Satellite imagery used to be the exclusive domain of governments and spy agencies, but ever since Google Maps and Google Earth we can all get to see weird things! Fancy a look at Area 51? Wondered what it’s like in downtown Moscow? Or maybe you want to check out the Principality of Sealand? These are just ordinary, everyday things that millions of people use Google Maps and Earth to research every day. But what about the things you weren’t supposed to see, the freaks of camera? Here are 17 of the most bizarre sights for you to laugh at, complete with lat/lons and (where possible) KMLs. Enjoy.
Swastika Influenced Design
1. Swastika Influenced Design: How is it that a US Navy building standing since the 1960’s could cause a controversy in 2007? As hilighted in the mass-media earlier in the year, Google Earth users noticed what only a few pilots would ever have seen - that a US Navy barracks on Coronado island, San Diego was built in the design of a swastika. The Navy said they always knew what the layout of the barracks resembled but thought no one would ever notice. As a result of these images becoming available online, they are being forced to spend $600,000 on new structures and extra greenery to camouflage the building. Embarrassing to say the least. Links: Google Maps / Google Earth
Aircraft Traffic Jam
2. Aircraft Traffic Jam: What would you expect from one of the busiest airports in Europe? Looks like a freak of fortune to catch 3 aircraft on takeoff from Frankfurt International Airport, but it’s actually just overlay issues. Note that there is only a shadow for the middle aircraft. Links: Google Maps / Google Earth
Single-winged Aircraft Landing
3. Single-winged Plane Landing: This single-winged miracle-aircraft is the result of a bizarre mapping error that Google Earth occasionally suffers from. If you are a frequent Google Earth user you’ll probably have noticed incidences where roads and bridges don’t align properly or varying image resolutions cause some strange viewing. This aircraft was snapped on approach to the north western runway of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport but appears to only have one wing! Links: Google Maps
World War 2 Bomber in Flight
4. World War 2 Bomber in Flight: Google Earth has the ability to snap airplanes in midair - apparently some 3,300 planes have been placemarked. This is a World War II bomber flying over the sleepy suburbs of Huntingdon, England. Unfortunately, the bomber is no longer there in the updated image of the area.
Capsised Cruise Liner
5. Capsised Cruise Liner: If you’ve ever wondered what happens when a powerful typhoon slams into a cruise liner, then here’s your answer. This liner-shaped hotel was docked in the South Korean port of Busan when it was hammered by the 135mph winds of Typhoon Maemi in 2003. Links: Google Maps / Google Earth
North Dakota Truck Crash
6. North Dakota Truck Crash: Sometimes Google’s snapshots of our world are lucky enough to catch things as they happen. Here Google Earth captures a truck that crashed and sprawled out over East Burleigh Avenue just outside of Bismarck, North Dakota. Links: Google Maps
Ghost Ships
7. Ghost Ships: No longer confined to the annals of countless storybooks and Hollywood movies, ghost ships are real and they’re here today thanks to the camera-freakology of Google Earth! Here we can quite clearly see a ghost ship docking in Newark, New Jersey and taking on a load of cargo. Perhaps this is some sort of reincarnated Black Pearl? I dunno …
John Travolta’s Airport / Home
8. John Travolta’s Airport / Home: It’s no secret that John Travolta is an eccentric, but who would have expected him to build an airport and home in one? His home in Ocala, Florida is one of very few non-commercial airports in the world with a runway long enough to handle aircraft the size of his personal Boeing 707. Check out the internal and external shots in this Architectural Digest feature. Completely. Crazy. Links: Google Maps / Google Earth
African Wildlife
9. African Wildlife: Imagine all the creatures roaming about African, just getting on with their thing. Now, thanks to the National Geographic African Megaflyover Project, we can enjoy some of the last true wilderness on the planet via super-high-resolution aerial photographs of Africa. Check out this magnificent image of a large group of hippos in the mud, including a poor old hippo which is seen laying on the bank, being eaten by vultures. Links: Google Maps / Google Earth
Gravity Defying Car Parking
10. Gravity Defying Car Parking: Do you think getting somewhere to park your car is tough where you live? In Westenbergstraat, Netherlands, drivers apparently have to park on the sides of walls. Of course, this is just an example of tongue-in-cheek Dutch humour that comes through well from the above view. Links: Google Maps
Giant Indian Head w/ iPod
11. Giant Indian Head w/ iPod Turns out that the original inhabitants of north America were much cooler than previously thought. “Loud White Ears” had set such a trend back in the ancient times that they decided to build a large effigy of him in commemoration. Links: Google Maps
Super Shrunk Aral Sea
12. Super Shrunk Aral Sea: The once thriving Aral Sea used to be the 4th largest inland lake in the world but has shrunk to a mere 15% of its original size over the last 20 years. The water-guzzling cotton industry has mainly been responsible for this super-shrinking. As a knock on result, the once busy local fishermen have had to pack up and leave, abandoning their boats which are now 50km from the receding shoreline. A sad scene to look upon indeed. Links: Google Maps
The Leaning Tower of Seattle
13. The Leaning Tower of Seattle: This building in Seattle, Washington appears to be leaning badly across the building across the street, nearly touching the opposite building. Despite the appearance, it’s not really the case. There are a few quirks with Google Earth and this one is due to two different satellite angles for this area and merging of the two views. Seattle - you’ve missed out on a proper tourist attraction! You’re just going to have to make do with Microsoft and Starbucks. Links: Google Maps / Google Earth
Bursts of Light
14. Bursts of Light: Many optical illusions and anomalies are captured by Google Earth. Most of them are reflections of lights, flashes or some quirky image pixelation. Some crazy people claim to have discovered angels, aliens and UFO’s in Google Earth. So to continue in the tradition of jumping to conclusions - could this burst of light this be an opening to a parallel universe? Links: Google Maps - Google Earth
Crop Circles
15. Crop Circles: What self-respecting post about bizarre sights on Google Earth would be complete without some manmade alien-user-generated crop circles? Just to be clear: I wasn’t aware that ET used Firefox.
