=3 7. 404842,-116.238613&sll=36.518555,-115.561924&spn=0 .060768,0.085316&sspn=0.127029,0.120678&t=k&hl=en

      Or go south and west an check out the craters in the valley. Take a wild guess at what they are from...

      http://maps.google.com/maps?q=groom+lake,nv&ll=3 7. 129326,-116.051846&sll=36.518555,-115.561924&spn=0 .121536,0.170631&sspn=0.127029,0.120678&t=k&hl=en

    4. Re:What's This? by WAG24601G · · Score: 1

      Runways make sense... but what the heck are these? http://maps.google.com/maps?q=groom+lake,nv&ll=37. %20129326,-116.051846&sll=36.518555,-115.561924&sp n=0%20.121536,0.170631&sspn=0.127029,0.120678&t=k& hl=en Just north of Groom Lake ('secret' air testing facility)

      --
      Everything is easy when you don't understand the problem.
    5. Re:What's This? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's where they popped off a BUNCH of test nukes.

    6. Re:What's This? by jimwelch · · Score: 1

      If you look a little to the north, you will find some weird green circles?

      For the clueless: this is farming by irrigation, the watering system rotates around the water feed, so you get a crop circle.

      --
      Never trust a man wearing a coat and tie!
    7. Re:What's This? by planckscale · · Score: 1
      It looks like optical illusions because they don't look like craters, they look like hills. Maybe they are from underground "shots" of nuclear test blasts. Some of them look like they have snow on the South rims. http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Mercury,Nevada&ll=37 .053570,-116.032051&spn=0.008122,0.007188&t=k&hl=e n

      There sure are a lot of those mounds. I wonder how many underground blasts were conducted here? Too many for me to count...

      --
      Namaste
    8. Re:What's This? by As+Seen+On+TV · · Score: 2, Informative

      The runway at Edwards is considerably longer. It's 7-1/2 miles from end to end.

      And for the record, Groom Lake was publicly acknowledged years ago. No mystery there. It's just an Air Force base.

    9. Re:What's This? by goates · · Score: 1

      Whoops, you're right. Those are mounds, but there sure are a lot of them. I wonder if that valley glows at night?

      Would this be Tonopah, the base where the F-117s were first based?

      http://maps.google.com/maps?q=tonopah,Nevada&ll= 37 .787819,-116.788788&spn=0.252686,0.341263&t=k&hl=e n

    10. Re:What's This? by Trolocsis · · Score: 1

      The image is of Edwards Air Force base. The Modern Marvels show on History Channel just did a documentary on the base.

    11. Re:What's This? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is it just me or does anyone else think this guy is about to go get married in Las Vegas?

    12. Re:What's This? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I suspect the runway complex is a dummy, used for practice bombing. Notice the area is full of craters, and there are are no apparent refueling or service facilities. Also notice the circular SAM sites. The US isn't real big on fixed SAM installations, so why else would they need *3* of them at this airbase?

    13. Re:What's This? by cyberassasin · · Score: 1

      http://maps.google.com/maps?q=groom+lake,nv&ll=37. 402825,-116.241574&sll=36.518555,-115.561924&spn=0 .008186,0.007113&sspn=.127029,.120678&t=k&hl=en

      Some sort of facility with a plane on the ground near Groom Lake (Area 51)

      --
      Who is the master of foxhounds, and who says the hunt has begun? -Pink Floyd
  28. Historical Pics? by CodeHog · · Score: 1

    Check this one out >> http://maps.google.com/maps?q=chicago+illinois&ll= 41.857975,-87.607298&spn=0.014849,0.020878&t=k&hl= en You'll notice the airfield still seems operational in downtown Chicago... And you can see the construction going on in Solider Field!

    --
    Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.
  29. Another "egg" by Quixote · · Score: 1

    If you view the pictures of Atlanta's airport, you can see 4 planes taking off (in the air). ATL must be one heck of a busy airport!

    1. Re:Another "egg" by aducore · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure, but those could all be the same airplane. They seem too evenly spaced for coincidence, and are too close (both in location and trajectory) to the limits I would imagine the FAA sets. Also, all the planes look identical.

    2. Re:Another "egg" by The+Angry+Mick · · Score: 1

      Yep. Once you get past the two to three hour wait for the body cavity search, Atlanta has a ton of flights to choose from.

      --

      I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly, alert.

    3. Re:Another "egg" by tdemark · · Score: 1

      Take a look at Runway 9-Right. You can see a plane just after touchdown (by the shadow you can tell that the nose is still in the air). Now, scroll left. You can see what looks to be another plane on approach, a few hundred yards out!

      I would think it's just an artifact of different scans.

      - Tony

    4. Re:Another "egg" by angle_slam · · Score: 1
      ATL must be one heck of a busy airport!

      Actually, it's the busiest airport in the entire world. No, really. It is: see here.

      Surprised the heck out of me. I guess that most bigger cities have two or more airports to spread the business around.

    5. Re:Another "egg" by Thieron · · Score: 1

      Very good point. These photos are not taken at the same time. In fact, I'm sure it is possible to do the math and figure out how far about in time and distance each picture is taken.

      Could very well be the same airplane

      I've been in lots of airports though and I've seen planes landing pretty close together. Just enough time for one to touchdown and taxi out the way before the next one hits.

    6. Re:Another "egg" by EastCoastSurfer · · Score: 1

      True, plus the photos were obviously taken on a clear day which allows for planes to take off and land closer together.

    7. Re:Another "egg" by jimwelch · · Score: 1

      Last time I flew into Alanta, I had a nice window seat, as we were aproaching, I say four planes behind me following us in, and land on the strip next to us, I thought that was not safe.

      --
      Never trust a man wearing a coat and tie!
  30. Worldwind eggsses by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    56.97210
    -4.29337
    You'll need an altitude of oh, 27000m or so....

    1. Re:Worldwind eggsses by doublem · · Score: 1

      OK, it's Scotland. What's your point?

      --
      "Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
  31. Strange messages by krf · · Score: 2, Funny

    It seems that pretty much the whole world seems to be covered with the same giant, repeating letters. Is someone trying to tell us something?

  32. See America First by ackthpt · · Score: 1
    As an aside, a fun challenge is to find landmarks from space without looking at the "map" part - only satellite images. I did pretty well on Niagara Falls and the Golden Gate Bridge, but utterly failed at finding Old Faithful.

    You could spend some time looking for these.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  33. Planetary Easter Eggs by Alien54 · · Score: 2, Interesting
    There is a story / urban legend of a weather man stationed by the militery in some god forsaken place in the wilds of Northern Canada. It is alledged that he had a huge amount of time of his hands, a large flat area without trees, plenty of rocks, a leftover construction bulldozer, and about 40 to 50 years to wait for a military internet connection so he could get other forms of entertainment.

    Therefore, as a person with too much timne on their hands, he contrived moved the rocks, pebbles, and bolders around on the extensive flat surface. After about 6 months, he had managed to spell out a classic Anglo-Saxon Expletive Deleted viewable only from appropriate altitude in the air, which served as an appropriate warning to those arriving for duty there.

    These are supposed to be fairly huge, so I wonder how long it will take for some to find them?

    --
    "It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
    1. Re:Planetary Easter Eggs by ackthpt · · Score: 2, Informative
      These are supposed to be fairly huge, so I wonder how long it will take for some to find them?

      Hitler Youth had planted some trees in the Black Forest which changed color earlier in the autumn showing a very large swastika from the air. It was in Time or something several years ago. The article indicated many of the trees would be cut down.

      A shame, it's not like the trees had done anything wrong...

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    2. Re:Planetary Easter Eggs by Alien54 · · Score: 4, Interesting
      as seen here and seen here:

      This photo was taken on November 14, 2000. The 60 x 60 meter swastika consisted of Larch trees in a Pine forest near the village of Zernikow (110 km Northeast of Berlin). It was only visible from the air a few weeks in the Spring and a few weeks in the Fall when Larch trees stood out in contract to the surrounding Pine trees.

      These trees were planted in the 1930's by a local resident during Nazi times. They were largely forgotten until after the German reunification in 1992 when planes once again flew over the area.

      Local forestry officials cut down 25 of the Larch trees after this photo appeared in several German tabloids. Swastikas are mostly outlawed in Germany.. Coins and stamps are exempt from the ban.

