Sandiego?
August 3, 2011 6:41 PM Subscribe
"Looking at the world through via Google Earth offers striking images of the diversity of our planet and the impact that humans have had on it. Today's entry is a puzzle. We're challenging you to figure out where in the world each of the images below is taken. (You'll find answers and links at the bottom of the entry.) North is not always up in these pictures, and, apart from a bit of contrast, they are unaltered images provided by Google and its mapping partners. So I invite you to open up Google Earth (or Google Maps), have a look at the images below, and dive in. Good luck!"
Number 6: A living mass of treetops A broccoli floret.
posted by 3FLryan at 7:01 PM on August 3, 2011
posted by 3FLryan at 7:01 PM on August 3, 2011
Western Sahara? I would have sworn that was Mauritania.
posted by Flashman at 7:02 PM on August 3, 2011
posted by Flashman at 7:02 PM on August 3, 2011
Western Sahara is the only one I guessed correctly. I read too many of those ocean adventure pop history books.
posted by something something at 7:05 PM on August 3, 2011
posted by something something at 7:05 PM on August 3, 2011
Nice find!
Got the one I have to look at images of all the time. Missed the one I grew up beside.
Really cool selection of images.
posted by bonehead at 7:24 PM on August 3, 2011
Got the one I have to look at images of all the time. Missed the one I grew up beside.
Really cool selection of images.
posted by bonehead at 7:24 PM on August 3, 2011
It is Western Sahara. I went to El Aaiun and also Tarfaya a long time ago. At Tarfaya, there's more wrecks to the north of the town.
posted by carter at 7:30 PM on August 3, 2011
posted by carter at 7:30 PM on August 3, 2011
Thanks! I have spent hours and hours of my time wandering aimlessly throughout the googlemapworld, and thought I would be able to get most of these. Turns out I couldn't guess any of these too accurately. Was fun.
posted by not_on_display at 7:47 PM on August 3, 2011
posted by not_on_display at 7:47 PM on August 3, 2011
I've been to #4 quite a lot, and completely failed to recognise it. The only two that were immediately clear were #21 and #25.
That said, I've spent some amount of time before this looking at central pivot irrigation fields, and there's no way that I could have located #2... But now I'm going to go looking at them again.
Why yes, I am the type of person who stares blankly at people who tell me that they don't have Google Earth installed.
posted by frimble at 8:03 PM on August 3, 2011
That said, I've spent some amount of time before this looking at central pivot irrigation fields, and there's no way that I could have located #2... But now I'm going to go looking at them again.
Why yes, I am the type of person who stares blankly at people who tell me that they don't have Google Earth installed.
posted by frimble at 8:03 PM on August 3, 2011
#4 is at the Bluewater Bridge in Sarnia, Ontario. But you lied, up isn't north in the picture.
posted by superiorchicken at 8:31 PM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by superiorchicken at 8:31 PM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
I, for one, am really tired of all the google branding. Yes, these images "came from" google earth. Which in turn was long ago Keyhole, Inc., which in turn was a spin-off of Intrinsic Graphics, which was in turn funded by Sony and other companies, and before that we owe some thanks to NASA and related entities. Can we cut through all that and just say "Looking at the world from high above offers striking images of the diversity of our planet and the impact that humans have had on it."
I appreciate that google facilitates the public's use of the images, but when google's name is plastered all over the article's header and applauded so hard because of their strategic partnering in the media story, I am distracted from just enjoying and pondering the images themselves.
posted by Muddler at 8:34 PM on August 3, 2011 [5 favorites]
I appreciate that google facilitates the public's use of the images, but when google's name is plastered all over the article's header and applauded so hard because of their strategic partnering in the media story, I am distracted from just enjoying and pondering the images themselves.
posted by Muddler at 8:34 PM on August 3, 2011 [5 favorites]
This is of course by MeFi's own kokogiak. I did this today and was very bad. I got maybe 3, and that's if you count "China" as a correct answer.
posted by sauril at 8:38 PM on August 3, 2011
posted by sauril at 8:38 PM on August 3, 2011
I've eaten fries from a truck in #4 and still couldn't figure it out.
