Well, contrary to all our expectations, our friend the alien has come back. It seems that it wants to collect a number of photographs from tourist traps here on Earth. And since you made it home the other night, on your own - it’s pretty clear that you’re just what it needs to be its native guide!
So, same rules as before. You start here, and zoom in to find the landmarks listed below. No dragging, no backing out to try again. You may recenter your map by zooming in on a section, but if you ‘miss’ you’re SOL.
Can you get your alien friend the complete set of Earth tourist sites, from here?
I sure couldn’t. I’ve spoilered my results and sometimes included a hint or two.
Point Zero, Paris. (It’s in the courtyard in front of Notre Dame cathedral, and is the official center of the city, for figuring distances) Hugely easy - when one remembers that Notre Dame is on an island in the Seine
The Tower of London bzzt… even after I IDed the Thames tidal barrier, I was still lost on this one)
Time Square, NYC No trouble at all.
The Coliseum, Rome bzzt, again. About five miles away. I think I ended up focusing on a horse track.
The Reflecting Pool, Washington, DC Oy, this is embarassing. I ended up in King of Prussia, PA. Yes - that’s right. I cannot find my own country’s capital from orbit. :o
The USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor, HI Made this one. The trick is to remember which island is which. Once one has Oahu, it’s pretty easy.
Hoover, or Boulder, Dam Er… I was several hundred miles east north east. I did find a concrete arch dam. Just the wrong one: Glen Canyon Dam.
For the truly expert: (Which lets me off the hook. I’m the guy who thought that Boulder Dam would be easy.)
The Four Corners
Mt. Rushmore
Feel free to add other challenges. For normal level, try to suggest places that would reasonably be known to Dopers worldwide, as well as being visually distinctive from above. Red Square, for example, would be something I’d consider a good ‘normal’ challenge.
For the expert level challenges, it’s quite fair to suggest places that can be assumed to be known to one’s contrymen, but not necessarily to foreigners. A good example of this might be Canberra.
I will ask that anyone suggesting new challenges keep it only to normal level, unless you have succeeded in one of the expert level challenges I’d listed in this OP.