doranchak: Comments

Keyhole BBS has a post calling this "Al Diar Jazira Hotel & Resort":

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/27210/an//page//vc/1

"The dome is now used as a giant movie set for films such as 'Batman' and 'Jack Frost'

More info/photos:

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=EarthTourism&Number=10300

More info: http://www.nasm.si.edu/udvarhazy/

There is a similar debate here:

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/27960/an//page//vc/1

When I saw the map for the first time, my first thought was that it was a cut in the photonegative from the satellite, as if from a hole puncher of some kind. The incomplete circles made me second-guess that theory, although those could be incomplete cuts as...

That certainly sounds more likely! It'd be rare to capture, say, a cruise missile midflight - plus there aren't any time-shifted color artifacts (red/blue ghosting) like those present in imagery of other flying objects.

Also note the black cross.

Original post: http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=EarthTransportation&Number=27748&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&vc=1

Turns out the plane and sub are exhibits at the "Rahmi M. Koç Museum":

http://www.rmk-museum.org.tr/english/exhibit/index.html

Here's a good link:

http://www.googlesightseeing.com/2005/07/21/the-great-wall-of-china/

Looking in Google Earth, it appears to be called "Island Chaffee":

"...four islands with active oil wells that have been decorated with different colored walls about a mile offshore. They are named for astronauts who died while being a part of the effort to reach the moon (Island Grissom, Island Chaffee, Island White and Island Freeman)." (from ...

Some interesting pics here:

http://www.bottoz.com/bagram_bone_yard.php

It appears to be an extension to the salt mining operation that is visible southward:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-24.449524,113.557262&spn=0.072407,0.120352&t=k&hl=en

More info here:

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=EarthGiants&Number=30971

From http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/25646/an//page//vc/1:

"Actually, thats not the Seal base, it is Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, the Seal base is just s.w. across the street. The building you guys are talking about is a 4 story barracks, thats holds personel from Assualt Craft Unit 1, and Beach Masters Unit 1, and possibly some of Special Boat Unit 1. I...

Google Earth has this labelled as "Piestany Airport"

It does look like a prison. Also, note the soccer field in the southwest corner.

Googling only got me this:

http://www.lasalle.es/valladolid/martires/prision.htm

Vallodolid is a town near the buildings. The site shows a prison with inmates playing soccer. Probably just coincidence!

Keyhole BBSer identified this as:
"Thermal Power Plant #26 located at 10 Vostryakovsky Passage, Moscow"

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/16831/an//page//vc/1

Possibly "Fairford dam". This site mentions the dam and the fish ladder in the same paragraph:

http://winnipegfreepress2.com/specialsections/destinationmb/culture/

So far I'm seeing some references to "Ezeiza prison":

http://www.google.com/search?q=Ezeiza%20prison

"Beijing Amusement Park" is the actual name (it is not generic).

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=globalvillage&Number=4578

It is Balad Airbase:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/balad-ab.htm

This one is called "Moscow Chkalovskoe Airport". Alternate spelling appears to be "Chkalovsk".

This is called "De Winton South Calgary Airport".

http://www.abheritage.ca/flyboys/homefront/bcatp_site_locations.htm#dewinton

http://www.cufc.ca/field_detail.cfm?autoFieldID=36

Google Earth has this labeled as "Al Taqaddum Airport".

The airport is called Al Taji Airport.

http://worldaerodata.com/wad.cgi?id=IZ48976

Ah, thanks for pointing it out. I must not have been looking hard enough!

Google Earth has this labelled as "Churchill Airport".

The thumbnail does not appear to match. Or am I just blind?

This is in Nafura, Libya. The Keyhole BBS community has a post calling this general area a "Nafura oil/gas facility".

Google Earth claims this is part of Cave Creek Reservoir. But, a google search for Cave Buttes yielded this:

http://156.42.96.39/alert/Flow/4899.htm

This page references flood control:

http://156.42.96.39/cgi-bin/showrpts_mc?ID=4900%20SP=1h%20NM=72%20T=t

So I think it...

Oh - check this out:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=16.266289,103.356596&spn=0.004515,0.007522&t=k&hl=en

More yellow. :)

You might be right! Perhaps yellow is a goof roof-color for Thailand due to the terrible heat.

