Through The Keyhole

Arizona - Part 3

2005-05-19T12:04:00.000-05:00

Another quick post.

If anyone has an idea what these are i'd be really curious to know.
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.053706,-113.070860&spn=0.022745,0.031672&t=k&hl=en

The area around this picture bears more exploring. A seemingly immense tract of land(it only fits onto one screen at zoom x7) in the middle of mountains that is dedicated to agriculture. It makes for quite a sight. The entire formation of farms etc. is actually still visible from only zoom x4. It's that big of a development.
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=33.982944,-114.476337&spn=0.083427,0.123081&t=k&hl=en

Arizona - Part 2

2005-05-18T09:47:00.000-05:00

Nothing too astounding today.

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=33.677258,-112.185731&spn=0.022745,0.031672&t=k&hl=en

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=34.595604,-113.229218&spn=0.199471,0.290108&t=k&hl=en

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=33.260078,-114.031563&spn=0.181961,0.253372&t=k&hl=en

Arizona - Part 1

2005-05-17T09:15:00.000-05:00

After a week long hiatus I return. Let us continue on to Arizona... Where it is apparently illegal for donkeys to sleep in bathtubs. Some morality issue I suppose, I know it says it in the bible somewhere. 'Thou shalt not allow asses to lay with ceramic washing basins of the opposite sex' and all that jazz. Crazy God.

I love the Southwest so much, it is so full of natural beauty. I highly recommend actually visiting, and not just viewing it through a satellite. Although it makes for engaging overhead shots as well.

Who the hell knows why I like housing developments so much. They just seem interesting because they are a direct reflection of planned human development, whereas most cities mainly grow in a haphazard manner. Cities in the west are more 'attractive' in this respect, since they have so much flat,open space to play with the streets and blocks are usually nice and square.

Absolutely amazing textures in the next two.

Alaska - Playland of the Eskimos - Part 3

2005-05-05T09:07:00.000-05:00

Several Notes:

1) I have yet to post the thumbnails of this weeks maps for a very crucial reason...I am lazy and there were other things to be done. Mini pictures will come soon.

2) It seems that there all of Alaska west of approx. 150w longitude has no coverage beyond zoom #8 (it's about the middle of the slider). I had considered cheating and looking around in Canada for interesting sights, only to discover that what I had found was actually still in Alaska. Besides, you know how we feel about those Canadians...pretty damn good.

Some dramatic photos today.

Alaska - ASRR - Part 2

2005-05-04T10:03:00.000-05:00

The lack of high resolution imagery of Alaska really turns it into a very disappointing state for Gmaps browsing. You can, however, see a penguin in the lower left corner of the second photo.*

*Note: You cannot actually see a penguin in the second photo due to the level of zoom available for this area. Also, if there actually was a penguin in the photo it would be tragically lost and therefore deserving of your pity.

Alaska - America's Strategic Reindeer Repository - Part 1

2005-05-03T12:07:00.000-05:00

Apologies for the delay in posting. Work has been *gasp* busy, and for a short time had blocked GoogleMaps (as if they thought the could stop me!). Alaska, that weird state with ice, and eskimos, and strange politics all over. Also commonly known as 'dat durn place with all the oyl'. Staunchly pro-military, but also pro-marijuana? A stranger sounding combination could scarcely be found.

Note: The maps that come from this state are inevitably going to mainly landscape based, as Keyhole does not seem to have ANY high-res shots of the area.

The Yellowhammer State: Part 5

2005-04-29T09:20:00.000-05:00

Final installment of our dear ol' friend of the South, Alabama. Let me take this occasion to say a few words to all the 'Bamians are there. I never really knew 'Bama, in fact i've never even been there. So my image of the state is somewhat skewed in that I imagine it to be populated by many people who look and talk like Colonel Sanders (Note: The new animated C. Sanders used in the KFC commercials is slightly creepy. Doesn't it seem even somewhat hypocritical to endow a White Southern Gentleman with 'blackittude'? It just feels wrong on so many levels, much like silk boxers) despite the fact that he is obviously from Kentucky.

Aside from that, this past week of viewing your state from space has shown me that there is so much more to see...like the greenhouses and coalyards (really like the color in this one) in todays pictures. Hope to visit someday. Birmingham, keep on rockin'.

The Yellowhammer State: Part 4

2005-04-28T10:28:00.000-05:00

I suppose today's theme is water. Dirty, disgusting water. Which is already a global problem, and only looking to get worse if nothing is done about it. Ok, the water in the first picture isn't so bad, but the other two...that isn't a natural color for water...or anything.

The Yellowhammer State: Part 3

2005-04-27T09:22:00.000-05:00

Three finds today. I threw the second in there because I had never actually seen an oil drilling rig, much less three at the same time.

Google Globetrotting and My GMaps

2005-04-27T09:05:00.000-05:00

Quick addition of two related links.

Google Globetrotting - A site dedicated to cataloguing as many popular sights and destinations as possible. They even have contests for real money prizes.

