# Why does Colorado terrain look like a pixellated image? (Google Maps) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 2, 2007, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-colorado-terrain-look-like-a-pixellated-image-google-maps/428504 "2007-12-02T01:17:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-colorado-terrain-look-like-a-pixellated-image-google-maps/428504/1 "2007-12-02T01:17:07Z")
Check out this [view](http://www.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&ll=37.792422,-100.513916&spn=1.966388,4.5401&t=k&z=9&om=1) of Colorado just southeast of Denver. It looks like a pixellated, corrupt image but when you zoom in, you’ll see that the land really does look like that. Even more interesting are the circular patterns that pepper the region. Can someone familiar with the area shed some light on why the terrain looks like this? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-colorado-terrain-look-like-a-pixellated-image-google-maps/428504/2 "2007-12-02T01:25:19Z")
[QUOTE=Brad Serum] … the circular patterns that pepper the region. … [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > [Some irrigation methods](http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/irquicklook.html) > … > Center-Pivot: Automated sprinkler irrigation achieved by automatically rotating the sprinkler pipe or boom, supplying water to the sprinkler heads or nozzles, as a radius from the center of the field to be irrigated. Water is delivered to the center or pivot point of the system. The pipe is supported above the crop by towers at fixed spacings and propelled by pneumatic, mechanical, hydraulic, or electric power on wheels or skids in fixed circular paths at uniform angular speeds. Water is applied at a uniform rate by progressive increase of nozzle size from the pivot to the end of the line. The depth of water applied is determined by the rate of travel of the system. Single units are ordinarily about 1,250 to 1,300 feet long and irrigate about a 130-acre circular area. CMC +fnord! ---
**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:** [December 2, 2007, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-colorado-terrain-look-like-a-pixellated-image-google-maps/428504/3 "2007-12-02T01:31:36Z")
Funny thing with the OP’s link is that the zoom levels were photographed in different seasons - if you zoom in, the picture changes abruptly from lush green to parched brown. [here](http://www.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=24.156152,23.451004&spn=0.297595,0.427094&z=11) is a link to some centre-pivot irrigated farms in the middle of a desert in Libya. They’ve used a more efficient layout there, although it doesn’t exactly look like they’re pushed for space. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-colorado-terrain-look-like-a-pixellated-image-google-maps/428504/4 "2007-12-02T01:43:37Z")
Since the correct explanation has already been posted, I’ll just note that the area linked in the OP is actually Kansas. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-colorado-terrain-look-like-a-pixellated-image-google-maps/428504/5 "2007-12-02T02:45:22Z")
Wow, that’s wild! I’ve seen that kind of patchwork land from planes and on Google maps but never so much of it. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-colorado-terrain-look-like-a-pixellated-image-google-maps/428504/6 "2007-12-02T07:54:31Z")
Am I the only one who noticed that the land shown in the link is in Kansas, not Colorado, and is not just SE of Denver, but actually quite some distance from it? Specifically, between Garden City and Dodge City, KS, along the Arkasas River (pronounced, btw, in that state alone, the Are - can - zas river). ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-colorado-terrain-look-like-a-pixellated-image-google-maps/428504/7 "2007-12-02T09:05:11Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] … if you zoom in, the picture changes abruptly from lush green to parched brown. … [/QUOTE] Which is actually really useful. Nice catch **Mangetout**! If you look at this [close-up](http://www.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=37.793037,-100.512022&spn=0.001653,0.003648&z=18) you can see the boom (sorta), the tracks from the boom towers, and the color change from the soil being watered. CMC +fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-colorado-terrain-look-like-a-pixellated-image-google-maps/428504/8 "2007-12-02T16:17:53Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] Am I the only one who noticed that the land shown in the link is in Kansas, not Colorado, and is not just SE of Denver, but actually quite some distance from it? Specifically, between Garden City and Dodge City, KS, along the Arkasas River (pronounced, btw, in that state alone, the Are - can - zas river). [/QUOTE] No, you’re not the only one. See post #4. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-colorado-terrain-look-like-a-pixellated-image-google-maps/428504/9 "2007-12-02T16:41:52Z")
[QUOTE=Terminus Est] No, you’re not the only one. See post #4. [/QUOTE] Oh SURE, make me READ the posts before mine! :smack: About what I’d expect of myself at 2:54 am. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-colorado-terrain-look-like-a-pixellated-image-google-maps/428504/10 "2007-12-02T16:45:56Z")
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq] Oh SURE, make me READ the posts before mine! :smack: About what I’d expect of myself at 2:54 am. :eek: [/QUOTE] I did refrain from pointing out that you also misspelled “Arkansas”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![InLucemEdita](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7ab992/32.png) [@InLucemEdita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InLucemEdita)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-colorado-terrain-look-like-a-pixellated-image-google-maps/428504/11 "2007-12-02T18:03:31Z")
I think that the effect you are seeing has as much or more to do with the Public Land Survey System (A.K.A. Township and Range system) which has been used to subdivide most of the U.S. mid-west and west, than it does with the center-pivot irrigation system. As best I can tell from that image each irrigation circle is on a quarter-section. A township is 6 x 6 miles, containing 36 sections each of which is 1 x 1 mile. Each section is divided into 4 quarter-sections. It appears that there is one irrigation circle on each of these. The a quarter section is 160 acres, and when subdivided further into quarter-quarter sections these 40 acre plots gave rise to expressions such as “40 acres and a mule” or “going out to mow the back 40”.