My five favourite Google Earth Oddities
January 31, 2007 at 8:08 am | In Art, Globalization, Google, Web 2.0 |Tags: Earth, Information age
I’ve never discovered a Google Earth Oddity myself, and I doubt that I ever will (although I’ve tried): Scanning the surface of the globe for an interesting squaremetre is definitely a too tedious job to be considered a possible path of fame. But I like looking at other people’s discoveries - have a look at my little collection!
EDDIE! FUCK!
I find it difficult to make up my mind, but at least for this brief moment this one is my favourite: Strong language spelled in wheat on a field outside Little Houghton in England.
53°32′19.41″N 1°20′47.87″W
THE PINK BUNNY RABBIT
This is the runner-up - an artwork created by Italian (I think) artist Gelitin and captured by Google Earth. I like this in particular because I first saw it in a book (and posted about in October 2006). Even if Gelitin isn’t Italian, the bunny is (or was, but it’s hopefully going to remain on GE).
44°14′39.30″N 7°46′10.98″E
Mantra set in ice
This is particularly neat: A Tibetan mantra (said to mean “om mani peme hung” according to the source forum) carved into the ice of a glacier.
32°54′36.35″N 97°02′52.00″E
BRUCE AND DAN ARE HAVING A GOOD TIME
Or saying hello, or living here. Proof for the fact that smileys are always endearing. Captured in the USA.
47°14′28.03″N 122°31′46.16″W
M
Whoever or whatever. Also made in the US of A and hopefully not a PR-Stunt - although, even if it were, this is probably nothing more significant than the logo of a local football team.
39°44′41.09″N 105°14′23.95″W
I found all these gems in the fark forum.
If you want to give it a try yourself, download Google Earth (it’s free AND runs on both PC and Mac 
and enter the coordinates which I’ve specified below each picture.
EDIT: I had another favorite Google Earth oddity but wasn’t able to find the link for some time. I’ve dug it up now, but only to discover that Google Earth itself (i.e. the company) does quite apparently NOT appreciate the idea of Google Earth oddities - they photoshopped that giant bug belonging to the order of Thrysanoptera (vulgo: Thrips) away that was roaming the fields outside Aalen in Germany! That’s surprisingly anti-Web2.0 from them - erasing the traces of users’ discoveries. I managed to find a screen shot of the location from the time when the bug was still there (see below):
But if you have look at the site now (link to location on Google maps online, you might want to zoom out a bit), you’ll find that it’s gone. No more. Dead. You can even see where it was, as the new patch of soil they added does not blend in well - different shades of green. Pffff… I hope they are going to give us our bug back some day!
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Hey thats a nice one!!
Comment by worldthrumyeyes — January 31, 2007 #
38°13′36.38″N, 112°17′56.59″W
A cruise missile in flight.
Comment by samk — March 6, 2007 #
[...] (Oddity, Earth, Censorship, Google) I had another favorite Google Earth oddity, in addition to the five I wrote about a while ago, and now I had to find that it’s gone! I wasn’t able to find the link for [...]
Pingback by Google Earth erases Google Earth oddities 25/40 « !anaj ,em s’taht — March 17, 2007 #
[...] look at the New York Skyline and probably the Austrian Alps and of course we have all searched for Google Earth oddities at one point. Until the day that we realized that the we’ had gotten used to the third [...]
Pingback by 3-Dimensional San Francisco in Photographic Detail « !anaj ,em s’taht — June 8, 2007 #
i live near the eddie fuck, i might go look in person
Comment by simon miller — September 23, 2007 #
Hey, please do! Would be really cool to know if it still exists (no idea what it was made of; maybe just footsteps against the grain of the wheat).
Comment by anaj — September 23, 2007 #
[...] when first playing with one of these virtual representations of our beautiful planet Earth. The easter eggs are the best part, of course, at least for the majority of users who use them, but who do not [...]
Pingback by The Semantic Puzzle | What is Driving User-Generated Content? — February 27, 2008 #
THIS IS SUM FUCKED UP SHIT. JIZZ MASTA 5000
Comment by jizz masta 5000 — April 7, 2008 #
southeast from the “eddie fuck” there’s somekind of fieldpicture (or whatever you call them, i’m not english). strange ring pattern.. i think you have already spotted it.
Comment by joel — April 20, 2008 #
no, i actually haven’t - must give it a try!
Comment by anaj — April 20, 2008 #
[...] points of local interest, spotting shipwrecks, and cataloging the sometimes incomprehensible oddities captured by Google Earth’s unblinking [...]
Pingback by Google Earth 4.3 Released | EcoTech Daily — May 16, 2008 #
discovered an airliner caught in flight outside of San Antonio, TX, 29, 37′, 07.26″N 98, 17′, 56.97″W, best seen at 1669 ft elev.
Comment by monel — June 7, 2008 #
sounds cool, need to check that out!
Comment by anaj — June 7, 2008 #
I found a guy that has spread a Brazilian flag to sunbathe on a Sydney, Australia beach. I dare you (all of you) to find it. It is not far from Sydney Opera (to the South)
Comment by robert — June 9, 2008 #
damn, thats a needle in a haystack!
Comment by anaj — June 9, 2008 #
Lol, thats whole bunch of nice sights
Gimme more
Comment by ivanatora — June 17, 2008 #
The “M” is for Colorado School of Mines. It is on Lookout Mountian west of Golden,Colorado.
Comment by Skip Deitrick — June 28, 2008 #
Interesting! They should collaborate with the Montanuniversität Leoben in Austria - they have very similar curricula.
http://www.mines.edu
http://www.mu-leoben.at/
And Leoben also has the M as a logo
Comment by anaj — June 28, 2008 #