Brand Spamming
16. Brand Spamming: Yeah, let’s spam Google Earth! This huge KFC logo (Google Earth) was formed from 65,000 1-foot-square tiles laid out in the Mojave desert that took six days to put together. Other corporate giants who can afford to spam us do product placement in Google Earth include Ford who have placed a large logo on the roof of their HQ and Coca Cola who used 70,000 empty coke bottles for their logo on a hillside in Chile.
St. Patrick Fanboy
17. St Patrick Fanboy: OK, everyone might like St. Patrick’s Day, but this is taking it just a step too far don’t you think? I’d rather go to my local parade and shout abuse at the leprechauns. I’m also slightly annoyed that they missed the apostrophe: it’s St. Patrick’s Day not St. Patricks. Argghh! Links: Google Maps
NB: Over time these flukes will probably be removed as Google updates their data and creates even more bizarre sights.
Post from: Geek About
译文:
谷歌地图上17张怪异经典景象
卫星图像以往只有政府部门和间谍机构才能看到。随着谷歌地图和谷歌地球的产生，平民百姓终于可以畅所欲“看”了！想看一下51区的风景？想知道莫斯科市中心是什么样子？还是想瞧瞧西德兰公国？这些都是数以万计的人每天在用谷歌地球和谷歌地图轻而易举做的事情。但是你有没有在上面看见过一些照相机拍摄下来的意想不到的景象？这里有17张让你捧腹大笑的怪异景象，图片真实，仅供娱乐。
纳粹符号建筑
1 纳粹符号建筑：为什么建于上世纪六十年代的海军大楼突然在2007年遭到一片争议？因为今年谷歌地图的使用者发现了以前只有少数飞行员 才能看到的景象——圣地亚哥科罗拉多岛上的一座美国海军营房看上去的形状就像纳粹十字号。海军有关人士称他们一直都知道这个营房的布局是这个样子，但以为 没人会注意到。现在网上既然都能看到了，他们只好花60万美元重新盖楼再用新的绿化草坪把以前的样子遮盖起来。真让人无语。
链接：
Google Maps /
Google Earth 航空交通堵塞
2 航空交通堵塞：在被称为全欧洲最繁忙的机场之一的地方你还能期望什么呢？看起来好像在法兰克福国际机场一下子看到三架飞机起飞是不可多的的景象，但其实在那这是常事。（注意到中间那架只有影子的飞机了么）链接：
Google Maps /
Google Earth
单翼机着陆
3 单翼机着陆：这张只有一只机翼的诡异飞机图像其实是由谷歌地球常出的照相错误造成的。如果你是谷歌地球的常客你大该已经注意到了有时图中的桥和路排列的不太正确；有时当缩放照片时也会产生一些奇怪的景象。这架飞机是在飞往西北部的阿姆斯特丹机场时抓拍到的。看起来只有一只机翼！链接：
Google Maps
飞行中的二战轰炸机
4 飞行中的二战轰炸机：谷歌地球可以抓拍到空中的飞机——差不多已经拍到过3300多架了。这是一架在英国亨廷顿宁静的郊区上空飞过的二战时代的轰炸机。可惜的是，该地区近期更新的图片上已经没有这架轰炸机了。
风卷巡航艇
