# Sheikh writes his name in sand.... two miles wide

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheikh-writes-his-name-in-sand-two-miles-wide/590260>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [July 25, 2011, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheikh-writes-his-name-in-sand-two-miles-wide/590260 "2011-07-25T13:00:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheikh-writes-his-name-in-sand-two-miles-wide/590260/21 "2011-07-26T10:38:49Z")

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> [@Jenaroph](#):
>
> I searched it out and it’s just not that big. There’s no way you could see it from space; Google Earth photos are taken from an airplane.

I’d think you would be able to see it _easily_ from space. The ISS is only ~220 miles off the ground. It would be about equivalent to writing it an inch across and looking at it from 7-8 feet away.

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheikh-writes-his-name-in-sand-two-miles-wide/590260/22 "2011-07-26T11:48:55Z")

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> [@septimus](#):
>
> I didn’t see a Google link or coordinates so spent some time looking for HAMAD myself. [Here it is](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Al+Futaisi&hl=en&ll=24.347722,54.324474&spn=0.041523,0.077162&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=36.915634,79.013672&radius=15000.000000&t=h&z=14) (upside-down with North at top).
> 
> [Google Maps](http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=24.347722,54.324474&spn=0.041523,0.077162&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=36.915634,79.013672&radius=15000.000000&t=h&z=14)
> 
> (I’m a fan of short URLs, but don’t know which parameters here are inessential.)
> 
> Is there a good discussion soemwhere of Google’s Earth maps? I’m curious.
> 
> I live in a remote place where even the nearby town appeared on no map I was aware of other than certain unavailable maps used by government. Now there is a thoroughly labeled Google map. I was astounded to see our dirt driveway as a marked road and would have gotten paranoid, except our neighbor’s driveway was also marked.

The distant pics are from satellites, the close-up ones are from aircraft. You can usually see the “jump” in quality as you zoom in. Some areas only have satellite imagery, and you can’t go “high-res”.

E.g. see [here](http://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=59.940837,12.19609&spn=0.001287,0.006276&t=h&z=18). This spot has (not great quality, admittedly) aerial imagery. Scroll a little way to the north and you’ll see that runs out and there is only blurry satellite imagery, which looks OK when you zoom out.

As for the map detail, I believe Google users can add their own detail for roads etc, as a kind of open-source project. I know they do that a lot in third-world countries where there is not very good “official” mapping available.

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