      --
      "It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
    3. Re:Planetary Easter Eggs by zippthorne · · Score: 1

      Anyone else find it odd that the swastika is forbidden on most things in germany except the Official Currency

      --
      Can you be Even More Awesome?!
    4. Re:Planetary Easter Eggs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sounds like Cold Lake, AB, Canada.

    5. Re:Planetary Easter Eggs by 0racle · · Score: 1

      I believe it means historical coins and stamps. I don't believe that the German Treasury is run by a bunch of Nazi's.

      --
      "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
    6. Re:Planetary Easter Eggs by Stephen+Samuel · · Score: 1

      Stemp and coin collections, you ghit. They may be part of an ugly history, but they're history nontheless. I can't see them ever being printed on current production.

      --
      Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
    7. Re:Planetary Easter Eggs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Local forestry officials cut down 25 of the Larch trees after this photo appeared in several German tabloids. [...]

      If you cut down the trees, wouldn't you still have a swastika formed from the missing trees?

    8. Re:Planetary Easter Eggs by Alien54 · · Score: 1

      Cold Lake looks like it still has some trees, but maybe

      --
      "It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
    9. Re:Planetary Easter Eggs by mink · · Score: 1

      I know what Hitler did with the Swastika and it was a travesty, but I wonder what happens in Germany when some eastern immigrant has a wedding or other ceremony where a Swastika is often used for it's original intended reason.

      --
      Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
  34. Whole blog devoted to this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    "Google site-seeing":

    http://www.shreddies.org/gmaps/

    Cool to see planes in the air

  35. Geospatial links. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.geovistastudio.psu.edu/jsp/index.jsp

    "GeoVISTA Studio is an open software development environment designed for geospatial data. Studio is a programming-free environment that allows users to quickly build applications for geocomputation and geographic visualization"

    http://www.mancke-software.de/wmsClient/

    "This is the Home of a Client vor viewing Maps from an WMS (Web Map Server). "

    http://www.mindswap.org/2003/PhotoStuff/

    "PhotoStuff - An Image Annotation Tool for the Semantic Web"

    http://my.unidata.ucar.edu/content/software/idv/in dex.html

    "The Integrated Data Viewer (IDV) from Unidata is a Java(TM)-based software framework for analyzing and visualizing geoscience data. The IDV brings together the ability to display and work with satellite imagery, gridded data, surface observations, balloon soundings, NWS WSR-88D Level II and Level III RADAR data, and NOAA National Profiler Network data, all within a unified interface."

    http://opensourcegis.org/

    "This effort represents an attempt to build a complete index of Open Source / Free GIS related software projects. The effort has some way to go, especially for projects in languages other than English. The definition of GIS has been kept loose to encompass a broad range of projects which deal with spatial data."

  36. The Capitol by cascino · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Anyone else notice the U.S. Capitol building is intentionally blurred out? For "security"?

    1. Re:The Capitol by cascino · · Score: 1

      And the White House and adjoining buildings are colored over?

    2. Re:The Capitol by stratjakt · · Score: 1

      So's "Area 51", or Quantico or the naval academy in Annapolis, etc..

      It's been against the law to photograph many military or political institutions in the US for as long as there have been cameras, IIRC, so it's not really surprising, and not really one of those things you can blame on Bush either. Don't let that stop you though, slashdotters! Strap on the tinfoil and let the YRO rants ensue!

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    3. Re:The Capitol by carpe_noctem · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's not blurred out. That's just the alien technology force field which is protecting it.

      *runs to the kitchen for some more foil*

      --
      "Quoting famous computer scientists out of context is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming." - K
    4. Re:The Capitol by syntap · · Score: 1

      It is not blurred out on Terraserver for whatever reason.

    5. Re:The Capitol by BarakMich · · Score: 1

      And the Pentagon's not? Check that out. You can even still see the helipad...

      It's a strange time in the country when the legislators who voted for war are hiding more than the people who might actually be waging war.

    6. Re:The Capitol by taniwha · · Score: 2, Funny

      maybe it moved ....

    7. Re:The Capitol by Dutchmaan · · Score: 1

      So who should be wearing the tinfoil hat..?

      The person who blames Bush for something.. ..or the person who complains about people blaming Bush for something before a blame has even occured.

      >

    8. Re:The Capitol by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 1

      No it hasn't. You can stand infront of the Pentagon, White House, Supreme Court, Federal Courts, Capital and snap away. I've been on Pensacola NAS, Ellsworth AFB (which has B-1Bs and nukes), Fort Lewis, Pearl Harbor (nukes), Warren (nukes), McCord, Mountain Home, as a civilian and taken all sorts of pictures.

      I think these are blurred because of an agreement with the sat providers about giving detail that could be used for targeting. The Government knows full well that the Brits, French, Russians, Japanese and Chinese can target, but they don't want Iran or AQ buying good photos from a commercial site.

    9. Re:The Capitol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      target? with a nuke you don't need to park the warhead through the window; somewhere in the vicinity is good enough

    10. Re:The Capitol by harks · · Score: 1

      The Terraserver picture is from 1988. I always figured the blurring and coloring over is meant to hide some kind of antiaircraft guns or other military machinery put in place after 9/11

    11. Re:The Capitol by Shishak · · Score: 3, Informative
      --
      Now I hope and pray that I will But today I am still, just a bill
    12. Re:The Capitol by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 1

      "target? with a nuke you don't need to park the warhead through the window; somewhere in the vicinity is good enough."

      Actually, you do need decent targeting with a nuke, dispite the public's perception. With a hardened target, like a silo, command center, you need to get close. If you are using a cruise missile, you need to guide it somehow, before GPS the mode was photographic guidence.

      Driving in a truck with a ton of fuel oil and some ANFO, you might check Google maps to see where barricades are, so they fuzz them out.

    13. Re:The Capitol by stratjakt · · Score: 1

      No, I could have been more specific. It's not all sites, and not under all circumstances.

      You cannot fly over the Pentagon, White House, or any of the other places you mentioned, so a "no aerial photo" ban is redundant.

      But you cannot photograph, sketch, or take notes on many military installations. I drive past Anders air force base quite regularly, and see the signs that say just that.

      I don't know the specifics of which locations, circumstances, or whatnot. I just know that's how it is, and how it's always been.

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    14. Re:The Capitol by advid · · Score: 1

      Unless they've actually entered into some agreement with the map provider to distort the buildings by moving them, say, 200 meters to the left on the photo, then I don't see how it would hurt a theoretical nutjob's ability to bomb 'em.

      There seem to be three scenarios:
      Long-range missile warfare If I know where Washington DC is at all, I can probably level it. Nukes, or just a sufficient saturation of high explosives. Hand-carried bombs A hand-delivered bomb would rely on local surveillance, I'd think. Satellite photos might be useful for examinations of the roof to find a potential entrance... but one could probably get close enough just by walking. Long-range pinpoint missiles This is the closest to inconvenienced an aggressor might get. You'd need highly accurate surveillance to fire a long-range guided missile through a window into the Capitol building, I'd imagine. On the other hand, if you can afford a long-range guided missile, and getting it close enough to Washington DC for this to work, you can probably afford to have a "tourist" walk through the Capitol building with a GPS receiver and a digital camera.

      So I don't see the benefit.

      --
      - "I'll probably get modded down for this."
    15. Re:The Capitol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah and Naval Observatory, but on http://www.terraserver-usa.com/ is not blurred... go figure... is this going to confuse the bad guys? And bisides... who cares where Dick Cheney lives... he's in hospital most of the time.

    16. Re:The Capitol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      There was no artificial blurring of the US Capitol building - you are watching Ameican democracy fading away in real time.

    17. Re:The Capitol by pknoll · · Score: 1

      That's nothing! They blurred out fully half of Minneapolis!

    18. Re:The Capitol by sootman · · Score: 1

      Check out Orlando--Disney imagery isn't available in high-quality at all ("we're sorry, but we don't have imagery at this zoom level for this region") but Universal is.

      --
      Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
    19. Re:The Capitol by haagmm · · Score: 1

      no, thats just a function of older photography.

    20. Re:The Capitol by LupeSpywalper · · Score: 0

      So what is hiding under this blur ?

