My Google Map Blog

Tag: google sightseeing

The tallest statues in the world

by Mickey Mellen on Aug.06, 2014, under 3D Models, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, California, Denmark, England, Germany, Google Earth News, Google Earth Tips, Google Sky, Google maps, Hawaii, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Natural Landmarks, Netherlands, Sightseeing, Street Views, USA

Ian Brown at Google Sightseeing recently posted a great blog entry that took a look at the ten tallest statues in the world. Most of the statues are of Buddha or Guanyin, many located in China.

While Ian shows great aerial and Street View imagery for each of them, most of them can be viewed in 3D. The quality of the 3D models varies wildly from statue to statue, but some look pretty nice as seen here:

statue

It’s a fun subject to look at, and Ian makes it easy to find them yourself by providing this KML file so that you can quickly fly to each of them in Google Earth.

Be sure check out the full post to see more.

Great post, Ian!

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Looking at nuclear disasters in Google Earth

by Mickey Mellen on Jul.22, 2014, under 3D Models, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, California, Denmark, England, Germany, Google Earth News, Google Earth Tips, Google Sky, Google maps, Hawaii, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Natural Landmarks, Netherlands, Sightseeing, Street Views, USA

Sylvan Lane at Mashable recently posted an in-depth look at nuclear disasters over the years, and he made solid use of Google Earth and Google Maps to explain each event. Along with discussions of Chernobyl and Fukushima, Sylvan also took a look at Three Mile Island and Kyshtym.

chernobyl

You can check out the full article for yourself over on Mashable.

To highlight other nuclear facilities around the world, the folks at Google Sightseeing have put together a few “nuclear power megaposts” over the years.

The first post covered nine reactors around the world, and the second post covered seven more. As they always do, they’ve posted KML files for all of the sites that they listed in the posts (part onepart two).

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Exploring kudzu infestation in the US

by Mickey Mellen on Jun.20, 2014, under 3D Models, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, California, Denmark, England, Germany, Google Earth News, Google Earth Tips, Google Sky, Google maps, Hawaii, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Natural Landmarks, Netherlands, Sightseeing, Street Views, USA

Living in the southeast United States, I’m very familiar with the vine known as kudzu. Introduced to the US from Japan in 1876, kudzu is spreading at an amazing rate of 150,000 acres each year. Kyle Kusch at Google Sightseeing has taken advantage of Google Street View imagery to showcase some amazing examples of kudzu growth.

kudzu

Thanks to Street View’s historical imagery feature, we can look back to 2007 and see the same building with virtually no growth on it.

less kudzu

Check out Kyle’s full post for many other amazing examples of kudzu growth. As always, Google Sightseeing provides a very helpful KMZ file so you can explore those locations for yourself.

You can also read the Wikipedia article about kudzu to learn more about it and how to combat its growth.

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Exploring airship hangars in Google Earth

by Mickey Mellen on Apr.17, 2014, under 3D Models, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, California, Denmark, England, Germany, Google Earth News, Google Earth Tips, Google Sky, Google maps, Hawaii, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Natural Landmarks, Netherlands, Sightseeing, Street Views, USA

We’ve shared a lot of articles from Google Sightseeing over the years. They do a great job of choosing an interesting topic and then digging in deep. Their recent article from Ian Brown on the subject of Airship Hangars is no different.

Hundreds of hangars were building airships in the last century, though most of them are gone now. The earliest building, Hangar Y at Chalais Meudon outside Paris, is not only intact but is actually in 3D in Google Earth:

airship hangars

Here is Ian’s take on Hangar Y:

Hangar Y was built in 1879 on what was then a military base. It is 70m long, 24m wide and 20m high (230′ x 78′ x 65′), although additional structures have since been added on both sides. It was originally a pavilion at the Paris exhibition, but was moved to house the airship La France. It later served for several decades as a museum and was used by painter Marc Chagall when he was working on large ceiling panels for an opera house.

The article goes into great detail about many of the hangars around the world, and I encourage you to read the full entry. In addition, as they usually do, they’ve also release a KML file to help you follow along.

Great work, Ian!

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Amphitheatres around the world

by Mickey Mellen on Mar.21, 2014, under 3D Models, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, California, Denmark, England, Germany, Google Earth News, Google Earth Tips, Google Sky, Google maps, Hawaii, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Natural Landmarks, Netherlands, Sightseeing, Street Views, USA

We enjoy the work of the folks over at Google Sightseeing, as they post some excellent stories. We’ve shown you things such as fake buildings, roller coasters, hockey and many other interesting posts from them over the years.

Their latest post from Kyle Kusch tracks down amphitheatres around the world using Google Earth satellite and Street View imagery.

Hollywood Bowl amphitheatre

They look at a wide variety of amphitheatres from across the globe, and I encourage you to check out their full post here. You can also grab this KML file to view them in Google Earth.

A fun side note from the article: The Hollywood Bowl, seen above, was one of their very first posts nearly nine years ago.

