[QUOTE=Cervaise]
It’s fairly obvious what’s going on here
[/QUOTE]
Yes. An evil scientist is controlling the weather and plans to hold world leaders to ransom.
[QUOTE=trupa]
Hi everyone, pardon the slight highjack; is there any way to get Google maps to tell you Latt & Long. of a given point on a map? I know you can enter them as coordinates, but can you get them back out?
[/QUOTE]
Yes. Click the “link to this page” link to the top right of the image. The URL that produces includes the latitude and longitude, e.g.
Means it is 48.984949ºN, 114.033623ºW (negative values are south and west, positive north and east).
If you want that in dºm’s’’ format then this page will convert it.
If you look at the Seattle Seahawks stadium, you will see that they took the image during an actual game and you can make out the players on the field. Pretty neat.
[QUOTE=zamboniracer]
Are they perhaps using an image from several years ago taken while Soldier Field was being renovated/rebuilt/converted into the spaceship looking thing it is now?
[/QUOTE]
Yes, that’s it…the picture was from a few years ago, during renovation. One thing I like to find on Google maps are things like this…pictures that are obviously old, and trying to pinpoint when they were taken. At my house, you can see that our garage is not yet built (we put it in about 5 years ago), and in the spot where it now is, there are 3 cars…mine, my husband’s and one that belonged to a friend who stayed with us one summer…so we can figure out within about a 2-month span when the picture was taken!
[QUOTE=DurbBook]
I love the drive from Shoshoni, Wyoming, through the Wind River Canyon to Thermopolis. Whenever I feel lonely for Wyoming, I go to Google Maps and take a drive.
[/QUOTE]
I love that drive also. The remains of the old flume along the canyon walls of the Wind is an amazing engineering feat.
[QUOTE=elmwood]
Ghost subdivisions in the Western US are also fun to discover
El Paso, Texas:
http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/342/ghost01hl3.jpg
[/QUOTE]
I’m not sure what is located at Belen, NM, but the roads at El Paso are all located in the middle of the Fort Bliss Military Reservation and I suspect are the roads left over from the WWII (artillery, air defense, and cavalry) training camp(s).
[QUOTE=tomndebb]
I’m not sure what is located at Belen, NM, but the roads at El Paso are all located in the middle of the Fort Bliss Military Reservation and I suspect are the roads left over from the WWII (artillery, air defense, and cavalry) training camp(s).
[/QUOTE]
Fort Bliss is several miles north of the ghost subdivisions.
/former Las Cruces resident
Ghost highways are kind of fun to find too (there’s a website devoted to same).
OK. I was looking at a less accurate map. (Toss that one away.)
Wikimapia is a fun way to see interesting sites. There is a lot of noise, but the pop up tag names are useful.
Here’s the Macau-China crossover that I was talking about earlier.
There’s also this beast at the border between Hong Kong and China, but it’s a bit too convoluted to be able to see what’s going on.
I love using the oblique viewing. I just took a flight down the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River. The technology is not yet perfect as demonstrated by the Yellowstone river flowing up the canyon walls at certan points.
[QUOTE=Colophon]
Um, because the satellite images are older than the more detailed aerial shots? It happens in lots of places. Sometimes it’s the other way round, and new buildings disappear when you zoom in closer.
[/QUOTE]
I didn’t realise they took aerial shots too. I assumed that all the imagery was taken with high-res satellite shots.
[QUOTE=Uncommon Sense]
I didn’t realise they took aerial shots too. I assumed that all the imagery was taken with high-res satellite shots.
[/QUOTE]
Lots of people think that.
However, most people do grasp the concept slightly better than my colleague, who when I showed her the Google Maps view of our office, said: “So if I go out in the car park, you’ll be able to see me on there?” :smack:
Having said that, wouldn’t it be cool if you could? 
I use standalone Google Earth.
I also do like nongoog says and hunt things down by sight. I fantasize that I’m taking my orbital shuttle down for a landing!
Right now, my fave spot is Desolation Island (Ille. de Kerguelen)in the Southern Ocean - you can see what I swear are the glow of lava flows, and I like the look of it in general, it is truly one of the most remote places:
Lat: 49.257011°S, Long:69.630230° E
[QUOTE=elmwood]
Following North Korean freeways and finding myself fascinated at the lack of traffic, and the gawd-awful geometry and design – they can build a nuclear bomb, but they can’t build an interchange designed to handle traffic at speeds above 15 km/h – can be a fun diversion. Some NK freeways continue into snow-covered mountains unplowed; the road surface is reduced to ruts.
[/QUOTE]
Link? 
[QUOTE=MrDibble]
I use standalone Google Earth.
I also do like nongoog says and hunt things down by sight. I fantasize that I’m taking my orbital shuttle down for a landing!
Right now, my fave spot is Desolation Island (Ille. de Kerguelen)in the Southern Ocean - you can see what I swear are the glow of lava flows, and I like the look of it in general, it is truly one of the most remote places:
Lat: 49.257011°S, Long:69.630230° E
[/QUOTE]
That is neat. Look at the colour of those glacial lakes.
And is this the lava?
What a fantastic place that would be to visit.
How in the heck had I never gone there before? These are awesome. Wonder what happens around Area 51.
You can see area 51. Whats funny is that it has a really long runway. Which is odd because I thought ufo’s could do vertical take-offs and landings. Why would they need a runway?
WOW check this out. Be sure you zoom way in!!!