    21. Re:The Capitol by CreationLtd · · Score: 1
      So what is hiding under this blur
      That's easy. The Veep!
    22. Re:The Capitol by east+coast · · Score: 1

      I don't see how it would hurt a theoretical nutjob's ability to bomb 'em.

      You're only thinking of one real scenario, bombing. What about the threat of infiltration? Ever consider that? And the tops of these buildings doubtlessly have some level of defense on them. That is critical information in an attack.

      --
      Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
    23. Re:The Capitol by kgp · · Score: 1

      The whitehouse is also modified but with some subtlety.

      The roofs of the whilehouse and the executive office buildings have had neutral colored boxes placed over them. There are no details of the roofs (for obvious reasons, entries and protective devices I presume are concealed).

    24. Re:The Capitol by metamatic · · Score: 1

      The NSA headquarters aren't blurred or 'cleaned'. However, they know who's looking at the image...

      --
      GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
    25. Re:The Capitol by gmr2048 · · Score: 1

      Check out the White House, Old Executive Office building, and whatever that building due east of the WH is. They all have their rooftops false colored to hide snipers/AA batteries.

    26. Re:The Capitol by advid · · Score: 1

      True, my focus was narrow. But if I'm a person who seriously wants to infiltrate one of these buildings then this isn't going to stop me. I don't know how controlled the airspace is within the appropriate range of these buildings, but I could possibly charter a plane / helicopter to fly close enough to get some pictures. Looking at the imagery on google maps, some of the nearby buildings seem to be taller than the Capitol -- I might be able to get on top of those. Or, at the least, I can probably get into an office near the top floor facing in the right direction. Depending on the urgency, the method could range from breaking in to actually renting some office space.

      If I was dedicated enough and had the time, I would think the easiest way to infiltrate the Capitol building would be to get onto the staff of a Senator. (Or, failing that, fake enough ID to persuade the guards that you're on the staff of a Senator.)

      --
      - "I'll probably get modded down for this."
  37. Can we really call them Easter Eggs? by Kraagenskul · · Score: 0

    These aren't really Easter Eggs, since no one is hiding them. They're just life. Now if somebody writes in a cornfield "HEY DIGITAL GLOBE!", that's an easter egg.

  38. Before or after Burning Man by btempleton · · Score: 1

    People say that picture is before the event, but the roads seem like they have been driven on an awful lot at this point, and not just the roads, but the various side paths too. I know they water down the roads before people arrive but there is limited desire to actually drive them. They don't go anywhere yet. So why is this reported as a before picture?

    --
    Has it been over a year since you last donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation
    1. Re:Before or after Burning Man by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you any idea what you're talking about? This is absolutely a "before" picture. You'd know this if you'd been there. I'm not going to detail the reasons why. All the roads you see are complete. Where did you think they were supposed to "go" ?

    2. Re:Before or after Burning Man by Twilight1 · · Score: 2, Informative

      While I don't know whether this is a before or after picture, I can tell you that it was taken Aug 18th, 2003 18:36:19. I'll leave the rest of the exercise to the reader. :)

      Cheers,
      Twilight1

    3. Re:Before or after Burning Man by taniwha · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I think DPW drags them (probably with the same chainlink fence bit they use after to remove them).

      I think it's before for a bunch of reasons: not all the JOTSs are there yet, there's a bunch of stuff around the temple (way more than there would be for clean up) and most importantly only the roads have been broken up, after the burn I'd expect the surface color between the roads to be lighter as it gets broken up.

      BTW for the record this is where we launch rockets. The large horizontal line along the bottom is where we park/camp and the smaller horizontal ones are where the launch pads go - the vertical line is from driving during setup and walking to the pads. This photo is probably a few weeks after a launch

    4. Re:Before or after Burning Man by taniwha · · Score: 1

      I think he has

    5. Re:Before or after Burning Man by btempleton · · Score: 1

      The resolution isn't quite enough to tell you if we're looking at the burn platform being built or cleaned up, though the uniformity of colour of what you see does indeed suggest it's being built. The temple, as you say, might not have the same crew on it. The clues will be obvious to those who have been there at tear-down or before, since things like the cafe are not built up the same way they are torn down. I was just surprised to see not just the roads, but many other ad-hoc paths so well defined just from the watering and dragging.

      If you look at my own aerial photographs of burning man you can see the roads are in many cases not much more defined during the event.

      --
      Has it been over a year since you last donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation
  39. Makes you wonder. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Friendly aliens from a near by star system pass the moon on their way to Earth, where they hope to introduce themselves... initial scans reveal the tell-tale heat plooms from bombs going off around the world.

    "Maybe next time" they say to themselves.

  40. Spotting environmental crimes by Bubblehead · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Reminds me of the California Coastline Project that got launched a few years ago. The idea behind it was to help people spot environmental crimes, building violations, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if Google's maps will soon be used for similar things - although it would help to have a more frequent update than 18 months, and to be able to browse in the past. While that information is available now (for a fee), it'll have quite a different impact once it's free.

    --
    Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
    1. Re:Spotting environmental crimes by Nasher · · Score: 1

      If I'm going to check if my tenants have been mowing the lawn I'll need at least monthly updates

  41. What terraserver are you using? by jeffmeden · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Terraserver was impressive in its day (circa 1998) but almost all the data is a decade or more old, in black and white, and 1p/m. Google's data is for the most part MUCH newer and in color. Same resolution though, i wont really be impressed until i can see a sat image of myself outside cutting my lawn.

  42. Dating when Google's Satellite Images occurred by rfc1394 · · Score: 1
    I found a way to determine an approximate date of when Google's satellite images occurred, by using a well-known landmark less than four miles away from where I live in my home town of Arlington, Virginia.

    If you look at this link, you will see the Pentagon building, and you will see there is a repair going on at the time. This was the repair of the September 11 attack, which was completed within one year. That dates these images to sometime before September 11, 2002 when the repairs were completed.

    --
    The lessons of history teach us - if they teach us anything - that nobody learns the lessons that history teaches us.
    1. Re:Dating when Google's Satellite Images occurred by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Arlington,VA&ll=38.8 70697,-77.058878&spn=0.002950,0.005515&t=k&hl=en

      Isn't that the National World War II Memorial being built as well? Does that help in dating these?

    2. Re:Dating when Google's Satellite Images occurred by jimwelch · · Score: 1

      If you look at the local High School, it is after the track was completed Sept 1, 2004 and before the construction began on the new field house Dec. 2004.
      Is that close enough for you?
      http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=36.732938,-95.97201 3&spn=0.005279,0.007832&t=k&hl=en

      --
      Never trust a man wearing a coat and tie!
    3. Re:Dating when Google's Satellite Images occurred by darthnoodles · · Score: 1

      Looking in the area of Ottawa, ON, Canada I'd say within the past 6 months to one year for this area. There are several stores and car dealers in the one area that are quite new (Future Shop on Merivale, Delawri Chrysler on Hunt Club West) that are on the map.

    4. Re:Dating when Google's Satellite Images occurred by Festering+Leper · · Score: 1

      also showing the bridge construction on carling at the transitway

      --
      if you want people to think you know what you are talking about, just put ".com" at the end of everything you say.com
  43. Google Board Meeting by slapout · · Score: 4, Funny

    In a dimly lit board room, a man sits at the end of the table with his back to the others. One of his lieutenants is giving a progress report.

    "...and our satellites have just gone online."

    "How did we hide this from the public?" the man asked still facing away.

    "We told them that it was another beta feature being added to Google Maps" his underling replied.

    "So everything's on schedule then?" asked another man at the table.

    "Yes" the dark figure replied.

    The chair slowly turned until it was facing them. His face is barely visible in the shadows.
    He smiles as he pets the cat in his lap.

    "Our plans for world domination are proceeding nicely."

    --
    Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
    1. Re:Google Board Meeting by DarthVain · · Score: 1

      I for one welcome our Sat wielding Overlords!

      They are the googlest googlers of all googledot!

  44. Satellite easter eggs.. hmmm by Thaidog · · Score: 1
    Find that one!


    Damn! I give up!!! where did you put it?


    Uranus!.... BAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

    --

    ||| I still can't believe Parkay's not butter.

