Technology

Check Out These Odd Aerial Images Captured on Google Earth

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.

Google Earth Reaches 1 Billion Downloads

Giant pink, gumby-style bunny in Italy. (Photo: Google Earth)

Google Earth Reaches 1 Billion Downloads

A fighter jet in Paris parking lot? (Photo: Google Earth)

Google Earth Reaches 1 Billion Downloads

Retired airplanes in Arizona desert. (Photo: Google Earth)

Google Earth Reaches 1 Billion Downloads

Swastika-shaped military base in San Diego. (Photo: Google Earth)

Google Earth Reaches 1 Billion Downloads

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:

Comments (73)

  • The BRAIN
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 2:35pm

    You forgot BY FAR the best one…

    http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=197395

    How do you write Pwned in Yiddish?

    Report Post » The BRAIN  
    • Larry E
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 4:36pm

      Now THAT is great!!! I‘ll betcha Presidente Tom’s knickers are all in a twist over that. Heads will roll for sure, for sure.

      Report Post »  
    • ProudTeaPartyMember
      Posted on October 8, 2011 at 9:38pm

      hahahahahahahahahahaha. Great catch.

      Report Post » ProudTeaPartyMember  
    • do_it_all_again
      Posted on June 9, 2012 at 10:17pm

      @the brain,
      Its on the top of an airport,, and they are just now finding it?? lol

      Report Post »  
  • thegreatcarnac
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 1:27pm

    Did sumvun say Svastika?????

    Report Post »  
  • snowflake220
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 12:50pm

    If you zoom into Kenya, you can see obama’s birth certificate!

    Report Post »  
  • stogieguy7
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 12:27pm

    The *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.

    Report Post » stogieguy7  
  • CONSERVATIVE SUMMER
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 12:04pm

    Talk 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

    Report Post » CONSERVATIVE SUMMER  
    • yanks_39
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 12:48pm

      did he build it himself? Oh, he hired people… that is what rich people did.

      Report Post » yanks_39  
  • Cienfuegos
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 11:31am

    Can’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.

    Report Post » Cienfuegos  
    • Brad
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 12:09pm

      Are 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

      Report Post » Brad  
    • babylonvi
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 1:52pm

      No it means the chemtrails are terra-forming the earth to the aliens liking.

      Report Post » babylonvi  
    • Rabidconservative
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 1:58pm

      Wow are you a liberal? considering the left is the side that buys into these crazy conspiracy theories.

      Report Post » Rabidconservative  
    • chips1
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 2:19pm

      The 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.

      Report Post »  
    • Hollywood
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 6:07pm

      A weekend retreat for Pelosi,Reid,as they cuddle with each other. Good Mental PIC here? Downright mean ain’t I?

      Report Post » Hollywood  
  • Tom K
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 11:17am

    Google 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.

    Report Post »  
  • V-MAN MACE
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 10:56am

    I 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.

    Report Post » V-MAN MACE  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 10:47am

    Not many Americans know this but, from the air, the Pentagon is a….pentagon! (scream, fading to silence)

    Report Post » Gonzo  
    • Falsegods
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 10:53am

      One world, one heart, one spirit to be free. We are all connected, like it or not.

      Report Post »  
    • MoDat
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 3:15pm

      Too 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.)

      Report Post » MoDat  
  • Rocky_biskit
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 10:33am

    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.

    Report Post »  
    • Rocky_biskit
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 10:43am

      Zooming 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!!

      Report Post »  
    • Dean0
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 12:33pm

      I think your numbers are wrong

      Report Post » Dean0  
    • Rocky_biskit
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 5:12pm

      What 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.

      Report Post »  
  • va_magoo
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 10:04am

    Green, 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!)

    Report Post » va_magoo  
  • sdarbro
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 9:32am

    with 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

    Report Post » sdarbro  
    • lovemynation
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 12:47pm

      Dodd’s papers?? They are with Obama’s real birth certificate!

      Report Post »  
  • crabbyoldman
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 9:22am

    I don’t Google. Don’t trust em!!!!!

    Report Post »  
  • teaparty_hobbit
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 7:58am

    According 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

    Report Post » teaparty_hobbit  
  • N37BU6
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 7:48am

    LOL… welcome to 3 years ago, Blaze.

    Report Post » N37BU6  
  • Born2Run
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 7:36am

    Aliens

    Report Post »  
  • Cat
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 5:45am

    A 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

    Report Post » Cat  
  • apollo18
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 4:18am

    “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar” (Freud)

    ….don’t…

    Report Post »  
    • SamIamTwo
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 9:11am

      Well, it depends on what your is, is. lol

      Report Post » SamIamTwo  
    • howzzat
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 3:14pm

      And……..sometimes cigars are something else. Just ask Bill Clinton.

      Report Post »  
  • abbygirl1994
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 2:31am

    The Swaztika??? Give me a break!

    Report Post » abbygirl1994  
    • Californiasodbuster
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 3:24am

      The jet in the paris parking lot is for sarkozi, his bail out when the mooslims take over the last inch of france.

      Report Post »  
    • apollo18
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 4:07am

      it’s a government building.

      Report Post »  
  • Slowman101
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 1:38am

    Neat pictures.

    Report Post »  
  • angry nerd
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 1:35am

    Poor 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.

    Report Post » angry nerd  
  • pwatkins
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 1:31am

    The earth holds more truth than we realized.

    Report Post »  
  • AngelAuthor
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 1:22am

    I wish there was a conservative or non-politically aligned alternative to Google but…*sigh* for now, I guess there’s no choice.

    Report Post »  
    • SavingtheRepublic.com
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 4:34am

      its 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.

      Report Post » SavingtheRepublic.com  
    • pamela kay
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 5:49am

      Me too.

      Report Post » pamela kay  
    • Cruzan
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 10:10am

      There 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.

      Report Post »  
    • howzzat
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 3:18pm

      For a good search engine, i use ixquick. doesn’t keep your search history.

      Report Post »  
  • Cosmos102
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 1:18am

    Why is this lake in Iraq a rectangle? Creepy.

    Report Post » Cosmos102  
    • randy
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 1:27am

      Uh, because it’s man made………

      Report Post » randy  
    • Shellback
      Posted on October 6, 2011 at 7:48am

      Green, 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.

      Report Post » Shellback  
  • maske002
    Posted on October 6, 2011 at 1:10am

    I’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.

    Report Post »  

Sign In To Post Comments! Sign In