MyGmaps - A page with some really neat features on how to modify Google Maps: creating your own bookmarks, standalone versions...and it is just in the alpha stages.

The Yellowhammer State: Part 2

2005-04-26T09:22:00.000-05:00

Many thanks to Perljam.net for linking here.

Found these two buildings today, as their shapes were unique enough to catch my eye from four zooms out. The second one in particular is intriguing because of the unconventional shapes in the middle. What are they? Steam vents? Missile silos? Verandas for employee lunch breaks? Psh. That's silly, we all know employees don't need to eat.

And then I give you a causeway. Rejoice in all its...concrete-ness.

The Yellowhammer State: Part 1

2005-04-25T09:43:00.000-05:00

Three pictures today of a trainyard and interesting landscaping around the Birmingham area. Notice how long some of the trains are, especially keeping in mind that each pixel corresponds to about 1sq meter. And then there are these random star patterns.

Methodology: Part 1

2005-04-24T15:49:00.000-05:00

It turns out I am not as original as I would have liked to think. Seeing as there seem to be quite a few sites around that are putting Maps@Google to good use. So, it seems that this is a good time to share my methodology and specialize this blog.

Seeing as all the popular sights and areas will most likely be covered as more Google Map blogs start up, I will try and avoid more well known monuments and structures (stadiums, airports, military bases etc.). Hopefully by doing so it will produce some 'shots' that are relatively unique.

Also, in an effort to develop some kind of structure here I will be focusing on one state (alphabetical order) per week. Again, unless there is really a dearth of material to be had, I will try and stay away from more well known places.

Up Next Week: Sweet Home Alabama

Sorry Little Girl, This is Area 51A

2005-04-22T09:10:00.000-05:00

So here's a question. Why would Google make high resolution photos available for most (if not all) military bases/installations etc? Did they anticipate that there would be a large interest in scouring the grounds for vast government conspiracies? Aliens, communist infiltrators, and the like? Of course it's much more likely that Keyhole had taken the imagery already before they were acquired by Google, seeing as people might have been curious enough to pay for shots of airfields and the like

The first thing that caught my eye while browsing around in the area of the Nevada Test Site was what I mistook to be some ancient Indian monument to the gods. Not so, you can however see cars driving around on the strip.

Much the same with these. (Yes, I think those are giant target practice bullseyes in the second picture.)

Giving up my search for monuments to gods (and failing to find an atomic test site) I settle for a range of mountains that could easily be hanging on the wall at the Museum of Modern Art.

Chillin' in The Big Easy

2005-04-21T12:32:00.000-05:00

Today's image was relatively easy to find, being right on the tip of Louisiana and immediately eye catching. It tends to remind me or a picture of arteries or that background of electrons tracing out their movement paths. Google-Images has failed me and can not find the picture i'm talking about. It does, however, remain exceedingly good at finding pictures of Spam in odd situations.

So, we have what appears to be a canal cutting through the swampland that is Lower Lousiana. You can actually see quite a number of ships in the photo, and when you compare the sizes it seems like the canal is pretty damn wide. One thing which is odd though is how long the route stays in the swamp. If you were building a canal, why not cut the shortest route to open water?

Crazy Louisianians (say it out loud).

Sin City

2005-04-20T09:22:00.000-05:00

Here we have the fastest growing city in the United States. The city that apparently has "one operating slot machine in Las Vegas for every 8 residents." If I were on the prowl...for a slot machine...those odds aren't too bad. Come here baby, I need to lose some money! Rawr.

Notice how many houses have pools, which is interesting given that Las Vegas is in the middle of the desert. I wonder exactly how much water is lost to evaporation per year? Urban sprawl may not be easy on the environment but it sure makes pretty patterns. It should be allowed to continue if only for that reason.

I have found that it is possible to locate at least 10 major housing developments within the immediate vicinity of this shot.

The Land of Dorothy and Toto

2005-04-19T13:18:00.000-05:00

Usually you would find it odd to find mosaic block patterns strewn across a landscape, naturally assuming that the image had loaded incorrectly or God was busy playing with his Legos and forgot to clean up afterwards ("Yes, I think that Israel will go very nicely next to these Arab countries.")

Apparently though this is what a large chunk of the Midwest/Plains of the U.S. looks like as you will see by exploring the surrounding area. I assume that these are irrigation circles and not the remains of some ancient alien civilization's 'Connect Four' board.

...the Mother of Invention. Yes...boredom.

2005-04-19T13:06:00.000-05:00

This site was born out of my tripartite (finally, a reason to use the word) motivation of enjoying photography, sometimes being too lazy to go out and take pictures myself, and being incredibly bored at work and subsequently needing something to do.

I am planning to use the wonderful new satellite imagery function of Google maps (in addition to any other sites that have readily accessible satellite photography), along with some sense of photographic composition, to come up with what will hopefully be interesting images. If they are not works of fine art or photography (and clearly they are not) then at least they will be interesting to look at.

Enjoy.