  45. Hollywood Defense Budget by cbelt3 · · Score: 1

    You know, within the budget for the special effects in Hollywood movies they can see into your shorts from Geosynchronous orbit. If Hollywood can do it, why can't Bush's huge Defense Budget ? And Where the hell are the flying cars and Daily Space Ships to the Moon base ? Huh ? Huh ?

  46. google & area 51 by jt418-93 · · Score: 1

    the good thing about google, is they don't white out area 51. see http://www.livejournal.com/community/the_unexplain ed/37956.html#cutid1 here for more

    --
    -.no
    1. Re:google & area 51 by joey_knisch · · Score: 1

      Area 51

      Actually try zooming in...
      All I get is, "Were sorry, but we don't have imagery at this zoom level for this region."

    2. Re:google & area 51 by Quill_28 · · Score: 1

      Of cource I can't zoom in on my mom's house either.

  47. Civil war re-enactment by Jim_Maryland · · Score: 3, Funny

    Not exactly satellite photos...

    The first mapping company I worked for flew aerial photos flights for counties. For the type of mapping we did (cadastral, planimetric, and topographic), we generally took the photos in late Fall (after the leaves were pretty much off the trees and before the snow fell) or early Spring (after the snow and before the leaves appeared). For a particular job, we unfortunately caught a major civil war re-enactment where they were shooting off a lot of cannons. Needless to say, the counties requirements for ground visibility required us to refly a portion of the county to retake the photos.

  48. Zoom in on the Tsunami by ehiris · · Score: 0

    Check out who was there.

    1. Re:Zoom in on the Tsunami by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Was my good friend Dan Hiris there?

  49. Re:The Plane capture (shadow) by fracai · · Score: 1

    I thougth shadow at first too, but I didn't think shadows appeared lighter or bluer than the surrounding land. /. effect prohibits me from double checking.

    --
    -- i am jack's amusing sig file
  50. Great Idea by RedA$$edMonkey · · Score: 0

    /. a site with lots of giant satellite images that no one normally looks at. I see no bandwidth problems occuring here.

  51. The CIA by tyates · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Not quite an easter egg, but still pretty cool. Here's the CIA. See you guys in guantanamo. http://maps.google.com/maps?q=mclean,va&ll=38.9519 08349990845,-77.14489102363586&spn=0.0068557262420 6543,0.005804300308227539&t=k&hl=en

    --
    Tristan Yates
    1. Re:The CIA by LanMan04 · · Score: 1

      I guess no one works there, check out the nearly empty parking lot.

      --
      With the first link, the chain is forged.
    2. Re:The CIA by Tibe · · Score: 1

      Anyone notice how alot of these images show the inefficiency of space parking lots are?

  52. Find the Top Secret Aircraft: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Try your skill being a spy. Identify the two "Top Secret" aircraft from the 70's in the picture.

    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=CA+93524&ll=34.95302 4,-117.884717&spn=0.009323,0.009195&t=k&hl=enSuper Spy

    And I though they were all at museums.

    1. Re:Find the Top Secret Aircraft: by Watersharer · · Score: 1

      sr71 blackbirds...

      and I also thought they were de-commed...although i seem to remember a couple being brought back in the mid-90's...

      --
      Only tyrants and oppressors need fear a well armed populace.
    2. Re:Find the Top Secret Aircraft: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      found your blackbirds, as well as some B1-B's and a bunch of helicopters too.

      anybody know what the deal is with that big runway in the dirt? alternate landing site for the shuttle maybe?

  53. European nude beaches by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pics please!?

  54. Is that Janet Jackson? by DiztortN · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Ya I think I just saw a titi! Ya thats a fully man.

  55. They did it agin! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Old news folks. Been there done that. HastaLavista.

  56. Wired Slashdotted? Where's a mirror page? by antispam_ben · · Score: 1

    I can't read TFA, it appears WIRED is slashdotted:
    http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,67190, 00.html#
    So I see your mirror site:
    ( http://www.networkmirror.com/ )
    and go to the Appropriate Link:
    http://www.networkmirror.com/CC_qTtXVggGorP95/www. wired.com/news/technology/0%2C1282%2C67190%2C00.ht ml%23.html
    but that doesn't have any mirrored content.

    Speaking of "Easter eggs" and the recent holiday, I can only imagine these photographs (since I can't actually see TFP's), perhaps one from the mideast with a big crowd throwing rocks at three guys hanging on crosses...

    --
    Tag lost or not installed.
  57. It doesn't. by Dorsai65 · · Score: 3, Funny

    What you think you're seeing is just an artifact of the imaging system. Nothing is really there.

    Under the USA PATRIOT act, you are hereby ordered to the nearest Federal Reporting Station for re-education.

    --
    --- Asking inconvenient questions for over 30 years...
  58. Re:Intentionally placed? by Jim_Maryland · · Score: 3, Interesting

    He also explained that because of things like fog and clouds, specific regional satellite images can be a composite of several stitched-together pictures.

    To illustrate the point of stitching the images together, this link presents an interesting example of that: DC Buildings (Google.com). Notice at that the four buildings show a different side and shadow as though the vantage point were different for each of them.

    Interesting enough, if you pan to the East and slightly to the South, you'll see a portion of the image is intentionally distorted. For those who would prefer to go directly to the area, click here.

  59. United States Capital Building by Captoo · · Score: 1

    I think it's very interesting that the United States Capital Building has been intentionally blurred in Google's satellite image collection. Hmmm... Was Google asked by the government to do this?

    1. Re:United States Capital Building by Captoo · · Score: 1

      It must have been Congress that asked for it. The White House and the Supreme Court building are not blurred.

    2. Re:United States Capital Building by MichaelJ · · Score: 1

      Also, several hydropower plants and an airport in Niagara Falls are only in low-res while all of their surroundings are of much higher detail.

      --

      Michael J.
      Root, God, what is difference?
    3. Re:United States Capital Building by Thieron · · Score: 1

      Looking up my hometown, Commack, NY I see a lot of images that are low res there too. Nothing there that would be highly senstive as far as I know and one image is in the neighborhood I grew up in.

    4. Re:United States Capital Building by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just a nit.. there is no such thing as the United States Capital Building. It is the United States Capitol.

  60. Most popular thing people use World Wind for by AnswerIs42 · · Score: 1
    Most common use we have found for people that use World Wind. "Hey! Look I found ___________!" Even have a hotspots website setup at Worldwindcentral.com

    What makes it nice using World Wind is that it is starting to bring together a few different sources of data into one interface.

    Now.. if we can just get Europe to forget about their pocketbooks and open up some imagery for free use...

    1. Re:Most popular thing people use World Wind for by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the (flemish) belgian government has a website with geographical imagery(sat/arials) http://www.gisvlaanderen.be/geo-vlaanderen/nl/loke tten.asp

      a few years ago terraserver still had most of europe in its database, unfortunately its no longer available

    2. Re:Most popular thing people use World Wind for by Myself · · Score: 1

      There are a number of threads on the Worldwind forums where people post funny things captured in the images, like airplanes in flight. Someone posted a particularly impressive shot of a plane landing, you can tell by the shadow it's about 30 feet off the runway.

      What's especially fun is if an object, like a plane, is straddling a tile boundary when the image is taken. When the adjacent images are captured, the other half of the object isn't there, so you have a tailsection flying merrily along...

      On the more detailed images, traffic jams and parades are especially fun to find. You can tell what state the traffic lights were in by how the cars are positioned.

    3. Re:Most popular thing people use World Wind for by Doppler00 · · Score: 1

      I use World Wind all the time and have about 38GB of cached data. I like how much faster it grabs data compared to web interfaces, and the fact that I can see things in 3D.

      I wonder if Google would ever utilize the world wind engine for their data, or have some kind of cool Java plugin?

  61. examples in this article only scratch the surface by rtphokie · · Score: 1

    The new satellite photo feature in GoogleMaps comes from their aquisition of Keyhole. Their software has been around for a little while and has quite a following (myself included) of people who find all sorts of interesting things in the photos and share them on the message board Keyhole setup for users.

    Attachments can be used to go right to the area using the Keyhole software. Current events are covered (recent posts include the Paris hotel fire, the San Jose Wendy's where a finger was supposedly found in a bowl of chili, the Neverland Ranch, and a detailed mapping of buildings within Vatican City).

