By making satellite photos available via their map interface, Google and others have made the real world seem like a map — vaguely abstract, a bunch of buildings and roads without life.
But life lurks there, Where’s Waldo-like, waiting to be seen …
So last week, when Google announced its new Maps service, which includes the ability to view and navigate with high-resolution satellite images, Leeds couldn’t resist tracing his 500-mile route, one screen at a time, to see what he drives by on his annual round trip. He never expected that the last of his “45 miles to the click” route images would show, in great detail, the early setup of Burning Man.
Indeed, it is possible to see in the satellite image the complete layout of the streets and infrastructure of Black Rock City, the makeshift town around which Burning Man, a countercultural festival held late each summer, is built.
But the unexpected appearance of the pre-event Burning Man construction is hardly the only surprise in Google’s database of satellite images. And other satellite imagery companies say that they, too, are often startled by what they find when they analyze the hundreds of shots they take daily.
Notable surprises include a just-erupted volcano, violent scenes from Iraq (a bomb going off in Baghdad and a firefight in Najaf) and even a 747 landing in Tokyo, something difficult to capture given that the satellite is moving at 17,000 mph.
Some of the interesting ones can be found here.
When you take a photo, you never quite know what’s going to be spotted in the background …
(via J-Walk)