kjfitz: Comments

Actually closer to Si Racha onthe north side of the Bang Phra reservoir.

Wow, that's freaky. But solar would be oriented to the south or at least all inteh same direction. These vary from straight south to north east. In google earth the largest ones in teh northern area seem to be mounds with wedges cut out of them. I'm thinking a Thai version of a burial mound.

Good submissions. You're doing well.

Please try not to submit thumbnails or URLs that result in the red pointers.

You can remove them by stripping the address portion frm the q=...& arcuement in your URL. You can leav the city and state as they won't cause the red marker.

If there is no long, lat in your URL you can remove them easily by shifting the map a fraction to the side and then clicking "link to this page" and then removing the address...

Here is the launch site that this IFC area controlled:
http://googleglobetrotting.com/info.php/mid/5492

Yup, I only did launch sites. There was hardly ever anything left of the radar sites or the command sites that I didn't wantt o eneter hundreds of empty fields.

According to this:
http://www.aircraft-charter-world.com/airports/middleeast/qatar.htm

Qatar's is 15,000 feet long.

Why movie theater? There's no parking.

This whole area seems to be related to the power company, coal, power plant, offices, training center. I wonder if these are some kind of spill cleanup booms held in ready. Maybe one of those EPA mandated things for this site.

Welcome to GGT! Good first post.

I agree. It is exactly on the route given here:
http://www.v-sol.co.uk/GUMBALL3000/images/maps/Messina%20Ferry.jpg

Also the Google Images of "Messina Ferry" show this ship.

I've updated the submission.

This has been identified in the Keyhole usergroups as a military base.

If they are parachutes then they are in two sticks. The plane is at the head of the western stick. There is a parallel stick to the east. If they are parachutes then there shouls be another plane out ahead of the second stick.

A quick google of "Korean Barrage Balloons" yeilds many links saying Korea still uses barrage ballons near AAA sites.

AnalogMan may know better than me but with this plane flying so close I wonder if these are (1) barage balloons or (2) target ballons.

The plane has the characteristic grey ghost ahead of it that indicates that this plane is actually flying.

But to heck with the plane. Look behind it and further to the NE. There are a dozen or more white spheres.

The ones furthest to the NE have very clear ground shadows and they have the characteristic grey blur that indicates that they were moving fairly quickly when the image wa shot. Some are very close to the ground if you look at their shadows.
...

There are old costal defenses all over this point:
http://googleglobetrotting.com/info.php/mid/5532

Here's a news story mentioning them being moved to Balad air base in 2004.

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123007115

Welcome back.

That spiral to the NE in the Jardin des Plantes looks cool. Is it a maze or a mound or just a flat spiral path?

The black smudge at the back end of the airplane makes it look like an F-4 but the smudge is only black marks on the tarmac. The plane looks identical to this inteh close up:
http://www.airshowreport.com/f14.jpg

In Google Earth you can definitely make out that it is an F-14. pdunn if you want I can update your thumbnail with a close-up.

Thanks. I was there this weekend and wondered what they'd look like in Google Maps. At 2300 maps you filter everything you see through what it would look like from space.

That's a really cool first submission. And welcome to Google Globe Trotting!

Not only that but this is might actually be titled "Island with a pool with an island" since it's on Sardinia.

I'm guessing those news stories that the link used to bring up timed out. Here's one of the original stories:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4267238.stm

Maybe some kind of range or target. The trail in the SW corner leads west to the target end of what is clearly a small arms firing range.

Thanks for the huge pile of "fixes" today. We really apperciate it!

You say, "This image illustrates just how nearly impossible it is to recognize missiles or other large threats on the ground from the resolution provided in Google' satellite imagery."

But I have to disagree. It goes to show how limited the views are in GOOGLE LOCAL (aka GOOGLE MAPS) but the same data viewed in Google Earth gives you something like 3x the magnificatin and those missiles, tanks and helos are quite clear.

Add an accurate scale with which to...

Thanks Josema!

Thanks. When I have a bunch of maps to post I post the raw thumbnails and then work my way through researching them and update as I go before approving them. Looks like you're getting to bunch of these before me. Cool! thanks.

Yes. He's from Casper.

http://www.ussiowa.org/pics/turrets/pics/whole_turret_cutaway.jpg
and
http://www.cyber-heritage.co.uk/cutaway/ture.jpg

There is even the story about the Brazillian Battleship Rio de Janeiro that suffered structural difficulties due to the size and depth of its seven turret wells.
...

They are the wells in which the turrets sat.

I don't think it is a crater. I think it is a mound. It is on a concrete pad. Look at the trucks parked on the SE corner of the pad. They throw shadows to their west sides. If this was a crater then the east wall of the crater would be in shadow. Instead the west edge is in shadow as it would be if this were a mound. That would explain the run-off to the west side of the pad and the smaller mound to the NW. This may be a pile of mulch or manure for the gardens. Is that a chipper just NE of the...