    Other forums are filled with geeky goodness. Recent posts there have links to show you the 7 wonders of the ancient world, the UNESCO World Heritage list, logos on rooftops, webcam locations, and lots of pointers to filming locations of TV and movies.

  62. MOD PARENT UP by prezninja · · Score: 1

    This is amazing, I'm afraid this'll get lost in the noise!

  63. Wired has a story on satellite images by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and can't be arsed to show even one of them.

    About as annoying as the phrase "for more information, visit your local library".

  64. Re:Google Maps doesn't work right - Maryland by Tuna_Shooter · · Score: 1

    I also live close to the bay (Northeast) and find it a little annoying i can't see as to where i boat on a regular basis.

    --
    *--- Sometimes a majority only means that all the fools are on the same side. ---*
  65. If you link to images, the terrorists will win by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  66. Using the Washington monument as a giant sundial.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...who can tell me what time of day the satalite mapped Washington DC?

    Or when Toronto was mapped, using the CN Tower?

  67. yep by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm unclear as to how BBCode is easier or better than plain old HTML.

  68. My neighborhood data is from 2004 by wsanders · · Score: 1

    Guess it depends on where you live, the "urban areas" photos of my neighborhood in the SF Bay Area, is dated 2004. These are color and higher res than the "Aerial Photo" series from 1993.

    I think these are "regular" aerial photos, not satellite.

    --
    Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
  69. Re:The Capitol - check the White House... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I noticed this a while back while playing around with their new aerial maps.

    It's interesting to note that The White House has a retouched roof in this picture. It's fairly easy to see that someone touched up the roof so as to remove any sort of details. Two other buildings in the same area have also been touched up.

    Oddly enough, if you scroll across the river to the southwest, you'll find The Pentagon either had a better touchup job, or no touchups at all.

    Interesting!
    ~ Mike

  70. This is impressive, www.wired.com is totally /.ed by wsanders · · Score: 2, Informative

    Nice! The entire site is down!

    --
    Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
  71. Two SR-71s on the ground, outside the hangar by Shishak · · Score: 3, Interesting
    --
    Now I hope and pray that I will But today I am still, just a bill
    1. Re:Two SR-71s on the ground, outside the hangar by Enigma_Man · · Score: 1

      Whoa on the SR-71s! Nice Find!

      -Jesse

      --
      Nothing says "unprofessional job" like wrinkles in your duct tape.
    2. Re:Two SR-71s on the ground, outside the hangar by jimwelch · · Score: 1

      Is that two B-52s also?

      --
      Never trust a man wearing a coat and tie!
    3. Re:Two SR-71s on the ground, outside the hangar by hanshotfirst · · Score: 1

      Hey! I thought the SR-71 was retir+++NO CARRIER

      --
      Why, oh why, didn't I take the Blue Pill?
    4. Re:Two SR-71s on the ground, outside the hangar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      even crazier (though the blackbirds are cool) is the HUGE compass drawn on the ground to the east...

    5. Re:Two SR-71s on the ground, outside the hangar by As+Seen+On+TV · · Score: 1
    6. Re:Two SR-71s on the ground, outside the hangar by Feynman · · Score: 1
    7. Re:Two SR-71s on the ground, outside the hangar by Andr0s · · Score: 1

      Actually, this is not all that rare a shot - on that spot, that is. USS Intrepid is retired and docked at Hudson, New York, NY, where is serves as "Intrepid Air & Space Museum" ( http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/ ). Aircraft on its deck is -not- SR-71. It is actually A-12 - predcessor of S/R-71 that also served as conceptual test machine. A-12 operations were terminated on 06-01-1968, about the same time that S/R-71 started entering service. It's also interesting to notice that there's no way that A-12 reached Intrepid's flight deck under its own power - the size, weight and engine strength of that aircraft are far beyond that of any naval aircraft, and in the most unlikely case that Intrepid's arrester cables were strong enough to stop A-12 on touchdown, the airplane's body would be torn apart by the forces required to stop it on such a short runway (before it fell off the end of deck).

      --
      '...computers in the future may have only 1000 vacuum tubes and perhaps weigh 1.5 tons...' Popular Mechanics, 03/49'
    8. Re:Two SR-71s on the ground, outside the hangar by morcheeba · · Score: 1

      don't forget that super-secret exotic plane getting ready to take off at the end of the runway!

    9. Re:Two SR-71s on the ground, outside the hangar by CreatureComfort · · Score: 2, Funny


      Even better! I found the Stargate!

      --
      "Unheard of means only it's undreamed of yet,
      Impossible means not yet done." ~~ Julia Ecklar
    10. Re:Two SR-71s on the ground, outside the hangar by borgasm · · Score: 1

      Does it strike anybody odd that all the chopper blades are in the exact same position? (second picture)....they almost look like they were cut/pasted in there

      I have seen some images on google maps that are drawn in, such as a golf course near my house that doesn't exist yet....

    11. Re:Two SR-71s on the ground, outside the hangar by The+Cisco+Kid · · Score: 1

      Not really. Im sure when they park these birds they lock the rotors in place to keep them from spinning around in a stiff wind - and I suspect they locking pins/latches/etc are in the same place on the same model of aircraft.

    12. Re:Two SR-71s on the ground, outside the hangar by teneighty · · Score: 1

      Anyone know what that other black plane is (on the same tarmac, immediately North of the SR-71s)?

    13. Re:Two SR-71s on the ground, outside the hangar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A B-2 at Palmdale airport. URL:http://maps.google.com/maps?q=palmdale,ca&ll=3 4.637339,-118.082567&spn=0.007671,0.010664&t=k&hl= en/

  72. Found it. by cybergrue · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Unfortuanately, the satellite image isn't of a high enough resolution to see it in google maps. If anyone from Google is reading this, please upload high resolution pictures of a place called Vegerville, Alberta, Canada so you can have a true and authentic Easter Egg in Google maps.
    Giant Easter Egg
    Another pic
    more info

  73. Vegreville, Alberta by StratoChief66 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The google map isn't detailed enough, but Vegreville Alberta has a giant Easter Egg statue. If you can find a detailed enough satellite pic of Vegreville, you will see a huge black, yellow, and other coloured Easter Egg there.

    --
    Frylock: "We should have cloned twenties, Jackson wouldn't have given a fuck."
  74. Flaming server by joeslugg · · Score: 1

    I'm surprised they don't have a satellite image of their web server just as it was being slashdotted.
    Here's a mirror from coral cache, though it's having problems too. Same for mirrordot.

  75. disney by Legodude522 · · Score: 0

    Ever look at Disney World area? I found several Mickies and one made out of a farm.

    --
    Because I have low karma, I need pills.
  76. this guy probably has some beer by rtphokie · · Score: 1

    here Sure keeps his roof clean, it's all one color. No frisbees of nothing on there.

    1. Re:this guy probably has some beer by Wubby · · Score: 1

      This is interesting. It looks altered, as do the two buildings to the east and west. Also, this is nicely blurred. I wonder what else is of national security worth looking at?

      --
      Sig
      Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars
  77. I wonder... by chinton · · Score: 1

    What does a /.ed server look like from space?

    1. Re:I wonder... by Dr.+GeneMachine · · Score: 1

      Mushroom cloud.

      --
      This comment does not exist.
  78. My Lawn by vjmurphy · · Score: 1

    Looking at my neighborhood from space just reminds me how piss-poor my lawn is in comparison to my neighbors. Thanks a lot, Google.

    At least Google Maps screws up my address, so that everyone else sees a nice green lawn from someone else's house when they search using my address.

    --
    Vincent J. Murphy
    Spandex Justice
  79. I see smoke in one of the images!! by IdJit · · Score: 1

    It must be coming from Wired's server!

  80. Satellite captures image of web server... by Namlak · · Score: 2, Funny

    Right there under that plume of smoke.

