Google Earth Scopes The Man
Posted by Andrew Brandt | Wednesday, August 31, 2005 4:35 PM PT
Several of my friends (including some
PC World staffers) mysteriously disappeared this week. I decided to see if I could find them using Google Earth.
I had a good idea where they were headed: I scouted through the remote desert areas of northwestern Nevada, near the town of Gerlach. Panning around from a virtual altitude of 51,331 feet, I spotted the object of my quest.
From Google Earth's satellite-eye view, Black Rock City (aka, The Playa, otherwise known as the site where the annual
Burning Man festival takes place) looks like a geoglyph -- not unlike the
geoglyphs at Nasca in Peru, or possibly a crop circle in the barren desert. The site is arrayed with main roads laid out in concentric circles, and with crossroads intersecting the main roads every 15 degrees around the curve.
(If you want to learn more about the layout of this transient "city," check out the
2005 Black Rock City Plan page on the Burning Man Website.)
Interestingly, Google's own index doesn't take you directly to the site with a search for "Black Rock City" or Black Rock Desert; You have to enable the Keyhole Community BBS (open Layers in the left pane, then fill in the checkbox next to this option) in order to pinpoint the Burning Man location with a search. If searching doesn't help, you can just enter the site's global coordinates (40 degrees, 45 minutes north by 119 degrees, 14 minutes west) manually.
It's interesting to note that this satellite image was taken not too long ago, possibly in the past week or two. It shows that Google Earth's imagery is getting updated quite regularly, and that Google's capability to snap really sharp photos of specific sites, when it wants to, is pretty good. (By contrast, the town of Gerlach is virtually invisible in the satellite photos, identifiable only by the fact that it has a small grid of streets.)
At least one of the larger theme camps has input its coordinates into the Community BBS site. Maybe next year more groups will do the same, which will give the rest of us who -- for whatever reason -- couldn't attend the festival yet another vicarious Burning Man experience we can share (without, of course, having to endure the oppressive heat and sandstorms).
From Google Earth's satellite-eye view, Black Rock City (aka, The Playa, otherwise known as the site where the annual Burning Man festival takes place) looks like a geoglyph -- not unlike the geoglyphs at Nasca in Peru, or possibly a crop circle in the barren desert. The site is arrayed with main roads laid out in concentric circles, and with crossroads intersecting the main roads every 15 degrees around the curve.
It's interesting to note that this satellite image was taken not too long ago, possibly in the past week or two. It shows that Google Earth's imagery is getting updated quite regularly, and that Google's capability to snap really sharp photos of specific sites, when it wants to, is pretty good. (By contrast, the town of Gerlach is virtually invisible in the satellite photos, identifiable only by the fact that it has a small grid of streets.)