What are those coordinates and where do they come from? They don't show anything in high res. They also don't match the thumbnail.

More likely a gas flare-off.

They aren't dyed... read here about the colors:
http://www.cargill.com/sf_bay/saltpond_ecosystem.htm

There is a similar deperming station in Norfolk at:

36 52 02.87, -76 19 57.40

I think this is a deperming station for the huge submarine base further to the SW.

Pul-i-Charki Prison

Turner Falls Dam
http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/burnham.html
(picture at the bottom of the page)

Thanks for identifying these!

Could be an archaeological site.

That is a La Triomphant class:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triomphant_class_submarine

The SSBN (the southernmost of the three) has been identified elsewhere as the USS Florida in drydock undergoing SSGN renovation/upgrade.

I'd say they are Nanchang CJ-5 / CJ-6 (equivalent to the Russian Yakovlev Yak-18A "Max"). They are trainiers.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/yak-18-pics.htm

A Chinese friend of mine says this is a work slogan. The first string of characters very roughly states, "This dam is dedicated to meeting its electric production targets." The second string of characters says, "No mater what happens the workers will not lose sight of their production targets."

In Google Earth they look more like camo netting in a square pattern.

Largest mall in California.
Largest one story mall west of the mississippi.

Here's an article that interviews the owner:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/virgin/112250_virgin13.shtml

"My dad bought the thing years ago," says General Manager Dan Johnson. The jet is a MiG 21, bought from Czechoslovakia, complete with flight logs.

Looks the same to me:
http://www.airforce.ru/aircraft/mikoyan/mig-21/mig-21smt/MiG-21SMT_2.jpg

Considering the paranoia and grandness with which this ruler does things (go to Google Earth and look at Pyonyang some time) I doubt he'd ever really come here. The first thought I had was some taody trying some blatant falttery of the boss.

Here's what Wikipedia says:

"Area 51 has two operating runways, the main is 14L/32R, a concrete runway constructed in the 1990s, measuring 11,980 x 200 ft (3651 x 61 m) with a 1000 x 100 ft (304 x 30 m) overrun at each end and the secondary, shorter runway is 12/30 which also doubles as a taxiway, measuring 5,420ft x 150ft (1,652m x 45m). The much more enigmatic older runway is exactly 6 miles (9656 m) long. It is composed of 12,500 ft of concrete, 11,080 ft of asphalt, and 5560...

Pictures:
http://www.patrimonionacional.es/aranj/aranjuez.htm

So you get paid to do what my wife gets mad at me for spending so much time doing. Great!

Also the longest runway in the US at 16000 feet long.
http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2003/06/16/daily39.html

April 15 (4.15) is the birthday of Kim Il Sung.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Il-sung

February 16 (2.16) is the birthday of Kim Jong Il.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Jong-il

Good annotated map of this area here:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/dprk/images/yongbyon-cib1.jpg

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/dprk/facility.htm

This site lists the "targets" in North Korea with missiles protecting them. Yong Bong is not one of the sites listed as having missiles.

Based on your comments I agree these are AA sites too. But that then begs the question, "Where are the missile sites?"

Scavenger hunt time. I find it hard to beleive that a site of this value would have no SAM sites around it but I haven't found any. I guess they could be out further and thus not in the high res area.

I'm not sure what North Korean SAM sites look like so I guess I could have seen them but not recognized them. They could also be well hidden.

39.743030,125.755654
39.723080,125.741921
39.718542,125.733617
39.732058,125.776254
39.745991,125.792347
39.738509,125.722427
39.733353,125.706548
39.740200,125.702353
39.771855,125.822656
39.704809,125.732287
39.768486,125.775095
39.775673,125.778249
39.768136,125.710014

I can send you the coordinates of another fourteen similar sites circling the "nuke plant" if you'd like to see them too.

"Flamme d'Or" by Phillipe Stark

I don't understand your comment. What do you mean by "pictures of where it is in relationship to other countries"? Wouldn't that just be a normal map?

And saying "you don't need as many satellite pictures" doesn't make sense. That is the whole purpose of this site. This site is specifically designed to collect ONLY satellite pictures.

This is a colaberative site. If you want to see different coverage then please feel free to post those images and locations you...

Wait! You missed the 7-11 down the street! Just kiddding. This is coverage campaign is very cool. I wish people would do this extensive coverage for every city. Due to your inspiration I may do this for Paris. Thanks Flea!

It isn't even pixelated in Google Earth.

This is a colaberative site. There are comment fields available for just this purpose. Please feel free to add this data youself.

I looked around more and quit after finding another fouteen sites. There seems to be two types.

One is a circle with from four to ten launchers around it and a slot in the middle with what I assume is a radar or launch director. They are usually in lower areas.