  81. Image Misconceptions by JJ · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Everytime I turn around I keep hearing about how wonderful spy satelitte's are. The problem is, unless they know where to look, they can't find anything. A typical spy satelitte is in a useful location once or twice a day for 5 minutes tops each. This was also demonstrated in Clear and Present Danger when the Irish thugs hid while the US satelitte was overhead and were replaced by Libyans. It was only when the satelitte was 'retasked' that useful images were captured. Quit telling me about counting the hairs on a man's head, start telling me about how to find things.
    BTW: Sadaam spending billions of dollars looted from Oil-for-Food on tricking US satelitte images was itself an 'act of war' as identified in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (and about twenty other international treaties) which fully justified the invasion of Iraq.

    --
    So long and thanks for all the fish . . . !!!
    1. Re:Image Misconceptions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I must say that I love how the two things you speak of in your post have nothing to do with each other nor do they have anything to do with easter eggs in sat images. I finished reading your post and just had to say wtf?

    2. Re:Image Misconceptions by Qrlx · · Score: 1

      Every country violates treaties. Or as Stalin put it, "treaties are made to be broken."

      Just becuase you can come up with justification for doing something doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

      Not to mention that Saddam didn't even have a nuclear weapons program... so how could the Nuclaer Non-Proliferation Treaty even come into play?

      Furthermore, Saddam was allowing inspections until he discovered that the inspectors from America were CIA spies planting sureveillance devices at all his bases.

      But no matter, you got your war. Does it fill you with pride to see the picture of the US bomb going off in one of Baghdad's residential neighborhoods?

      Trolling aside, you are quite right about spy satellites not being all that useful unless we know where to look. Our reliance on overly technological methods hasn't really produced accurate intelligence.

      But you must realize the powers that be like it that way, becuase that affords them the ability to model the threat to meet their political agenda. The value of the intelligence is not in its accuracy. No, the purpose of intelligence is to provide a rationale for a given course of action, such as war in Vietnam or Iraq.

      Policy drives the intelligence gathering and analysis, not the other way around. And there's not even a feedback mechanism whereby intel has a chance to alter policy. It's completely ass-backwards. You can build up a "slam dunk" case for whatever preposterous assertion you wish, just by cherry-picking the few facts which, taken out of context, build a compelling case.

      That's not an intelligence failure, that's a policy failure, and a systems failure. The intel was all there what Al Qaeda was planning for 9/11, the system just didn't process it. The intel was all there that Saddam had no WMD, but the system discarded that information because those facts didn't jibe with the goals.

      And a large part of the reason the system failed to piece together the big picture was not too little intelligence, but too much. Far too much. And far too people to analyze the mass of data we've got.

      But of course, those in power want it that way.

      Not too many politicians are going to let the facts stand between them and their goals. It's a lot easier to say "we erred on the side of Democracy" than "we were wrong."

  82. Re:Intentionally placed? by kirun · · Score: 1

    But Hanke prefers to focus on the excitement users are getting looking for the unexpected.

    "It's kind of like playing one of those adventure games," he said, "where you have to click on every part of the screen to find that box that will open."


    Those are supposed to be exciting? I'd like to give whoever came up with abstract puzzles a great big thump in the face. If you can only solve something by acting randomly, it wasn't a puzzle, it isn't rewarding, and it shows the game authors either were too lazy to come up with decent puzzles, or they'd already spent all their money on washed-up actors for the cutscenes.

    So maybe the guy could have picked a better example.

    --
    I'm scared of numbers that can't be written as a fraction. It's an irrational fear.
  83. That's nothing by Actuator+Man · · Score: 1
    1. Re:That's nothing by TheFlyingGoat · · Score: 1

      Far more at ORD

      --
      You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. --Winston Churchill
    2. Re:That's nothing by TheFlyingGoat · · Score: 3, Funny
      --
      You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. --Winston Churchill
    3. Re:That's nothing by Actuator+Man · · Score: 2, Funny
  84. directions by Mr.+Underbridge · · Score: 1
    I don't really see the appeal of Google Maps Satellite imagery

    Does terraserver provide directions?

  85. Re: Snipers by falser · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The adjacent buildings are colored so as not to reveal the location of the snipers. Yes, there are snipers on various buildings surrounding both the White House and the Capitol building. I've seen em with my own eyes during a rooftop party across the street from the Eisenhower building. They'll occasionally stand up to stretch and look around, sometimes they'll wave back to you.

  86. Stitching together? How about Montreal, cut in two by francisew · · Score: 1
  87. Airport codes by fudgefactor7 · · Score: 1

    If you care to know, you can enter the code and it will take you right to the airport you need...lax...dsm...alo...ord, whichever. Works great.

  88. look at groomlake through terraserver by geekoid · · Score: 1

    much of it it whited out.
    Lng -116.79302
    Lat 37.12547

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  89. In Soviet Russia... by Jerk+City+Troll · · Score: 2, Funny

    USA fucks YOU!

    1. Re:In Soviet Russia... by ArsonSmith · · Score: 3, Funny

      No, that's everywhere.

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
  90. Nellis AFB F16's by planckscale · · Score: 1
    I checked out a few airforce bases and saw quite a few F16's and A-10's on the ground a Nellis Airforce Base and just outside of Las Vegas. You can see a few fighters are painted camo, and perhaps a few colors of different nations (Israel).

    I couldn't locate Area 51...

    --
    Namaste
    1. Re:Nellis AFB F16's by geekoid · · Score: 1

      http://maps.google.com/maps?q=groom+lake,nv&ll=37. 267513,-115.812206&sll=36.518555,-115.561924&spn=0 .124798,0.175095&sspn=0.127029,0.120678&t=k&hl=en

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  91. Re: Area 51 by falser · · Score: 1

    Area 51 is not blocked out. You can indeed find the airfield, though it's not in high res like Metro areas. You need to find "Groom Lake", though it's a dry lake and so it's not mapped as a lake in the regular maps mode. It's a little NE of the middle of the huge grey area in Nevada. The lake bed is a completely white salt flat that is almost circular. The airstip is just beneath it.

  92. Depends on the picture databases by CausticPuppy · · Score: 1

    There apparently are several image databases.
    (Does anybody actually think that google has been launching their own satellites and aerial photography aircraft? Well maybe not yet)

    Terraserver tells you when multiple databases are available (for example, I had two to choose from: 1993, and 2002). Since my house was built in 2001, naturally it only shows up in the 2002 picture.

    The 2002 picture on Terraserver is actually identical to the googlemaps image-- they both appear to come from the same photo database originally. However, the terraserver version allows zooming down to 4X higher resolution.

    What's cool about terraserver, if you have multiple years to choose from in your area, you can compare what it looked over time. Comparing satellite photos of my town from between 1993 and 2002 was eye-opening.

    Google provides a better interface for the purposes of mapping, but terraserver supplies you with more information overall. I'm sure google will be adding a few things in the future though. :-)

    --
    -CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
    1. Re:Depends on the picture databases by ahecht · · Score: 1

      They are actually different databases. The Google Maps images come from private sources such as AirPhotoUSA, while the TerraServer images come from the USGS's public domain "National Map" project (which takes images at higher resolutions than the private companies, but covers a smaller total area).

    2. Re:Depends on the picture databases by iamlucky13 · · Score: 1

      Some of the images actually are the same. I've compared some of the USGS aerial photos I've found on terraserver to images of the same locations from google and they are exactly the same in some locations. In particular I looked at McChord Airforce base. The C-17's were parked in the same spots, pointing in the same directions, with the same misc equipment scattered around. The shadows pointed the same directions and lengths and the grass was the same color.

  93. Re: Area 51 by falser · · Score: 1
  94. Well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you will just have to put uo with the 9-5 and as a /. comment.

    doe's anyone know if Intel found "their" top-shelf magazine yet??

  95. Area 51 by Thieron · · Score: 2, Interesting

    After seeing the Capital buildings blurred link I did a little surfing and found this

    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Rachel,NV&spn=0.0316 72,0.033817&t=k&hl=en

    Rachel, NV is the town near Area 51.

    This is the most you can zoom in on it

    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Rachel,NV&ll=37.3258 78,-115.308166&spn=0.063343,0.067635&t=k&hl=en

  96. Watts Bar Nuke Facility in Tennessee by fatboy · · Score: 1

    Watts Bar Nuke Facility in Tennessee

    I can't RTFA, it's /.ed

    --
    --fatboy
  97. The Boneyard by petsounds · · Score: 1

    The most impressive Google Maps sight I've seen so far is The Boneyard, where all the retired air force planes go. This location is at Davis Monthan Air Force Base. It is nicknamed "the boneyard" for obvious reasons and also "the world's largest airforce," as it holds more military airplanes than any nation's standing airforce. It's somewhere around Tucson, Arizona. Apparently there are also guided tours you can take.

