Slashdot Mirror
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."
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.
Anyone else notice the U.S. Capitol building is intentionally blurred out? For "security"?
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.
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
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"
The Keyhole LT Client is kind of fun to play with as well.
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.
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:
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.