5 风卷巡航艇：你一定很想知道强大的台风袭击巡航艇是什么样子，看，就是这样了。这艘大家伙在韩国釜山港停泊时遇到了时速135英里的Maemi台风。链接：
Google Maps /
Google Earth
达科塔北部卡车撞击事故
6 达科塔北部卡车撞击事故：谷歌的快照有时就是那么巧，连交通事故也能拍到。这张照片就是谷歌拍到的发生在达科塔北部俾斯麦外的一场交通事故。卡车撞车后横七竖八的倒在东伯利路旁。链接：
Google Maps
鬼船
7 鬼船：看厌了那些没完没了的好莱坞电影和故事书，让我们看看鬼船吧！这可是货真价实的照片哦！当然又是谷歌地球相机伪影搞的鬼。从这张图片上我们能很清楚的看到一艘鬼船停靠在新泽西纽华克，而且正在装货！难道是黑珍珠再生？那我就不晓得咯……
约翰·特拉沃尔塔的机场兼家
8
约翰·特拉沃尔塔的机场兼家：约翰·特拉沃尔塔性格古怪已经不是什么秘密了，但谁会想到他会把机场和家建的合二为一呢？他在福罗里达州奥卡拉的家是世界上为数不多的私人飞机场。跑道之长足以应付他的波音707了。好好看看这个牛人的家吧，都可以被建筑杂志收藏了。链接：
Google Maps /
Google Earth
非洲野生动物
9 非洲野生动物：常想象着非洲的野生动物们徜徉在非洲大地上，无忧无虑的生活着。现在，多亏了国家地理杂志Megaflyover工程，我们终于可以看到世界上最后的野生物种的高清航拍照片了。看看这张河马在泥中的照片，里面有一只老河马奄奄一息的躺在岸边，被秃鹰当成了美餐。链接：
Google Maps /
Google Earth
反引力停车
10 反引力停车： 你是不是觉得在你住的地方找个停车的地儿很麻烦？在荷兰的Westenbergstraat，司机们只能在靠墙的那边停车。呵呵，只是看着这个图开一个小玩笑啦。链接：
Google Maps
带着ipod耳机的印第安巨头
11 带着ipod耳机的印第安巨头：原来北美原住民要比之前我们想的酷多了。白色耳机的潮流居然流到了古代，连祖先们都决定给他雕像以示纪念了。链接：
Google Maps
骤缩的咸海
12 骤缩的咸海： 曾经辉煌一时的世界第四大内陆湖——咸海，20年间已经骤缩至原有大小的不到15%。耗水量极大的棉纺织业看来是造成这一现象的最主要原因。受此影响，当地原本工作繁忙的渔民不得不离开此地，放弃他们那些离湖岸已有50千米远的渔船。实在是让人感到惋惜的景象。链接：
Google Maps
西雅图的斜塔
13 西雅图的斜塔：坐落在华盛顿西雅图的这座大楼看上去很严重的倾向街对面的那一座，感觉几乎连在一起了。虽然看上去如此，事实却不是这样。这又是谷歌地球的一个小毛病。这张照片是由两个不同角度的卫星照相机合照的。西雅图真是错失了一个大好旅游景点！如果是真的就不用靠微软和星巴克撑门面了。链接：
Google Maps /
Google Earth
光的迸发
14 光的迸发：谷歌地球曾抓拍到过许多幻影。但事实上，很多都是因为光的反射形成的。有些人坚持认为他们通过谷歌地球发现了天使，外星人和不明飞行物。那我们也不妨仓促来个结论吧——这束迸发的光一定是与我们平行的一个宇宙吧？链接：
Google Maps -
Google Earth
麦田圈
15 麦田圈：那些一看见麦田怪圈就说是外星人作品的人请你们自重一点好不好，那圈子很多都是人造的。这里我只是想说：难道外星人也用火狐？
16 商标泛滥：让我们一起在谷歌地球上做广告吧！看这个巨大的肯德基标识（图来自谷歌地球）是花了六天时间由6万5千块一平方英尺的瓷砖拼出来的。其他那些比如福特能砸大钱在谷歌地球上做广告的商家巨头们也纷纷在自己的总部楼顶做了巨型商标。可口可乐用了7万个空可乐瓶在智利的一个山坡上摆出了他们的商标。
圣帕特里克爱好者
17 圣帕特里克爱好者：好了，也许人人都爱圣帕特里克节，但你不觉得这样也太过了点么？我觉得我宁肯还是游行聚会好了。让我觉得不爽的还有他们丢掉了中间的逗号：应该是St. Patrick’s Day而非St.Patricks 晕~链接：
Google Maps
特别注意：因为谷歌定期更新数据，所以很有可能过段时间这些奇怪的景象就被替换掉了，不过可能会有更多更奇怪的景象哦。