Top 17 Most Bizarre Sights on Google Earth
- Posted by Geekster on January 3rd, 2008 filed in General
Satellite imagery used to be the exclusive domain of governments and spy agencies, but ever since Google Maps and Google Earth we can all get to see weird things! Fancy a look at Area 51? Wondered what it’s like in downtown Moscow? Or maybe you want to check out the Principality of Sealand? These are just ordinary, everyday things that millions of people use Google Maps and Earth to research every day. But what about the things you weren’t supposed to see, the freaks of camera? Here are 17 of the most bizarre sights for you to laugh at, complete with lat/lons and (where possible) KMLs. Enjoy.
Swastika Influenced Design
1. Swastika Influenced Design: How is it that a US Navy building standing since the 1960’s could cause a controversy in 2007? As hilighted in the mass-media earlier in the year, Google Earth users noticed what only a few pilots would ever have seen - that a US Navy barracks on Coronado island, San Diego was built in the design of a swastika. The Navy said they always knew what the layout of the barracks resembled but thought no one would ever notice. As a result of these images becoming available online, they are being forced to spend $600,000 on new structures and extra greenery to camouflage the building. Embarrassing to say the least. Links: Google Maps / Google Earth
Aircraft Traffic Jam
2. Aircraft Traffic Jam: What would you expect from one of the busiest airports in Europe? Looks like a freak of fortune to catch 3 aircraft on takeoff from Frankfurt International Airport, but it’s actually just overlay issues. Note that there is only a shadow for the middle aircraft. Links: Google Maps / Google Earth
Single-winged Aircraft Landing
3. Single-winged Plane Landing: This single-winged miracle-aircraft is the result of a bizarre mapping error that Google Earth occasionally suffers from. If you are a frequent Google Earth user you’ll probably have noticed incidences where roads and bridges don’t align properly or varying image resolutions cause some strange viewing. This aircraft was snapped on approach to the north western runway of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport but appears to only have one wing! Links: Google Maps
World War 2 Bomber in Flight
4. World War 2 Bomber in Flight: Google Earth has the ability to snap airplanes in midair - apparently some 3,300 planes have been placemarked. This is a World War II bomber flying over the sleepy suburbs of Huntingdon, England. Unfortunately, the bomber is no longer there in the updated image of the area.
Capsised Cruise Liner
5. Capsised Cruise Liner: If you’ve ever wondered what happens when a powerful typhoon slams into a cruise liner, then here’s your answer. This liner-shaped hotel was docked in the South Korean port of Busan when it was hammered by the 135mph winds of Typhoon Maemi in 2003. Links: Google Maps / Google Earth
North Dakota Truck Crash
6. North Dakota Truck Crash: Sometimes Google’s snapshots of our world are lucky enough to catch things as they happen. Here Google Earth captures a truck that crashed and sprawled out over East Burleigh Avenue just outside of Bismarck, North Dakota. Links: Google Maps
Ghost Ships
7. Ghost Ships: No longer confined to the annals of countless storybooks and Hollywood movies, ghost ships are real and they’re here today thanks to the camera-freakology of Google Earth! Here we can quite clearly see a ghost ship docking in Newark, New Jersey and taking on a load of cargo. Perhaps this is some sort of reincarnated Black Pearl? I dunno …
John Travolta’s Airport / Home
8. John Travolta’s Airport / Home: It’s no secret that John Travolta is an eccentric, but who would have expected him to build an airport and home in one? His home in Ocala, Florida is one of very few non-commercial airports in the world with a runway long enough to handle aircraft the size of his personal Boeing 707. Check out the internal and external shots in this Architectural Digest feature. Completely. Crazy. Links: Google Maps / Google Earth
African Wildlife
9. African Wildlife: Imagine all the creatures roaming about African, just getting on with their thing. Now, thanks to the National Geographic African Megaflyover Project, we can enjoy some of the last true wilderness on the planet via super-high-resolution aerial photographs of Africa. Check out this magnificent image of a large group of hippos in the mud, including a poor old hippo which is seen laying on the bank, being eaten by vultures. Links: Google Maps / Google Earth
Gravity Defying Car Parking
10. Gravity Defying Car Parking: Do you think getting somewhere to park your car is tough where you live? In Westenbergstraat, Netherlands, drivers apparently have to park on the sides of walls. Of course, this is just an example of tongue-in-cheek Dutch humour that comes through well from the above view. Links: Google Maps
Giant Indian Head w/ iPod
11. Giant Indian Head w/ iPod Turns out that the original inhabitants of north America were much cooler than previously thought. “Loud White Ears” had set such a trend back in the ancient times that they decided to build a large effigy of him in commemoration. Links: Google Maps
