Mexico City Aerial Photography

August 24, 2005 12:59 PM

Mexico City Aerial Photography
by Oscar Ruiz, helicopter pilot. [via]
posted by peacay (41 comments total)

Great shots and a cool site.

But it got me to wanting to be able to read the captions, so I plugged the site into Google's translation service and BAM!

Did anyone else get the larger images to load up? I couldn't.
posted by fenriq at 1:07 PM on August 24, 2005

Thanks. There are some great shots (I love the mansion on the elaborate concrete stilts - do they not remember the earthquake in 1985).

See also Revealing Chicago
posted by cbjg at 1:08 PM on August 24, 2005

I really liked the giant monster on top of Sears, and the several shots of the housing developments where everything was exactly the same.

Thanks, as usual.
posted by OmieWise at 1:14 PM on August 24, 2005

Actually, there's an english version here. (top right of FPP page) And nah - I had to grab those example shot links from the java applet thingy - but they look better in a normal browser I think.
posted by peacay at 1:17 PM on August 24, 2005

I've heard from various travelers that Mexico City is one of the ugliest in the world, but it looks beautiful from here. Some of those look computer-rendered.
posted by afx114 at 1:25 PM on August 24, 2005

Did anyone else get the larger images to load up? I couldn't.
posted by fenriq at 1:07 PM PST on August 24 [!]
pues si.
posted by longsleeves at 1:27 PM on August 24, 2005

peacay, so there is, so there is. Oops.

longsleeves, "then if" what?

¿o usted intentaba ser listo?
posted by fenriq at 1:33 PM on August 24, 2005

I almost didn't believe the photos were real, they look like stills from SimCity 10,000 or something, very cool.
posted by youthenrage at 1:37 PM on August 24, 2005

maravilloso
posted by rxreed at 2:01 PM on August 24, 2005

First one I looked at was this and it's my favorite!
posted by Eekacat at 2:29 PM on August 24, 2005

Mexico city one of the ugliest

I am from Mexico city and may be biased, but it is not one of the ugliest. It is a chaotic city, with a lot of problems but not ugly.
posted by dov3 at 3:01 PM on August 24, 2005

I forgot, awesome pictures!! The clarity of the sky is incredible despite the pollution. Back in the old days Mexico City was considered one of the cities with the clearest sky. Of course now with the incredible levels of pollution a clear sky is a rarety.
posted by dov3 at 3:04 PM on August 24, 2005

Excellent, thanks peacay!
posted by carter at 3:42 PM on August 24, 2005

fantastic! i visited mexico city a few years ago and was blown away by the extremes. Fortunately it was the time of year when the nightly rains cleaned the air, but by 4pm my eyes would be burning and watering. Still, enjoyed every second of it!
posted by tarantula at 4:06 PM on August 24, 2005

Wow and wow.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:16 PM on August 24, 2005

brilliant link and brilliant photos! thanks for this!
posted by lumiere at 4:20 PM on August 24, 2005

¡Magnífico!
posted by planetkyoto at 5:10 PM on August 24, 2005

Does any one have any info on these? Very interesting.
posted by jikel_morten at 5:26 PM on August 24, 2005

Looks like something out of SimCity.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:27 PM on August 24, 2005

tarantula: What time of year was that?
posted by Potsy at 6:29 PM on August 24, 2005

it was july........
posted by tarantula at 7:21 PM on August 24, 2005

What amazing variety. Great post, thanks!
posted by Slithy_Tove at 7:23 PM on August 24, 2005

Where's the real ones? All I see are some lego-land pictures.
posted by HTuttle at 7:57 PM on August 24, 2005

Thanks for this. I've been to the DF twice and look forward to going there again. It's an amazing city - scary and exciting. I remember reading how the air was bad, but didn't think much about it till I walked out of the airport for the first time and my eyes instantly began to tear up.
posted by wfrgms at 8:22 PM on August 24, 2005

Great post, Peacay.

...and thanks to Fenriq for linking in the Ingles translation...
posted by 27 at 8:38 PM on August 24, 2005

that is one huge town ... very nice collection of photos
posted by pyramid termite at 8:46 PM on August 24, 2005

Can't wait to visit one day. I love chaos.
posted by fungible at 8:59 PM on August 24, 2005

Chaos is the new order.
posted by stbalbach at 9:11 PM on August 24, 2005

These are truly awesome. Thanks, peacay.

