Google Earth celebrates its 1 billionth download today, since being introduced in 2005.
The Google LatLong Blog gives some perspective for just how much 1 billion is:
One billion hours ago modern humans were living in the Stone Age. One billion minutes ago, the Roman Empire was flourishing. If you traveled from Earth to the Moon three times, your journey would measure one billion meters.
In honor of Google Earth’s 1 billionth download since it was introduced in 2005, Business Insider pulled together some the best images.
Giant pink, gumby-style bunny in Italy. (Photo: Google Earth)
A fighter jet in Paris parking lot? (Photo: Google Earth)
Retired airplanes in Arizona desert. (Photo: Google Earth)
Swastika-shaped military base in San Diego. (Photo: Google Earth)
Why is this lake in Iraq red?
See all of Business Insider’s finds here.
Watch Google’s celebratory tribute how far Google Earth has come:
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Comments (73)
The BRAIN
Oct. 6, 2011 at 2:35pmYou forgot BY FAR the best one…
http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=197395
How do you write Pwned in Yiddish?
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Larry E
Oct. 6, 2011 at 4:36pmNow THAT is great!!! I’ll betcha Presidente Tom’s knickers are all in a twist over that. Heads will roll for sure, for sure.
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ProudTeaPartyMember
Oct. 8, 2011 at 9:38pmhahahahahahahahahahaha. Great catch.
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do_it_all_again
Jun. 9, 2012 at 10:17pm@the brain,
Its on the top of an airport,, and they are just now finding it?? lol
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thegreatcarnac
Oct. 6, 2011 at 1:27pmDid sumvun say Svastika?????
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snowflake220
Oct. 6, 2011 at 12:50pmIf you zoom into Kenya, you can see obama’s birth certificate!
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Alexandra1214
Oct. 6, 2011 at 1:09pmExcellent!!
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thetraveler
Oct. 6, 2011 at 1:55pmLove it!
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stogieguy7
Oct. 6, 2011 at 12:27pmThe *red* pond is a place where people in Baghdad (Sadr City) go to slaughter their farm animals. There’s supposedly a religious ritual associated with it. Or so I’ve been told.
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strawberryfieldsforever
Oct. 6, 2011 at 5:15pmLet’s go swimming!
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CONSERVATIVE SUMMER
Oct. 6, 2011 at 12:04pmTalk about hating rich people…. What about the guy who builds a canal so his name can be seen from space??
24°20’35.03″N
54°19’39.76″E
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yanks_39
Oct. 6, 2011 at 12:48pmdid he build it himself? Oh, he hired people… that is what rich people did.
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Cienfuegos
Oct. 6, 2011 at 11:31amCan’t believe they forgot the unfortunately shaped denver international airport. Of course the shape was dictated by the fact that this is the location of a massive underground Alien/Human base. These Aliens of course have been the puppet masters to the blue blood political leaders. But you didn’t hear this from me.
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Brad
Oct. 6, 2011 at 12:09pmAre you talking about Reptilians like Al Gore? It’s a true phanominum that most of the world doesn’t know about. The question is, are these Reptilians actually alien shapeshifters, or are they encountering facial dis-figuration because of their addiction to blood from sacrificed and tortured virgins; very similar to individuals who can be identified because of their addiction to herroin?
You didn’t hear this from me either… This is crazy…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctIpUmJjkAs&feature=related
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babylonvi
Oct. 6, 2011 at 1:52pmNo it means the chemtrails are terra-forming the earth to the aliens liking.
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Rabidconservative
Oct. 6, 2011 at 1:58pmWow are you a liberal? considering the left is the side that buys into these crazy conspiracy theories.
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chips1
Oct. 6, 2011 at 2:19pmThe REPTILIAN idea was someone jumping to conclusions. It’s just a coincidence that Obama is a snake. America is the Garden of Eden and B.O. is selling apples.
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Hollywood
Oct. 6, 2011 at 6:07pmA weekend retreat for Pelosi,Reid,as they cuddle with each other. Good Mental PIC here? Downright mean ain’t I?
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Tom K
Oct. 6, 2011 at 11:17amGoogle Earth is a fun tool / time waster. You can “travel” the world and see the sites in frightening detail and clearity. I’ll bet the terrorists enjoy this tool too.
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V-MAN MACE
Oct. 6, 2011 at 10:56amI found a gigantic geoglyph in Oregon…
It’s a geoglyph of twisted serpents like a Caduceus coil. It has a buffalo standing on rod that that is emanating a waveform between the heads of the serpents.
It’s an ancient symbol of how to make an electromagnet. It can only be seen from thousands of feet in the air.