Super Shrunk Aral Sea
12. Super Shrunk Aral Sea: The once thriving Aral Sea used to be the 4th largest inland lake in the world but has shrunk to a mere 15% of its original size over the last 20 years. The water-guzzling cotton industry has mainly been responsible for this super-shrinking. As a knock on result, the once busy local fishermen have had to pack up and leave, abandoning their boats which are now 50km from the receding shoreline. A sad scene to look upon indeed. Links: Google Maps
The Leaning Tower of Seattle
13. The Leaning Tower of Seattle: This building in Seattle, Washington appears to be leaning badly across the building across the street, nearly touching the opposite building. Despite the appearance, it’s not really the case. There are a few quirks with Google Earth and this one is due to two different satellite angles for this area and merging of the two views. Seattle - you’ve missed out on a proper tourist attraction! You’re just going to have to make do with Microsoft and Starbucks. Links: Google Maps / Google Earth
Bursts of Light
14. Bursts of Light: Many optical illusions and anomalies are captured by Google Earth. Most of them are reflections of lights, flashes or some quirky image pixelation. Some crazy people claim to have discovered angels, aliens and UFO’s in Google Earth. So to continue in the tradition of jumping to conclusions - could this burst of light this be an opening to a parallel universe? Links: Google Maps - Google Earth
Crop Circles
15. Crop Circles: What self-respecting post about bizarre sights on Google Earth would be complete without some manmade alien-user-generated crop circles? Just to be clear: I wasn’t aware that ET used Firefox.
Brand Spamming
16. Brand Spamming: Yeah, let’s spam Google Earth! This huge KFC logo (Google Earth) was formed from 65,000 1-foot-square tiles laid out in the Mojave desert that took six days to put together. Other corporate giants who can afford to spam us do product placement in Google Earth include Ford who have placed a large logo on the roof of their HQ and Coca Cola who used 70,000 empty coke bottles for their logo on a hillside in Chile.
St. Patrick Fanboy
17. St Patrick Fanboy: OK, everyone might like St. Patrick’s Day, but this is taking it just a step too far don’t you think? I’d rather go to my local parade and shout abuse at the leprechauns. I’m also slightly annoyed that they missed the apostrophe: it’s St. Patrick’s Day not St. Patricks. Argghh! Links: Google Maps
NB: Over time these flukes will probably be removed as Google updates their data and creates even more bizarre sights.
January 3rd, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Very amusing collection of images. Thanks for sharing.
January 3rd, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Try looking at this through google earth:
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Actually, the shadows of all three planes are visible at 50° 3′16.93″N latitude 8°36′21.54″E longitude. I don’t know what that means though.
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:19 pm
On #2 all 3 planes have shadows.
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Giant Indian Head w/ iPod is actually in Canada. Link 1 and 2
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Excellent collection of images.
January 3rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
thanks for the sharing and interesting break
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Amazing…………….
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:03 pm
I see three airplane shadows. Look closely, same distance/angle from each object. One is mostly cropped, the other seems to be set on rough terrain making it almost invisible.
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:19 pm
All are very interesting.
Thanks for the compilation.
In #2, The Aircraft Traffic Jam, you
say that only the middle aircraft has a shadow. Look closely in the places that correspond to the other airplanes and you’ll see shadows there too!
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:24 pm
great compilation
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
#1, the “swastika” isn’t a swastika, it’s rotating counter-clockwise.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/swastika/pool/
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:44 pm
The trees forming “ST PATRICKS” are on the north-side of South Bend, IN in Saint Patrick’s County Park.
Also if you look just west of South Bend at:
86°29′ W 41°40′ N
you will see the word “STUDEBAKER”, as if in the now closed Studebaker car company located in South Bend, written by trees.
January 3rd, 2008 at 4:03 pm
#2 is not accurate, if you look at google map for the planes, you’ll see that there are actually 3 shadows. The one in the middle is the shadow for the first plane. Even in the picture you posted you can kinda see the tip of the shadow for the 2nd plane on the corner. I guess there really were 3 planes taking off or maybe it was a huge coincidental overlay where there was a plane and a shadow in each segment of the pictures they were putting together.