  98. Re:The Plane capture (no shadow) by fracai · · Score: 1

    I've taken another look and it's definitely not a shadow. The shadows of the boxes on the ground point in the opposite direction and the portion in question is brighter than the surrounding area. It's either a product of the moving plane/satellite (my money's on the plane) or an artifact of reflected light (I doubt this).

    not that anyone cares at this point...

    --
    -- i am jack's amusing sig file
  99. USNA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I see planes flying into BWI over the Naval Academy all the time, not to mention lots of news helos, etc. Also, USNA is not blurred out on google maps, check it out.

  100. Hiden Mickey by bombadillo · · Score: 1

    Do a google map for Clermont FL. If you then go south on Hwy 27 your will see a Mickey Mouse Head in the middle of an orange field. The head is off of Disney property. Not sure who owns the property or why it is there. But it's cool.

    1. Re:Hiden Mickey by dcigary · · Score: 1

      Huh. Look at that. It's definately not on Disney property. I'm sure it's some crazy Disney fan....not like I'd know about that or anything... /whistles while he works

      --
      ...my Karma ran over your Dogma...
    2. Re:Hiden Mickey by jimwelch · · Score: 1

      If you click on link to this map button, it will update your address bar to point back to this location: then you can past it into slashdot.

      http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Clermont+FL&ll=28. 453774,-81.702533&spn=0.010085,0.015664&t=k&hl=en

      --
      Never trust a man wearing a coat and tie!
    3. Re:Hiden Mickey by bombadillo · · Score: 1

      Awesome, How did you find it so quick?

    4. Re:Hiden Mickey by MrSnivvel · · Score: 1

      I would guess that the "Mickey Mouse" is there because of a possible center pivot irrigation system being used.

  101. Here is one. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  102. George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    One evening my friend and I went looking for George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch. With Google's help (web searches for info, and the satellite maps), we quickly located it. My blog article has the Google Maps link to it.

    1. Re:George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So which building is Lucas's home? What's that lake/pond I see?

    2. Re:George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The pond is Lake Ewok. Lucas's house is the building at the center of the images if you follow the Google Maps link. It's the one with the circle in front with a tree in the middle, between the Victorian-style main house and Ewok Lake to the west.

      At least I think that's the case... From something else I read, I believe that the Skywalker Sound building is the one to the north of Ewok Lake.

      The smaller building or home closest to Ewok Lake (southwest of it) piques my curiosity as well.

  103. My Favorite San Antonio Easter Eggs by dcigary · · Score: 1
    --
    ...my Karma ran over your Dogma...
  104. Raptors by fbform · · Score: 1

    Pan southwest from the SR71s and you'll see a couple of YF22A Raptors.

    --
    Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
  105. Playboy Mansion from Terraserver. by zymano · · Score: 3, Interesting

    TerraServer is way better than google satellite imagery.

    Playboy Mansion

    1. Re:Playboy Mansion from Terraserver. by jay-be-em · · Score: 1

      Perhaps the imagery itself is, but the interface blows compared to google's.

      --
      "Orthodoxy means not thinking--not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness." --Eric Blair
  106. Why? To catch the arrival of Spring! by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 1
    --
    I am not a crackpot.
  107. Re:Intentionally placed? by lava_dot · · Score: 1

    The white house also has some odd rectangles over it, Very strange click here

  108. precise, but accurate? by drwho · · Score: 1

    I live in one of the places that is lucky (ha ha) enough to be photographed in hi-res (Boston area). The resolution was high enough so that I could see the ham radio antenna on my roof. This isn't a large antenna: it's a magnetic loop antenna which is a 2.5 foot in diameter ring of 3" aluminum tube. And it was visibile, along with its shadow. Quite amazing!

    What was disturbing is that I had to use the up-arrow on the map a few times. Google/KH was approximately 300 feet off of my actual location. Yahoo maps was quite accurate, so what gives? I am wondering if these were intentionally skewed to prevent people from launching missles, or something. Sort of like 'selective availability'.

    I noticed that the KH program has the capability of much higher resolution that google maps. I guess that keeps the servers from being swamped. Or mapes people buy keyhole.

    I wouldn't pay for the service, with the accuracy and coverage problems. And the fact that there's nothing in Europe.

  109. Re:Intentionally placed? by roye · · Score: 1

    If you pan down the Mall to the White House and its offices, it seems as if the roofs were intentionally covered. http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=1600+Pennsylv ania+Ave,+Washington,+DC

  110. Edwards AFB - Test Aircraft on Tarmack by najay · · Score: 1
  111. Reply to sig by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    My spelling and grammer combined with the fact that I have college degree, proves a problem with the educaion system.

    No. The problem is with you.

  112. Flawed? Spelling by SeanDuggan · · Score: 1

    My spelling and grammer combined with the fact that I have college degree, proves a problem with the educaion system.
    READ THIS: "plane" "accelerating" "basic literacy" "long jumper"
    Give his sig, are you sure it's not his pitiful excuse for a joke?

    --
    This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
  113. Here's a good pic of satellite messaging... by Abalamahalamatandra · · Score: 1
    Check out this map.

    See the runway? Look just northwest of the northwest end of the runway. Upper-left quadrant of the highway cloverleaf there. Zoom in.

    Cool, no?

    1. Re:Here's a good pic of satellite messaging... by Bahumat · · Score: 1

      Not really, since all we see is a drawn map.

      Go to it in the photo view, and click the "Link to this page" link up in the top right.

      --
      "To pass through the jungle; silence, courtesy, ferocity, as the occasion demands." -- Kamau, "Proper Passage"
    2. Re:Here's a good pic of satellite messaging... by Abalamahalamatandra · · Score: 1
      I was trying to build up a little suspense, geez.

      Here then, lazybutt.

  114. Wow ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is Area 51.
    What a mistake to make...

  115. Re:Intentionally placed? by geekster · · Score: 1

    We need 3D maps I tells ya'

  116. Hey, you can't mod down appropirate PF references! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    Take that back. Or cancel it. Or post here so your mod gets wiped out. Come on, be fair. Don't be so uptight.

  117. Re:What I think about the submitter by x_terminat_or_3 · · Score: 1

    Well it seems there aren't too many French speaking guys on /. For those who don't... Tête de lard actually means something like 'fuckface' and andouille is eel but you should read "slimey weasel" x_terminat_or_3: watching for French insults

    --
    Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go. T. S. Eliot
  118. Re:Intentionally placed? by DaveM753 · · Score: 1

    For further proof, look at downtown Seattle. They had such a difficult time stitching together all the skyscrapers -- from images taken at different angles -- that they finally opted to leave out the 48-story building from which I'm typing this message (1001 4th avenue).

    In the words of Doctor Emmett Brown ("Back to the Future"):
    "Erased from existence..."

  119. Re: I found the eggs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They're right here.

  120. Submarines? by Rac3r5 · · Score: 1

    "And so (we) go to an area, pop it open, and wow, we didn't intend to capture this icebreaker pushing this submarine" and would this submarine by any chance be the sub that the UK sold Canada.

  121. Re:Intentionally placed? by mohaine · · Score: 1

    I love the color correction on some photos.

    See it here.

    While it could be the difference between winter/summer, the Missouri river is never that blue.

    Resolution is different as well.

    --
    (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
  122. Fall River MA, A barge goes though a draw bridge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  123. Cameras on airplanes by ahudson · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I've always wondered why they don't fit the bottom of airplanes with cameras for aerial images, with the number of airplanes flying around it seems like we could have many many up to date photos of the entire U.S. Then when the plane lands the hard drive could quickly be swapped out and processed instead of having to transmit the information from orbit. Is there a good reason why this isn't being done?

  124. Another Airplane landing by Ghostx13 · · Score: 1

    The article states that capturing Airplanes landing is pretty rare, so I was pretty suprised to see one landing at Atlantas Hearts Field Airport. I'm too lazy to link, but a plane is coming into land on the southernmost runway, from the west. It's easily viewable if you zoom in but more difficult to see if your zoomed out as it's over a parking lot when the shot was taken.