The other is usually on the edge of a ridge with a connecting path leading to the top or other side of the ridge where i suppose the radar is positioned. These sites don't have central parks and all the...

That last one is armed by the way. You can see single missile launcers with their missiles if you look at it in Google Earth.

And this is definitely one further to the west:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.745010,125.711387&spn=0.005603,0.008032&t=k&hl=en

(Feel free to submit these. You kind of "own" North Korea. ;-)

Similar to this on the side of the hill of your "odd" building.

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.796901,125.784053&spn=0.005599,0.008032&t=k&hl=en

The odd building is just to the NE.

Scattered all aound rural america there are veteran's organizations, small town squares, and military reserve armories with guns, tanks, small boats, and planes on display to emorialize sacrifices in past wars. I wonder if these are the Korean equivalent. Maybe they are monuments to heros to keep the public aware that they are "at war."

I agree it is strange to find airplanes so far from runways though. even here the plane are usually somewhat close to airports.

The almost total lack of any motor vehicles in the area is spooky.

Thank you, Analogman. Your contributions to this forum really add a lot of value.

Go Flea! You're on a roll here.

Country's Largest Theme Park
(Also, outside of Africa, the biggest drive-through safari)

There were a total of 345 sites built. I tracked down 134 of them that were clearly there and submitted them. There were another 20 or 30 that were hi res but were so built over there was no remaining sign of them. I skipped those too.

Duh! Because it's a BSH (Big Smoking Hole.)

Actually if you zoom in on the NW corner of the hole you'll see that the black hole is probably a "stitching error" between two images that were taken at different times. The smoke is actually cloud cover. You can see the clouds cut off at the seem NW of the hole.

That's the last Nike site to be posted. Pshew!

Map #9000.

I'm still in the middle of the Nike sites but I looked and saw I was at 1999 so I looked through my bookmarks for something other than a Nike site (God I'll be glad when I'm done withthose). This seemed appropriate.

Congrats to you making the *new* top five list too.

Map #2000!

I agree. If I could put them straight into the database without going through the front page I would.

I get them from here:
http://ed-thelen.org/loc.html

I thnk Anonymous is asking how you made the connection between Mont Paon and Riene Jeanne.

The BBC article was April 10.

Saddam Hussein's presidential yacht
Al Mansur, damaged by an air strike
during the conflict, and attacked
subsequently by local people as a symbol
of the former regime, finally sank on
the afternoon of 12 June at Basrah

http://www.operations.mod.uk/telic/photo_gallery_general1.htm

I added it to "info requested" because there is a good chance someone can tell us. We save "unexplained" for things that are controversial or for which there seems to be no concensus as to what is being seen.

Thanks for the info. I googled around and the S-200 is referred to as the SA-5. I can't find SAM-4 designation used with the SA-100.

This site:

http://www.wonderland.org.nz/rasa.htm

Says the S-200 (SA-5) is used in Libya but not the SA-4.

Thanks for getting me on the right track!

Thanks for all your comments. They help a alot. I'm always hoping to hear from you when I'm uncertain about the details of a site like this or the others you've commented on.

You're right. It was No. 21 that sunk, not No. 17.

Looks old. Maybe an archaeological site?

According to this article the dredge mysteriously sank on Jan 27 2003.

http://49ermike.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=set_linear_mode&forum=181&page=&topic_id=30644&prev_page=show_topic

and another picture:

http://www.49ermike.com/dc/user_files/1564.jpg

Pictures of the dredge at:

http://www.eastproject.org/Portal/ProjectsDetail04.asp?NCESSchoolCode=062409003630

Whoever posted the link to the pictures from the ground, can you please re-post them? I accidentaly removed your comment. Sorry.

Another one just to the south here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=31.005118,31.420437&spn=0.004254,0.007522&t=k&hl=en

Wonder what they are protecting?

It hadn't been moderated yet. There is an algorithm that assigns categories based on common words in the title. Then the moderators adjust them before approving them.

If you look closely at the large white expanse in Google Earth you'll see that this isn't the roof of a building but a large parking area. Actually it is probably an outside storage area rather than parking. The access to the lot is from the back door (probably for forklifts?) of the small L shaped building in the upper left corner of the lot. You can see that as an afterthought they needed access to the lot other than just through the building by looking at the dirt ruts/tracks going out of...

Ack. I should know better than to comment on sports. Football, thats the ball with the pointy ends right? Thanks.

Site of the Sugar Bowl college football game each year.

Thumbnail did not match URL so I updated it.

Only in Google Earth. They are still there in Google Maps.

The horseshoe shaped building in the lower left of the thumbnail was my Elementary / Middle School from '70 to '73. Never thought it unusual at the time to have Marines in snadbag enplacements with big machine guns on the school grounds.