42°36’49.28″N
119°30’39.57″W
It’s over a mile long in an area with extensive geoglyphs. There’s also a gigantic geoglyph in the area that has a clearly defined flying bird and other unidentifiable markings. HUGE.
42°39’16.80″N
119°30’49.88″W
These ancient folks could FLY.
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Scruff
Oct. 6, 2011 at 12:44pmJust 1.25 miles southeast of that there’s a giant mouse cursor. Freaky.
42°36’0.14″N 119°29’21.31″W
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BenInNY
Oct. 6, 2011 at 1:20pmHumorous or not, I can’t reach a location correctly using longitude and latitude in google maps. I put in 42°36′49.28″N
119°30′39.57″W
and it brings me somewhere else in the state: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&gl=us&q=42%C2%B0%2036%E2%80%B2%2049.28%E2%80%B3%20119%C2%B0%2030%E2%80%B2%2039.57%E2%80%B3&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=24875l55282l0l56504l6l6l0l0l0l0l248l1168l0.3.3l6l0&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl
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BenInNY
Oct. 6, 2011 at 1:35pmOk, and clicking the link now brings you to China?
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MoDat
Oct. 6, 2011 at 3:07pmWoah – I KNEW it! Cro-Magnon Air was REAL!!
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phrowt
Oct. 6, 2011 at 6:03pmPut a Negative sign preceeding 119 degs. Positive longitude going east from Grenwich, Eng. & Negative going west.
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V-MAN MACE
Oct. 7, 2011 at 12:43amScruff
But that isn’t a mouse cursor, that’s an UNNATURAL MARKER that points directly to the gigantic geoglyph with the bird, which is how I originally found the bird geoglyph…by following that arrow…
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Gonzo
Oct. 6, 2011 at 10:47amNot many Americans know this but, from the air, the Pentagon is a….pentagon! (scream, fading to silence)
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Falsegods
Oct. 6, 2011 at 10:53amOne world, one heart, one spirit to be free. We are all connected, like it or not.
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MoDat
Oct. 6, 2011 at 3:15pmToo funny, Gonzo! Was belly-wheeze-laughing at your ‘scream fading into silence.’ (And still chuckling, minutes later, at all this secrets-revealed-from-a-thousand-feet-stuff.)
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Rocky_biskit
Oct. 6, 2011 at 10:33amIf you go to the coordinates 32°40′34.92″N Latitude and 117° 9′27.12″W you can see that the two sets of barracks to the south east of the swastika appear to be aircraft on an aircraft carrier heading toward it
I believe this is supposed to represent the U.S. bombing Germany. This design was in fact ON PURPOSE.
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Rocky_biskit
Oct. 6, 2011 at 10:43amZooming out, that portion of the peninsula appears to be a visual depiction of the invasion, beginning from the invasion of Normandy Beach to the fall of Berlin!!
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Dean0
Oct. 6, 2011 at 12:33pmI think your numbers are wrong
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Rocky_biskit
Oct. 6, 2011 at 5:12pmWhat were you using? I used Google Earth 6.0.3.2197 for windows. It is a dwnld from google and puts it right on your desktop. The coordinates that I plugged in work on that.
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va_magoo
Oct. 6, 2011 at 10:04amGreen, Red, Green, Green. That is the pattern of the four lakes.
(they are not lakes but fields of Poppies! Green are growing, red are in full bloom!)
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DanWesson455
Oct. 6, 2011 at 10:12amI SAW WALDO!! He hasn’t aged a bit.
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sdarbro
Oct. 6, 2011 at 9:32amwith Google Earth, we can now find out:
“Where in the World are Chris Dodd’s Mortgage Papers?”
Hee Hee! Remember that Glenn Beck bit?!?! that was classic
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lovemynation
Oct. 6, 2011 at 12:47pmDodd’s papers?? They are with Obama’s real birth certificate!
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crabbyoldman
Oct. 6, 2011 at 9:22amI don’t Google. Don’t trust em!!!!!
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teaparty_hobbit
Oct. 6, 2011 at 7:58amAccording to the NY Times 2008 story below, The U.S. Navy had $600,000 in their budget to
do renovations on the Swastika building.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/us/27swastika.html
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EqualJustice
Oct. 6, 2011 at 8:37amWhat year was that? 2007-8? Wonder where the money went???
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teaparty_hobbit
Oct. 6, 2011 at 9:32amAccording to another story in 2009, the $625,000 allocation to affix a canopy over the structure was abandoned by the Navy’s Project Development Team as being non-effective. Don’t know what happened to the money. See link cache below, the original page is blank.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?hl=en&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=4766l13359l0l13625l27l27l1l12l13l0l485l2923l0.6.5.1.1l13l0&q=cache:0xvz4hLWPLsJ:http://trueslant.com/matthewfleischer/2009/11/03/san-diego-navy-base-is-still-a-swastika/+navy+budget+2008+swastika&ct=clnk
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TomFerrari
Oct. 6, 2011 at 9:59amSo, we now spend millions or billions of dollars because the shape of a building might offend someone?