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:52 PM on August 3, 2011
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:52 PM on August 3, 2011
We played this game for awhile on one of my mailing lists. It's actually sort of cool to take pictures of things people would totally recognize at ground level, but which look completely different from the air, and see if you can stump people with them.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:31 PM on August 3, 2011
posted by jacquilynne at 9:31 PM on August 3, 2011
Dear Ask MetaUniverse
I'm looking for a place to stay somewhere in the Milky Way. Can you recommend a nice planet to visit with beaches, forests, cities and nice views. Up to $150 solar night per alien would be super. Pics would be good. Thanks eva so much.
posted by the fish at 10:53 PM on August 3, 2011
I'm looking for a place to stay somewhere in the Milky Way. Can you recommend a nice planet to visit with beaches, forests, cities and nice views. Up to $150 solar night per alien would be super. Pics would be good. Thanks eva so much.
posted by the fish at 10:53 PM on August 3, 2011
We played this game for awhile on one of my mailing lists.
I did this as well. I got a fair few, but there was one guy who got every one of them. I am not sure if there is some way to cheat. Some speculated that he was involved in some government agency.
posted by psycho-alchemy at 12:56 AM on August 4, 2011
I did this as well. I got a fair few, but there was one guy who got every one of them. I am not sure if there is some way to cheat. Some speculated that he was involved in some government agency.
posted by psycho-alchemy at 12:56 AM on August 4, 2011
Answer number 19 is 10? That's what happens when one doesn't
use ordered lists. =0
posted by rmmcclay at 2:20 AM on August 4, 2011
use ordered lists. =0
posted by rmmcclay at 2:20 AM on August 4, 2011
#16 has to be Miami.
posted by The Giant Squid at 2:29 AM on August 4, 2011
posted by The Giant Squid at 2:29 AM on August 4, 2011
I knew that 18 was in Ireland straight away (turns out it is only about 40 miles away from me now), and suspected where 8 was.
The rest were more difficult.
posted by knapah at 3:10 AM on August 4, 2011
The rest were more difficult.
posted by knapah at 3:10 AM on August 4, 2011
I did this as well. I got a fair few, but there was one guy who got every one of them.
There was one guy on our list who just declined to answer after awhile because he knew all of them. I think once you've been at it for awhile, you start to recognize things like, which image sources cover which areas of the world, which levels of detail are available for which parts of the world, and that meta information about the photos starts to help you hone in on what you should even be considering as a possibility.
I don't know if Google's new image search simply messes this game up completely, though. You might be able to feed it in and get a wiki page back of what it's a picture of these days.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:02 AM on August 4, 2011
There was one guy on our list who just declined to answer after awhile because he knew all of them. I think once you've been at it for awhile, you start to recognize things like, which image sources cover which areas of the world, which levels of detail are available for which parts of the world, and that meta information about the photos starts to help you hone in on what you should even be considering as a possibility.
I don't know if Google's new image search simply messes this game up completely, though. You might be able to feed it in and get a wiki page back of what it's a picture of these days.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:02 AM on August 4, 2011
I appreciate that google facilitates the public's use of the images, but when google's name is plastered all over the article's header and applauded so hard because of their strategic partnering in the media story, I am distracted from just enjoying and pondering the images themselves.
nth.
It's like if I were to name my contact lens vendor every time I pointed scenery out to a friend.
(*pointing)
"bro-- Lenstech Vision(TM) presents a killer fuckin' tree-- right there."
posted by herbplarfegan at 2:10 PM on August 4, 2011
nth.
It's like if I were to name my contact lens vendor every time I pointed scenery out to a friend.
(*pointing)
"bro-- Lenstech Vision(TM) presents a killer fuckin' tree-- right there."
posted by herbplarfegan at 2:10 PM on August 4, 2011
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posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:00 PM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]