    1. Re:Another Airplane landing by Ghostx13 · · Score: 1

      Sorry thats Hartsfield not Hearts Field.

  125. Re:Intentionally placed? by imnojezus · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think you've stumbled on to something. Obviously that particular map was pieced together from images taken before the 4th Avenue Plaza was completed in 1969. Looks like you've just discovered the double secret Google U2 feed. Congrats.

  126. Re:The Plane capture (shadow) by NarrMaster · · Score: 1

    I was looking at a different image because I'm a retard.

    --
    That's right. All your base.
  127. Other interesting .mil/.gov images by LnkStern · · Score: 1

    NSA headquarters:

    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=fort+meade,md&ll=39. 105020,-76.766410&spn=0.033131,0.026307&t=k&hl=en

    Headquarters AFSPACECOM (the left building), USNORTHCOM (middle building, still being built), and Army Space (right building, still being built):

    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=schriever+afb,co&ll= 38.834428,-104.697948&spn=0.008283,0.006577&t=k&hl =en

  128. Bridge 12.9km (8 miles) long by Easy2RememberNick · · Score: 1

    Here is a picture of the Confederation Bridgewhich links my home province Prince Edward Island with New Brunswick.

    You can see each end but the middle is missing due to the way the pictures were put together. There's really a middle...honest.

  129. Warning--mods by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    parent was pointlessly modded "overrated" for no reason other than a grudge

  130. Re:Intentionally placed? by coopex · · Score: 1

    On the contrary, the reason gambling is so addictive is the very nature of random rewards. It has been proven to be the most effect method of conditioning.

    --
    The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
  131. Anaheim Stadium by eganloo · · Score: 1

    One of the more unintentionally funny images I found at maps.google.com is of the Anaheim "Big A" Stadium (home of the 2002 World Series champion "Los Angeles Angels at Anaheim," formerly Los Angeles/California/Anaheim Angels).

    Instead of seeing the signature baseball diamond, we see the entire field turfed over for a monster truck rally:

    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Anaheim+Stadium,Anah eim,+CA&ll=33.800307512283325,-117.88272142410278& spn=0.005332231521606445,0.005525350570678711&t=k& hl=en

  132. So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...It's OK for us to sell hires maps of other countries...who cares if anybody bombs the fuck outta them...but not Holy Israel?

    Israel has a long history of its own of pre-emptively bombing the living fuck outta other people. Have we stopped selling hires images of other nations to Israel yet? No? Thought not.

  133. more interesting by ashot · · Score: 1

    The google maps entry in wikipedia has a long list of intesting images found in google's sattelite database, including the Hollywood Sign, Golden Gate Bridge, and Ground Zero.

    --
    -ashot
  134. Fast 747 by greywire · · Score: 1

    The picture of the 747 is more spectacular than anyone really knows... I dont know about you but I dont know of any 747's that can go 17,000 mph. I would imagine at that speed it could probably make orbit...

    --
    -- Senior Software Engineer, Attorney appearance services, locallawyerapp.com.
  135. "Baghdad and Afghanistan aren't in the US" by da5idnetlimit.com · · Score: 2, Funny

    aren't yet in the u.s. ...

    Grammar nazi with a sense of of humor...
    gosh, I'm doomed 8)

    --
    It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
  136. Re:Intentionally placed? by Caseyscrib · · Score: 1
    You can also search for Windham, NH (my town), and clearly see that Cobbets Pond is covered in ice and snow. If you go a few miles southwest, its springtime.

    You can also just click here.

  137. Obviously for "national security" reasons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is probably illegal to take hi-res photography of the White House and other "important" buildings. Of course, everything is illegal these days (thanks Patriot act!)

  138. Re:Intentionally placed? by Sepodati · · Score: 2

    If you go far enough southwest, it looks like you get a view of all four seasons in one shot. See here.

    ---John Holmes...

  139. wrong state by hitchhacker · · Score: 1


    Edwards Airforce Base is in California..
    The image the grand-parent linked to is in Nevada..

    maps.google.com of the real EAB

    -metric

    1. Re:wrong state by Trolocsis · · Score: 1

      Oops... Those darn salt lakes look somewhat the same.

  140. my parents house by XO · · Score: 1

    is in Augusta, Michigan.

    The entire village, from one end all the way to the next major city, has no close up shots at anything better than about 5 clicks out from max zoom on google.

    I'm not sure if it's because it's hte middle of nowhere, or because there's an army base with a gigantic armory there.

    --
    "Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
  141. Yet another easter egg, same map by MickLinux · · Score: 1

    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=groom+lake,nv&ll=37. 129326,-116.051846&sll=36.518555,-115.561924&spn=0 .121536,0.170631&sspn=0.127029,0.120678&t=k&hl=en I notice that apparently someone's been taking a bulldozer, and marking "(c) 2005 Google" in the dirt. I think that I'm going to take a buldozer, and mark "(c) 2006 MickLinux" in a few places around my town. Then I'll check periodically, to see if anybody publishes a reprint...

    --
    Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
  142. Re:What I think about the submitter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Leche mon cul.

  143. Re:Intentionally placed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The air heads in Congress just don't want us to see there is absolutely no work going on in the Capitol!

  144. Re:Stitching together? How about Montreal, cut in by pipingguy · · Score: 1


    Yeah, I noticed that too. Also blurred is Kahnawake, IIRC. Dunno if this is intentional due to treaty negotiations or the result of the most-recently captured file date on what Google acquired when they bought Keyhole. Does Google own access to the bird or just the archives?

  145. DISNEY; UNIVERSAL; KENNEDY SPACE CENTER.... by cwolfsheep · · Score: 1
    --

    Life is irony, and nothing ever goes as planned.
  146. St. Augustine; Ft. Matanzas with boat wake by cwolfsheep · · Score: 1
    --

    Life is irony, and nothing ever goes as planned.
  147. There Job, Not Mine by Karajin · · Score: 1

    It is there job to intrest me into clicking their banner ad, it also thier job to keep me from blocking their ad, so in my opnion it is them who have failed us!
    Also the company dose not get money if you do not click on a banner-ad, so seeing as I am NOT going to click on the banner ad, it dosn't really matter...dose it?

  148. Arabian Sand Dunes & Israeli Border by cwolfsheep · · Score: 1

    Arabian Sand Dunes

    Also, if you scoot over & find Israel, you won't find higher-res imagery for any of this region, but you can clearly see where the Egypt-Israel border is.
    Israel-Egypt Border

    --

    Life is irony, and nothing ever goes as planned.
  149. Guantanamo Bay by cwolfsheep · · Score: 1

    Gitmo!

    If you surf around on Cuba, actually has a higher-res set than most other global places. Lots of farms it seems. Yucatan has a similar level as well.

    --

    Life is irony, and nothing ever goes as planned.
  150. Wakeboarding? by wolf- · · Score: 1

    Guy in ATL lives on this lake, actually in this cove. He found this the other day, kind of wonders if its anyone he knows.

    http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=34.118814,-84.708 25 9&spn=0.005203,0.007703&t=k&hl=en

    --
    ----- LoboSoft specializes in Digital Language Lab
  151. Check out some of those 3 inch red shots by assassinator42 · · Score: 1

    Not in google maps, but in the keyhole client. Cambridge, some parts of Los Vegas, and downtown San Diego. Probably mentioned before in another aticle, but it's pretty cool.

  152. Re:What I think about the submitter by x_terminat_or_3 · · Score: 1

    Je préfaire lecher des chattes.

    --
    Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go. T. S. Eliot
  153. Re:Stitching together? How about Montreal, cut in by francisew · · Score: 1

    I think they own the bird itself.

  154. World Wind by D4rkm1lk · · Score: 1

    I can't believe this link has been modded down elsewhere!
    NASA World Wind

    It's a not only a great viewer for satellite images but uses a 3D card to combine it with DEM (digital elevation model) data, kind of like keyhole. Once you've zoomed in (both mouse buttons), use the right mouse button to change the angle and voila! And then, when finally bored of that, check out all the other good data/images like MODIS (fire/flood etc), tsunami, night earth etc with the WMS and Science buttons.