# What are these dots on aerial views of Nevada? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 19, 2006, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-dots-on-aerial-views-of-nevada/365087 "2006-07-19T00:23:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SlickRoenick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-dots-on-aerial-views-of-nevada/365087/1 "2006-07-19T00:23:16Z")
For those with Google Earth do these coordinates: 37 degs 38’29.51 N 115 deg 47’58.44 W What are those green dots–other than a weird game of Reversi? I think they are fields for agriculture or horticulture testing, but a friend of mine says they were painted on to cover something up. I tried looking up The Extraterrestrial Highway website but it gives no mention of them. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-dots-on-aerial-views-of-nevada/365087/2 "2006-07-19T00:46:53Z")
Look at 41° 06’ 10" N 101° 01’ 23.79" W for center pivot irrigation arrays in Nebraska. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-dots-on-aerial-views-of-nevada/365087/3 "2006-07-19T00:48:33Z")
[QUOTE=SlickRoenick] For those with Google Earth do these coordinates: 37 degs 38’29.51 N 115 deg 47’58.44 W What are those green dots–other than a weird game of Reversi? I think they are fields for agriculture or horticulture testing, but a friend of mine says they were painted on to cover something up. I tried looking up The Extraterrestrial Highway website but it gives no mention of them. [/QUOTE] Linky? ( Hit the “Link to this page” button and copy the URL from the location bar.) ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-dots-on-aerial-views-of-nevada/365087/4 "2006-07-19T00:51:49Z")
[Center Pivot Irrigation](http://www.irrigationpivots.com/) ---
**Author:** ![SlickRoenick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-dots-on-aerial-views-of-nevada/365087/5 "2006-07-19T01:15:32Z")
[QUOTE=UncleRojelio] Linky? ( Hit the “Link to this page” button and copy the URL from the location bar.) [/QUOTE] https://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&ll=37.618991,-115.796757&spn=0.179209,0.31929&t=k&om=1 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-dots-on-aerial-views-of-nevada/365087/6 "2006-07-19T01:24:27Z")
[QUOTE=SlickRoenick] https://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&ll=37.618991,-115.796757&spn=0.179209,0.31929&t=k&om=1 [/QUOTE] here are some similar ones (along with some other interesting configurations) in Libya: https://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=24.157366,23.36453&spn=0.302604,0.468292 ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-dots-on-aerial-views-of-nevada/365087/7 "2006-07-19T01:42:48Z")
Yep, that’s irrigation. If you zoom in enough on the ones in Libya, you see some concentric shadows that mark the paths of the wheels as it rotates. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-dots-on-aerial-views-of-nevada/365087/8 "2006-07-19T02:39:59Z")
[QUOTE=easy e] Yep, that’s irrigation. If you zoom in enough on the ones in Libya, you see some concentric shadows that mark the paths of the wheels as it rotates. [/QUOTE] The Libyan ones (at least some of them) are circular reservoirs. We discussed them [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=360220); see posts #11 & #20. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-dots-on-aerial-views-of-nevada/365087/9 "2006-07-19T03:58:42Z")
Roll the dice in a national forest: [Google Maps](http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=46.010108,-121.944122&spn=0.02611,0.05785)