OK, someone needs to organize a Thai road trip to solve this once and for all. :)

Interesting... well apparantly the island is popular for divers so perhaps the object is a big floating diving platform (or really big boat of some kind to hold divers). It must be really big considering the scale of the map.

Looks like it is called "Valle Molina Reservoir":

(scroll down to #13):

http://www.bavarianbirds.de/tf/gebiete.html

According to the map below it is "Isla San Esteban":

http://www.markandmeg.com/mark/map.jpg

OK more comment spam - I ruled out the Aqua Alta based on the lat/long coords posted here:

http://www.deos.tudelft.nl/ers/tower.html

Another photo of the research platform:

http://homepage.mac.com/paduan/PhotoAlbum38.html

(2nd row from the bottom)

Hmm, found this one too:

http://web.tiscali.it/adriasub/it/fotosedici.htm

This is a contender as well:

http://www.tim-thompson.com/aqua-alta.html

I found this reference but the photo doesn't seem to match the satellite view (though it is hard to tell for sure):

http://www.offshore-technology.com/contractors/power/ormat/ormat2.html

Cool! What did you perform?

Homepage of the observatory:

http://www.iac.es/gabinete/orm/indice.html

Wow, I need to make friends there.

"Hey, can I take your plane for a spin?"

BTW I found that it is called Hillcrest Airport:

http://www.airport-data.com/airport/7TX4/

It is privately owned by the "Hillcrest Homeowners Assn". Man, all we get from our homeowners association fees are spotty road-paving and a mailbox key. :)

The mystery was solved by "Patrick" in the GoogleSightseeing forums:

http://www.googlesightseeing.com/2005/06/24/hole-in-the-coast/#comment-3888

I KNOW WHAT IT IS!!!!!! It’s a place called La Lobera….Got a hold of a friend down in baja and she directed me to this site…..long story short, it is the collapsed roof of a sea cave. THere are some great ground...

I think it is part of Gran Canaria International Airport:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Canaria_International_Airport

The lat/long coordinates here match the location:

http://www.azworldairports.com/airports/p2494lpa.htm

This is under "info requested" - what info is needed?

Good wiki info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckingham_Fountain

This non-hippie says it was "Animals" from 1977. Groovy, man; I was only 3 years old that year!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000024D4R/qid=1120845149/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_ur_1/102-0435930-3231312?v=glance&s=music&n=507846

Followup -

I think the area is called "Al Uwaynat desert". This map has a spot labelled "Al Uwaynat" that corresponds to the location of the rock formation:

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/africa/libya_pol93.jpg

There's a photo file with the same name here:

...

It does appear to be volcanic. My first stab is that this is part of the Tibesti volcano complex, but Tibesti itself is a bit further west (see http://googleglobetrotting.com/info.php/mid/4815).

Some further info about Tibesti:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibesti_Mountains

...

Apparantly it translates to "Chrobry Banks":

http://www.staypoland.com/info_szczecin.htm

There are many interesting historical buildings there - check out this large collection of photos (scroll down below the bar chart):

http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=90984

Perhaps a wastewater treatment lagoon type thingie?

A reservoir of some kind?

Maybe a pool used during mineral/chemical processing?

Some kind of fishery?

So now I'm second guessing myself. I emailed the mayor of Greenville and this is her response:

"The building is an apartment complex located between Irby St. & Mary St.
(behind the Greenville Mall)."
- Mayor Heather McTeer Hudson

There is much more info here:

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/46fd0/78941/

I searched on the street name (Irby) and found this address:

Newcomers Club of Greenville
1470 Irby, Greenville, MS 38701
981-3409

from this site:

http://www.greenville.ms.us/community/civic.txt

which was linked from here:

...

Looks like Bagram Airbase to me:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/afghanistan/images/ik_bagram_050_an.jpg

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/afghanistan/bagram-imagery.htm

...

More info:

http://faculty.uaeu.ac.ae/myagoub/Tourism_System/Qasr_Al.htm

a.k.a. "Ghazi Stadium"

If only there was a message scribbled on that note! :)

"TO-DO: Remove packing tape before shipping images to Google server."