# What is this? (Google Earth) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 8, 2008, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856 "2008-02-08T22:19:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2008, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/1 "2008-02-08T22:19:49Z")
https://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=40.774042,-119.228783&spn=0.01365,0.120163&z=13&om=0 In a very sparsely populated area of Northwest Nevada. It is a semi-circle of cars and buildings around what looks like an oversized indoor bundt can pan. Any ideas? Missile Silo? Alien autoposy secret location? ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/2 "2008-02-08T22:23:19Z")
[Burning Man!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_man) ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/3 "2008-02-08T22:23:26Z")
[Burning Man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_Man), I think. ---
**Author:** ![brownsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@brownsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownsfan)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2008, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/4 "2008-02-08T22:30:11Z")
[QUOTE=Pork Rind] [Burning Man!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_man) [/QUOTE] What? Naked people there? Back to take another, closer look … ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2008, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/5 "2008-02-08T23:01:36Z")
It looks kinda fake to me. ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/6 "2008-02-08T23:09:34Z")
[QUOTE=Sunshine and Smiles] It looks kinda fake to me. [/QUOTE] Late edit: sorry, upon third attempt at scrutinizing, I realized it was my browser and slow internet connection messing with the zooms and repeating images. Pretty cool! ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/7 "2008-02-09T00:59:09Z")
Yep, Burning Man. If you look closely you may be able to make out me waving at the camera. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/8 "2008-02-09T01:28:52Z")
Why is everything covered with snow when you zoom out? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2008, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/9 "2008-02-09T01:36:46Z")
Why is it moved? There’s an identical pattern SW of the posted view. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2008, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/10 "2008-02-09T02:16:24Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] Why is everything covered with snow when you zoom out? [/QUOTE] The zoomed out photos were taken at a different time. Different levels of zoom have different photos. There is some image processing using the same photos for different levels but at some point they switch to photos near the zoom range you want to display. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/11 "2008-02-09T03:24:22Z")
You are all wrong. That is Black Rock City. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/12 "2008-02-09T03:51:54Z")
Black Rock City IS Burning Man… 😕 ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2008, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/13 "2008-02-09T04:07:02Z")
Well, Burning Man is a man in the middle of Black Rock City that meets an unfortunate end. Black Rock City is a city that erupts around the man to celebrate his premature (sometimes more premature than others) demise. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2008, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/14 "2008-02-09T13:11:14Z")
As she said, [Burning Man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_man) is the common name for a festival/gathering/event that happens annually on the [Black Rock Desert playa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Rock_Desert) in Northern Nevada. The encampment that grows up around the central location in which the effigy to be burned is placed is called Black Rock City. Since there are all the cars and whatnot there, presumably the photo being used is from one of the events, and the Not-yet Burning Man is visible in the center. It would appear, from the photo, that the organizers have moved the site of the encampment to the NE about a mile or so. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2008, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/15 "2008-02-09T16:45:37Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] It would appear, from the photo, that the organizers have moved the site of the encampment to the NE about a mile or so. [/QUOTE] I think the explanation may simply be that the image showing the festival in progress is incorrectly registered. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2008, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/16 "2008-02-09T22:37:22Z")
[QUOTE=Xema] I think the explanation may simply be that the image showing the festival in progress is incorrectly registered. [/QUOTE] It seems that the big picture is the area when it was unpopulated and then someone took an aerial view during the festival, and as you said, it wasn’t placed properly. The overlay is slightly transparent so you can see the roads underneath the overlay as if they’re part of it which screws it up even more. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2008, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/17 "2008-02-09T22:59:40Z")
[QUOTE=jasonh300] It seems that the big picture is the area when it was unpopulated and then someone took an aerial view during the festival, and as you said, it wasn’t placed properly. The overlay is slightly transparent so you can see the roads underneath the overlay as if they’re part of it which screws it up even more. [/QUOTE] I thought that, too, but then I noticed that the roads that radiated out from the encampment were connected to roads existing outside the enhanced photo (look at the East side, for example), and that the West side of the enhanced photo doesn’t show the rocky outcropping that is clearly within the same distance in the lower version. Hence, my conclusion that they used the more southernly site at one time, and that they moved it more northward for a later festival. I could, of course, be wrong. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/18 "2008-02-10T01:07:18Z")
Is it in exactly the same spot every year? Or are photos from different years in the data base? Their coverage patterns can be pretty sporadic. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/19 "2008-02-10T03:13:20Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] Hence, my conclusion that they used the more southernly site at one time, and that they moved it more northward for a later festival. [/QUOTE] To me, there appears to be way too much matching detail for this to be two different sites. The effort required to get this sort of match would be astonishing. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856/20 "2008-02-10T05:25:23Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] Why is everything covered with snow when you zoom out? [/QUOTE] Desert, not snow. Many areas in the West are dry lake beds in which the water evaporated and left the salt behind. If you cruse over to [the area west](http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&ll=41.208622,-113.139954&spn=0.383295,1.2854&t=h&z=10&om=0) of the Great Salt Lake, you can see a large salt flat, part of which is used for setting speed records. See [Bonneville Salt Flats](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonneville_Salt_Flats) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-google-earth/436856.md?page=2)