The Freedom From Religion Foundation will now start scanning Google earth for buildings that have 4 wings which intersect in the shape of a cross. Can you IMAGINE how many federal buildings are shaped like that?
RIDICULOUS WASTE OF OUR MONEY !
If it is that offensive, tear down one wing! Done ! no more “spooky shape”
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Rocky_biskit
Oct. 6, 2011 at 10:30amThe article you linked to says the Navy never did it intentionally … That is BS!!
If you go to the coordinates 32°40’34.92″N Latitude and 117° 9’27.12″W you can see that the two sets of barracks to the south east of the swastika appear to be aircraft on an aircraft carrier heading toward it
I believe this is supposed to represent the U.S. bombing Germany. This design was in fact ON PURPOSE.
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N37BU6
Oct. 6, 2011 at 7:48amLOL… welcome to 3 years ago, Blaze.
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Born2Run
Oct. 6, 2011 at 7:36amAliens
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Supercalafragalisticexpialidotious
Oct. 6, 2011 at 3:11pmZombiessssss.
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Cat
Oct. 6, 2011 at 5:45amA fighter jet in the parking lot
A runway inscribed over a parking grid
A bus, an armored vehicle and a mid-rise
Only thing reported to be going on there
Poodle cloning
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Shellback
Oct. 6, 2011 at 7:39amMeeeeeyooooow!
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apollo18
Oct. 6, 2011 at 4:18am“Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar” (Freud)
….don’t…
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SamIamTwo
Oct. 6, 2011 at 9:11amWell, it depends on what your is, is. lol
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howzzat
Oct. 6, 2011 at 3:14pmAnd……..sometimes cigars are something else. Just ask Bill Clinton.
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abbygirl1994
Oct. 6, 2011 at 2:31amThe Swaztika??? Give me a break!
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Californiasodbuster
Oct. 6, 2011 at 3:24amThe jet in the paris parking lot is for sarkozi, his bail out when the mooslims take over the last inch of france.
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apollo18
Oct. 6, 2011 at 4:07amit’s a government building.
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Slowman101
Oct. 6, 2011 at 1:38amNeat pictures.
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angry nerd
Oct. 6, 2011 at 1:35amPoor energizer bunny, I bet the rabbits stocks are dropping as we speak.
Or at least that will be the new Obama excuse. Time for the big O to launch
another assault against google for killing the bunny.
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pwatkins
Oct. 6, 2011 at 1:31amThe earth holds more truth than we realized.
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AngelAuthor
Oct. 6, 2011 at 1:22amI wish there was a conservative or non-politically aligned alternative to Google but…*sigh* for now, I guess there’s no choice.
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SavingtheRepublic.com
Oct. 6, 2011 at 4:34amits a necessary evil… just limit the info about yourself or what you search on it. I use bing from time to time but Im locked into Youtube clutches. There are other vid sites like vimeo, even ones that are conservative like popmodal to post on but NONE of them have the capabilities as youtube for sharing, playlists etc. You shouldnt be putting your whole life online anyhow regardless of what “they” say.
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pamela kay
Oct. 6, 2011 at 5:49amMe too.
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Cruzan
Oct. 6, 2011 at 10:10amThere a lots of them, but the best I’ve found so far is WebCrawler. It includes whar Google has, but just don’t use the Google stuff. When I found out Google was working hand in hand with Obama and has an office in the WH basement. I stopped relying on them. Plus,a the order of the links that come up are based on the number of searches. In 2008, Obama was using college students to do searches on Obama’s stance on various issues, so Obama’s info always was at the top of the search results.
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howzzat
Oct. 6, 2011 at 3:18pmFor a good search engine, i use ixquick. doesn’t keep your search history.
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Cosmos102
Oct. 6, 2011 at 1:18amWhy is this lake in Iraq a rectangle? Creepy.
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randy
Oct. 6, 2011 at 1:27amUh, because it’s man made………
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Shellback
Oct. 6, 2011 at 7:48amGreen, Red, Green, Green. That is the pattern of the four lakes. Di Dah Di Dit is the Morse Code equivalent of the letter “L” as in look at our “L”akes
Of course it could be the reverse and be Dah Di Dah Dah which is the letter “Y” as in stop spying on us you “Y”anks.
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maske002
Oct. 6, 2011 at 1:10amI’ve slept in those barracks in the San Diego “Swastika.” We used to have our football camp on base when I was in high school. Never thought about the construction when we were on the ground. Not sure how old the buildings are, they seemed quite old.
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