In fact, all of them look real except the second-to-last, which is obviously computer-rendered. Oddly, the caption says nothing about it, but it's pretty clear that it is... isn't it?
posted by koeselitz at 10:38 PM on August 24, 2005

Which one koeselitz......the mexican page has a different order to the english page. Add a linky.
posted by peacay at 11:16 PM on August 24, 2005

Linkys don't seem to work, as clicking the pictures just takes me to a quicktime slideshow script. (Maybe I'm wrong, but he seems to have added this since you posted it. I don't remember it being there a few hours ago...) but it's the second-to-last photo in the Spanish version and the last in the English... the one of a helicopter in front of some buildings, with a caption about freedom in four directions, I think. (Looking at the English version, it's just labelled "Adela" there.)
posted by koeselitz at 11:54 PM on August 24, 2005

You mean this one?
posted by Potsy at 12:21 AM on August 25, 2005

The actual link to that striped helicopter shot is in the word 'Ruiz' in the FPP. (when the picture is in the applet you can right click and save link/image location to get a browser loading jpeg) Heh...I know - that's why I found this site fascinating. The contrasts are very striking but I think that's what makes Mexico so appealing. These days, with photoshop of course, it's difficult to state anything with certainty but I don't disbelieve that shot. I suppose, given the balance of the pictures there I'm going on faith. That's ok, this was only meant to be a 5-10 minute piece of visual enjoyment. All the more interesting for me because it's Mexico (as opposed to somewhere unkown or created de novo kind of thing). I'd actually like to know how a helicopter pilot goes around taking pictures. The only other info on that site seems to be helicopter flying rules.

Although it's stated here that "These photos were taken by helicopter pilot Oscar Ruiz, who monitors interstate traffic for a local news station." So I guess he gets more opportunities than your regular 'copter pilot and I suppose it puts his reputation more at risk (arguable, yes) to upload bogus or overtly altered pics.

There's another review (with some larger examples of Ruiz's pictures it seems) at this site, but the commentary is to do with the locations, is mostly filched from other sources and doesn't deal with that striped helicopter shot. All coincidentally interesting of course.
posted by peacay at 12:25 AM on August 25, 2005

Y'know, the more I look at that picture, the more I realize it's probably real. It's remarkable; I think it's just that a combination of the sun being behind a cloud and the motion blur totally remove any actually reflected or focussed light, rendering the buildings SimCity-like.

And the helicopter instructions are really cool, too. What an interesting find. Thanks again, peacay!
posted by koeselitz at 12:45 AM on August 25, 2005

Really great photos.

I am from Mexico city and may be biased, but it is not one of the ugliest. It is a chaotic city, with a lot of problems but not ugly.

I absolutely agree. I lived in Mexico City some 8 years ago, and I definetely fell in love with the city and the people. It's not the prettiest big city in the world, but the sheer size of it and the people there make it a truly incredible city. At least in my head, everything about it was great.

I think it's one of those places that look ugly if you stay there for a day or two, but once you stay for longer you see how great it is.

I'm going back there in less than a week. I really can't wait.
posted by einarorn at 4:35 PM on August 25, 2005

Does any one have any info on these? Very interesting.
posted by jikel_morten

I'm pretty sure the picture is not real. Those houses are built by Casas Geo, which is a low income housing developer. They should sell for less than $30,000 dollars, maybe as low as $15,000. They normally use a single prototype for hundreds of houses, but don't build them all at once. They have to build so many to get a real profit.

When they finally finish building them all there are many buyers who make changes like a garage, and I can't see any different houses in the picture. I will have to send the picture to a friend who works there to see if it's real or a picture of the project.
posted by Penks at 7:25 PM on August 25, 2005

Thanks Penks.
posted by jikel_morten at 10:14 PM on August 25, 2005

I've checked with my friend who works in Casas Geo and he says the picture is real, so forget what I said earlier.
posted by Penks at 4:44 PM on August 26, 2005

I trusted you.
posted by jikel_morten at 6:21 PM on August 26, 2005

I trusted you.

Sorry, turns out even I am wrong sometimes, surprising as it is.

BTW, I'm loving this "My Recent Comments" pony.
posted by Penks at 7:08 PM on August 26, 2005

BTW, I'm loving this "My Recent Comments" pony.
posted by Penks at 10:08 PM EST on August 26 [!]

Totally handy. Anyway, thanks for the info.
posted by jikel_morten at 9:09 PM on August 26, 2005