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Satellite Easter Eggs

Posted by Zonk on from the hi-mom! dept.

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."

31 of 508 comments (clear)

  1. 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 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.

    2. 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.

    3. 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 ;)
    4. Re:Best Game for Bored Workers by zx-6e · · Score: 2, Interesting
      How about this one of a carrier at port in San Diego.


      http://maps.google.com/maps?q=san+diego,ca&ll=32.7 09657,-117.189059&spn=0.005193,0.007510&t=k&hl=en

  2. 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
  3. 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."
  4. 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 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.
  5. 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
  6. 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

    --
    Iran captures three CIA agents
  7. 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 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"
  8. The Capitol by cascino · · Score: 5, Interesting

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

  9. 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.
  10. 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
  11. 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.

  12. 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
  13. 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.

  14. 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
  15. Two SR-71s on the ground, outside the hangar by Shishak · · Score: 3, Interesting

    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=CA+93524&ll=34.95342 135429382,-117.88429856300354&spn=0.00561118125915 52734,0.009237527847290039&t=k&hl=en/

    And the USAF Thunderbirds (F-16s)

    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=CA+93524&ll=34.91458 296775818,-117.89728045463562&spn=0.00561118125915 52734,0.009237527847290039&t=k&hl=en/

    --
    Now I hope and pray that I will But today I am still, just a bill
  16. 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

  17. 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."
  18. Blackbird... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Here an A12 Blackbird, circled by a few other relicts: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=minneapolis,mn&ll=44 .89333391189575,-93.2040274143219&spn=0.0078105926 513671875,0.008529424667358398&t=k&hl=en/

    1. Re:Blackbird... by Negadecimal · · Score: 2, Interesting

      http://maps.google.com/maps?q=New+York+City&ll=40. 763934,-74.000173&spn=0.006276,0.005976&t=k&hl=en

      http://maps.google.com/maps?q=San+Diego&ll=32.7270 48,-117.153225&spn=0.006276,0.005976&t=k&hl=en

      http://maps.google.com/maps?q=San+Antonio&ll=29.39 0391,-98.620609&spn=0.006276,0.005976&t=k&hl=en

  19. 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

  20. 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.

  21. 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

  22. Playboy Mansion from Terraserver. by zymano · · Score: 3, Interesting

    TerraServer is way better than google satellite imagery.

    Playboy Mansion

  23. 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

  24. 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?