# Odd clearings on Google Maps **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 24, 2020, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-clearings-on-google-maps/928780 "2020-12-24T01:15:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-clearings-on-google-maps/928780/1 "2020-12-24T01:15:28Z")
Each feature is about 300 x 400 feet. They look like identical gravel lots each with some structure in one corner. If you zoom out there are at least a dozen of them in theiss remote area of Columbiana County OH . The roads are gated ans have what appear to be an identical sign at each entrance. I haven’t been able to find a view where I can read a sign but they seem to have a map on them. The sign on Rt 644 has the best view so far. Looking at historic aerial views they appeared sequentially starting in 2013. https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.6561601,-80.8868315&z=16&output=embed&dg=ntvb ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-clearings-on-google-maps/928780/2 "2020-12-24T03:00:15Z")
Fracking extraction points from coal or shale deposits. Beware - [they breed like tribbles](https://news.wisc.edu/drilling-in-the-dark-biological-impacts-of-fracking-still-largely-unknown/). ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-clearings-on-google-maps/928780/3 "2020-12-24T11:13:06Z")
^^ this, fidgeting with your map, I found one of those in a different part of the state that popped up with a pin-tag that said it was a belonged to Chesapeake Energy, around … I didn’t really pay attention, but the Iron Warrior site is near Belmont ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-clearings-on-google-maps/928780/4 "2020-12-24T15:43:31Z")
Fracking wells. They’re all over the country now. Or at least all over the oil shale areas. https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d120980.67289795663!2d-102.50182748770894!3d31.878777371120098!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x86fbc96a39137cf9%3A0x1625ab3454615f46!2sOdessa%2C%20TX!5e1!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1608824522321!5m2!1sen!2sus See the regular grids of “dots” all around that city? Some are conventional oil wells, but many are fracking wells. They extend for many miles in every direction. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-clearings-on-google-maps/928780/5 "2020-12-24T21:41:52Z")
Hmm, what’s going on about 1 mile NNW of there ? Looks like someone’s divided the land up into roughly square shapes and then shuffled them around. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-clearings-on-google-maps/928780/6 "2020-12-24T23:28:29Z")
Not sure which bit you mean [or whether you mean the Ohio or Odessa images] but > [@pjd](#): > > divided the land up into roughly square shapes and then shuffled them around sounds like field preparation, planting and cropping happening at different stages. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-clearings-on-google-maps/928780/7 "2020-12-25T01:39:27Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > Hmm, what’s going on about 1 mile NNW of there ? > Looks like someone’s divided the land up into roughly square shapes and then > shuffled them around. Assuming you’re talking about your map in OH … I’m betting you’re not familiar with this: > **[Public Land Survey System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Land_Survey_System)** > > The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is the surveying method developed and used in the United States to plat, or divide, real property for sale and settling. Also known as the Rectangular Survey System, it was created by the Land Ordinance of 1785 to survey land ceded to the United States by the Treaty of Paris in 1783, following the end of the American Revolution. Beginning with the Seven Ranges in present-day Ohio, the PLSS has been used as the primary survey method in the United States. Follow... That part of the USA was carefully surveyed into 1 mile square blocks. Which later were sold either whole, or divided in half each way into 4 square hunks each 1/2 mile on a side or else into quarters each way giving 16 squares each 1/4 mile on a side. What I see about where you indicate is a single 1 mile section that was subdivided into 16 hunks. The various farmers who own each hunk plow according to how the topography in their hunk works. And their personal habits. With the result that the whole section resembles a cross between a farmland picture puzzle and one of these that’s been scrambled: > **[15 Puzzle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_puzzle)** > > The 15 Puzzle (also called Gem Puzzle, Boss Puzzle, Game of Fifteen, Mystic Square and more) is a sliding puzzle. It has 15 square tiles numbered 1 to 15 in a frame that is 4 tile positions high and 4 tile positions wide, with one unoccupied position. Tiles in the same row or column of the open position can be moved by sliding them horizontally or vertically, respectively. The goal of the puzzle is to place the tiles in numerical order (from left to right, top to bottom). > Named after the numbe... ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2020, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-clearings-on-google-maps/928780/8 "2020-12-26T11:17:47Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’m betting you’re not familiar with this: Correct ! > [@LSLGuy](#): > > one of these that’s been scrambled: Yes, that’s what i was thinking. Ignorance fawt. Cheers !