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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."
Hi this is where I'm staying, please send beer. Suite 315, thanks!
That'll teach me to do the bosses daughter outside.
Beep beep.
"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
In one I saw Italy and Greece kissing when they thought we weren't looking.
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
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).
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
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!
Where's Waldo?
The Blaster Master Fighting for Truth, Justice, and Evil Pie since 1979
In every USA satellite photo of Castro, he appears to be mooning.
Coincidence?
-- www.globaltics.net
Political discussion for a new world
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
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.
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
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.
...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.
Here are some google sightseeing sites- mine first, of course!
p s/
perljam.net/notes/interesting-google-satellite-ma
http://www.paulrademacher.com/housing/
www.shreddies.org/gmaps/
cryptome.org/usndc-eyeball.htm
del.icio.us/knodi/google_maps
www.returnofdesign.com/feature.php?article=12
gmaps.nicj.net/
-ted
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!
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.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
Anyone else notice the U.S. Capitol building is intentionally blurred out? For "security"?
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.
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.
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
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.
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"
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:
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...
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.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=CA+93524&ll=34.95342 135429382,-117.88429856300354&spn=0.00561118125915 52734,0.009237527847290039&t=k&hl=en/
8 296775818,-117.89728045463562&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=34.9145
Now I hope and pray that I will But today I am still, just a bill
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.
Winnar!
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No, that's everywhere.
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TerraServer is way better than google satellite imagery.
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