[TITAN]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrairieMule', 'G')reat! Now all the kids will be sniffing glue, listening to Pink Floyd while surfing Google Earth.

You know for recreational purposes..

[PenultimateManStanding]

if the crazy kids want to sniff glue and surf google earth, that's their business! Today I scoped the Himalayas. Wow! I saw a river valley that flows west with mountains rising 10,000 feet in a mile or two on either side. The erosion rates there must be awesome. Turned the view 360 around Mt. Everest. holy smokes!

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('katkinkate', 'W')hat's the difference between Google Earth and Wikimapia?

[PrairieMule]

Kind of like this PMS?

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrairieMule', '[')url=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7355710946171069365&q=magic+carpet+ride&hl=en]Kind of like this PMS?[/url]

[mercurygirl]

Wonder what this means...

Google and NASA

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mercurygirl', 'W')onder what this means...

Google and NASA

[frankthetank]

Time to stick that large "Lick my Expletive deleted." banner in the front yard.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'Z')aio is in the process of photographing and appraising each and every property in cities across the country. That means every house, commercial building, industrial and institutional structure is being photographed and appraised property-by-property and street-by-street. We call this historic event “Photographing America.” The resulting database of images and valuations is called “GeoPic,” and is a useful resource for real estate, mortgage and insurance industries. The photographs are also an effective aid to police, fire and ambulance dispatching.

[basil_hayden]

It's already been done, site photos are on all the property cards in my area, and you can even look up the tax assessor info online.

Sounds like this is just pulling all the existing stuff together.

[Tyler_JC]

http://www.zillow.com/

I have fun with this site all the time.

The picture quality is amazing for some of these houses.

[dlord]

Google Maps + Oil Well Data = oilwellmaps.com

Enjoy..!

{moved from Peak Oil Discussion by Shannymara}

[TheDude]

Wanted to take a look at Ghawar. A wistful look, I guess.



This map makes for a handy reference.

Google Map of the region. Lots of what look like circular agriculture (with central pivot sprinklers) - are those wells? Came across a reference on the Oil Drum to there apparently being lots of production going on in the center of the fields, suggesting decline - they couldn't dig out the link to it, though.

I see what I thought was Ag to the West of here, in the mountainous region in the center of the map - green circles, but when you zoom in fully they turn to a sand color.

Any other good viewing on Google Maps?

[emersonbiggins]

What's up with this area?

Real estate development gone sour? Long-abandoned townsite? What gives?

[wisconsin_cur]

I think it is called someone was getting paid by how much asphalt he laid and because he was a prince there was no oversight. More pavement, more profit.

[FoxV]

I love the image of those dried out drainage basins. Just another reminder that in the grand scheme of things, the past was not like present, and the present will not be like the future.

And just like in Oman, they like to build right in the middle of the ancient riverbeds. I wonder what Global Warming models have to say about rain fall in the Arabian Peninsula. Was Gonu a freak event or a harbinger?

[TheDude]

Riverbeds? The Cornucopian in me says "Free Water Injection!"

I'm still puzzled by these circular oil fields, which look like Center Pivot Irrigation from a distance. Curiously enough the Saudis use that a lot as well:



Rockdoc knows what that's all about I'm sure. The Map I linked to above has some dead circles. Where I grew up we called Center Pivoting circle farming, as opposed to crop circles. Dunno if aliens are visiting the KSA.

[dinopello]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'W')hat's up with this area?

Real estate development gone sour? Long-abandoned townsite? What gives?

[steam_cannon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheDude', '[')img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/49/Saudi_arabia_irrigation.jpg/300px-Saudi_arabia_irrigation.jpg[/img]

[careinke]

Most of the links in this thread were crop circles. The picture by the coast showed traffic circles.

I lived in Riyadh for 9 years and commuted to Al Kharj to work at Prince Sultan Airbase.

The irrigation in the Al Kharj region comes from an underground aquifer that is in Rapid decline. There is an open well in the ground with water about two hundred feet down. One of my Saudi Coworkers said about thirty years ago, the water was only around twenty feet below the rim of the pit. As a kid they would jump into the water, now it would kill you from the fall.

Cliff (Start a revolution, grow a garden)

[mos6507]

This is probably a silly question, but I'll just solicit opinions... Some of you out there have built, are building, or plan to build a "bugout". A bugout being an isolated sanctuary home in the middle of nowhere.

Now, in the old days of nutcase survivalism, just building a house out in the wilderness might have been enough to insure nobody would ever find you other than by accident. Now, I'm not so sure.

I was looking at Google Earth last night and scanned through some rural areas of the US and noticed that no matter how sparsely populated an area is, it's easy enough to spot the few telltale rooftops, roads, or any other sign of humanity.

So I'm wondering if, in a collapse scenario with the trademarked "zombie hordes", whether it is even possible to remain hidden if (at least for a period in time) GPS and the internet stay online. As long as the homes were put up before the last satellite photo update, your home is going to be visible.