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The work of Michael Heizer in Google Earth

by Mickey Mellen on Nov.06, 2013, under 3D Models, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, California, Denmark, England, Germany, Google Earth News, Google Earth Tips, Google Sky, Google maps, Hawaii, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Natural Landmarks, Netherlands, Sightseeing, Street Views, USA

When you talk about creating large pieces of artwork, Michael Heizer needs to be at the top of your list.   He’s built huge pieces of artwork before, such as Double Negative (which involved digging deep trenches near a canyon) and Effigy Tumuli (which was five earthwork-based sculptures in Illinois).  His latest creation, City, is still closed to the public but is slowly being revealed by Google Earth.

michael-heizer-city

A recent post by Alex Turnbull at Google Sightseeing digs deeply into Heizer’s work, with City as the main focus of the post.  From Alex:

The various [City] complexes, built on remote property owned by Heizer in Nevada, measure 2km long and 400m wide (1¼ x ¼ miles), with some structures reaching 25m (80′) in height. Several foundations for the arts support Heizer’s work on City, with total construction cost estimated to exceed $25 million by the time it is completed.

It’s fascinating to learn more about the work he’s done over the years, and Alex does a nice job of using Google Earth to highlight many of his pieces.  You can grab his KML file to explore them for yourself in Google Earth, and I encourage you to read his full article to learn more.

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Fake buildings in Google Earth

by Mickey Mellen on Oct.18, 2013, under 3D Models, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, California, Denmark, England, Germany, Google Earth News, Google Earth Tips, Google Sky, Google maps, Hawaii, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Natural Landmarks, Netherlands, Sightseeing, Street Views, USA

The folks at Google Sightseeing do an excellent job of finding interesting items on Google Earth that many of us have overlooked.  A recent article from Kyle Kusch is a great example of that, as he finds buildings around the world with false facades.

The items in his list typically look like real buildings, but are often concealing empty alleys or other eyesores, or are completely fake (such as the fake airplane crash seen below and fake a McDonald’s restaurant that he highlighted).

fake-plane-crash

Many of the examples rely on Street View to appreciate them, but some are seen clearly from above as well.  You can check out his full article to see all of them, or grab this KML file to view them all in Google Earth.

Nice work, Kyle!

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The best roller coasters in Google Earth

by Mickey Mellen on Oct.09, 2013, under 3D Models, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, California, Denmark, England, Germany, Google Earth News, Google Earth Tips, Google Sky, Google maps, Hawaii, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Natural Landmarks, Netherlands, Sightseeing, Street Views, USA

Growing up in mid-Michigan, a popular destination for short family vacations was Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio.  With tons of huge roller coasters, it is an amazing place to visit.

Because of the size of roller coasters found at any theme park, they make for a great subject to check out in Google Earth.  Alex Turnbull of Google Sightseeing recently dug in and found some of the best.

cedar-point

Beyond just looking good from above, many of the coasters have impressive 3D models in Google Earth, such as the Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey:

kingda-ka-3d

Taking it even further, some of the parks have been captured by Google Street View, giving you a unique look at the coasters.  Here is a shot from inside of Cedar Point:

street-view-cedar-point

Alex has done a great job tracking down some of the best views of roller coasters in Google Earth, and I encourage you to check out his full post to learn more.  You can also grab a copy of their KML file to view all of the locations from Alex’s post in Google Earth.

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Exploring Monument Valley in Google Earth

by Mickey Mellen on Aug.14, 2013, under 3D Models, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, California, Denmark, England, Germany, Google Earth News, Google Earth Tips, Google Sky, Google maps, Hawaii, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Natural Landmarks, Netherlands, Sightseeing, Street Views, USA

Located in the western United States, “Monument Valley” is known for it’s impressive sandstone buttes that rise out of the earth in random and majestic ways.  As with most natural formations, such as Mount Everest, they look excellent in Google Earth.

monument-valley

Not only do the buttes look amazing in Google Earth, but the Street View imagery of some of them is quite impressive as well.  Noel Ballantyne at Google Sightseeing recently took a look at the area and shared his findings in a blog post on their site.

The area has been used for many movies and TV shows over the years, and Noel does a nice job of helping us explore it.  Grab his KML file to fly out there, and then check out the full post for more details.

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Midway Atoll in Google Earth

by Mickey Mellen on May.08, 2013, under 3D Models, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, California, Denmark, England, Germany, Google Earth News, Google Earth Tips, Google Sky, Google maps, Hawaii, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Natural Landmarks, Netherlands, Sightseeing, Street Views, USA

It was the location one of the missions that Louis Zamperini flew in World War II, and it’s one of the most remote locations ever captured by Street View: Midway Atoll.

midway-atoll

With a population of around 60 people and the nearest town more than 1100 miles away, Midway really is in the middle of the ocean between Asia and North America.  The folks at Google Sightseeing took a close look at the island and found some interesting imagery.

For example, Midway Atoll is a protected wildlife refuge and an important stopover for seabirds crossing the Pacific.  As a result, you can find birds in virtually every outdoor image.

midway-birds

I encourage you to read the full write-up at Google Sightseeing and grab their KML file to quickly find all of the locations mentioned in the article.

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