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Terrific images. I enjoyed looking at them, a couple were freakingly good. The ghost ship one was one of the best images.
- Dwayne Charrington.
http://www.dwaynecharrington.com
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Hey guys, thanks for pointing out the shadows on #2. I’ve fixed that.
Thanks for the comments, we’re stoked you enjoyed the post!
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:34 pm
The WWII plane over Huntingdon is not an unusual occurrence since it’s close to the Imperial War Museum Duxford (http://duxford.iwm.org.uk). They have a working airport there, and lots of historic planes fly there for shows and other events.
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
How about a happy face on the side of a hill (here)? Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:55 pm
I used to be a homeless rodeo clown but now I am a world class magician !
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Love the ghost ship. The Philadelphia Experiment continues…
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Actually the building pictured is the n*zi svastika. The indian ‘good luck’ svastika (used by buddhists) is opposite of this picture.
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:17 pm
CrudeDarkness….what am I suppose to be looking at exactly? could u give me a point of reference….?
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Quote: ‘#1, the “swastika” isn’t a swastika, it’s rotating counter-clockwise.’
Look again…dipsh!t
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I’m right from the coast of the Aral Sea (#12). Many ships and boats are actualy over 200 km from the coastline.
Try to look at Baikanur spaceport, it is about 500 km. to the East from the Aral Sea: it is an amasing constructure built in Sooviet times… Also there are very strange things you can find on the Vozrojdenie island in the Aral Sea, it is a biological lab, where they found famous anthrax some years ago..
January 4th, 2008 at 12:32 am
The Firefox logo is in wrong category. Should be in brand spamming.
January 4th, 2008 at 2:24 am
[...] Geek About » Top 17 Most Bizarre Sights on Google Earth: “But what about the things you weren’t supposed to see, the freaks of camera? Here are 17 of the most bizarre sights for you to laugh at, complete with lat/lons and (where possible) KMLs. Enjoy.” [...]
January 4th, 2008 at 7:43 am
Swastika influenced design, man what were they thinking.
January 4th, 2008 at 10:04 am
[...] LINK [...]
January 4th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Nice job on the image hosting!
January 4th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Of course, the missing apostrophe ought to be placed AFTER the “s” and not before, as in “St Patricks’ Day”, rather than the commonly used, but nonetheless grammatically incorrect “St Patrick’s Day”.
January 4th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
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January 5th, 2008 at 2:06 am
scott, go back to first grade english class. there was only one St. Patrick, for whom the holiday is named, therefore, a singular possessive. apostrophe before the s, not after. good try, though.
January 5th, 2008 at 7:10 am
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January 5th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
If you zoom out from the swastika building complex you will see two more complexes shaped like airplanes and a field beyond that looks like it was bombed. The architect was depicting the bombing of the swastika.
Wonder why people keep leaving that fact out.
January 5th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Great collection thansk!
January 6th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
It would be interesting to note what other details could be incorporated into this collection of photos and maps with the higher resolution commercial services that google maps offers
January 7th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
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January 9th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
This is not a Airtraffic Jam, it is just one Aircraft moving on. If you look at all three aircrafts, you will see, that they are identical except for the height thus making the rightmost bigger.
January 10th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
[...] Top 17 Most Bizarre Sights on Google Earth [...]
January 10th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
[...] [Top 17 Most Bizarre Sights on Google Earth] [...]
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:26 pm
One more (number 18): Iraq car bomb on Google Maps.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Very nice list.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:29 am
Another one by Coronado island, San Diego, go to the right of the navy supply center. And youll find a floating gas island.
April 13th, 2008 at 5:57 am
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[...] Top 17 Most Bizarre Sights on Google Earth Tags: GoogleMaps, SysAdmin, Uwe, WordPress [...]
May 11th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Nice collection of pics. Very kool!
May 24th, 2008 at 12:58 am
on the african wildlife …… those are elephants not hippos!!!!!
May 26th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
quite funny but some of them are a bit rubbish.
wasted 5 mins of my life lol.!
June 17th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Elephants!!! Elephants!!! Not hippos! lol…
June 17th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Hi,
What kind of Google Earth are u using so that the buildings from the Swasticka Design are 3d???
Thanks,
Ryan
July 13th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
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