Earth Art, with Google Maps
March 20, 2010 4:09 PM   Subscribe

Andy Grauland scours Google Maps for stunning natural imagery. The 19-year old Dane has close to two dozen extracts on his site. Take a look at places where no street view exists, and feel free to zoom/pan. (via, see also (previously))
posted by aberrant (21 comments total) 31 users marked this as a favorite
 
I want to go to Tarm Basin, West China, with those plump sand dunes piled up like throw pillows, and the single, rule-straight road hurrying through their opulant midst like a timid visitor from the planet Geometry.
posted by Faze at 4:33 PM on March 20, 2010 [4 favorites]


Is your "Google Maps" link supposed to go to a golf course in McMinnvile, OR?
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:40 PM on March 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


I like to combine Google Maps with Flickr. Like this picture from his blog left me wondering what that landscape looks like from the ground. I would have liked to have found some snapshots from Venetie Landing, what looks to be the closest named place, but I didn't expect to find anything this good, and maybe this one gives a good impression of that color water.
posted by nervousfritz at 4:41 PM on March 20, 2010 [2 favorites]


Horace: not exactly the golf course, but good catch :)
posted by aberrant at 4:43 PM on March 20, 2010


These are great. They remind me of some Australian Aboriginal Art that represents an aerial view of country.
posted by ginky at 5:27 PM on March 20, 2010


aberrant said: "not exactly the golf course, but good catch :)"

I also fail to grasp the significance of the second link.
posted by sidereal at 5:32 PM on March 20, 2010


I also fail to grasp the significance of the second link.

The UPS Store is freighted with meaning.
posted by swift at 5:38 PM on March 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


This is very pretty and extremely well-executed.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:47 PM on March 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


I did something like this a few years ago, taking screenshots from Google Earth that eventually became my screensaver. This was before Google acquired high-res imagery of most of the world, so while their globe was less detailed, it was much more aesthetically pleasing. I think if you revisit the same locations now most of them are patchwork satellite photos, which kind of ruins the effect.

Some of my favorites:

An Amazon tributary
Talbot Bay in Australia
An island in northern Canada
Lakes in Patagonia
Mexico City blocks
Some Caribbean islands
Algae tanks near San Francisco
Boat racing in San Diego
An Arizona canyon
A single boat in Lake Michigan
Venice
Glassy Arabian sand dunes
A Mongolian oasis
Lake Winnipeg
More Saudi sand dunes

You can see the rest of them in my Picasa album. Some of them are geotagged so you can find the original on Google Maps to compare.
posted by Rhaomi at 6:00 PM on March 20, 2010 [6 favorites]


Our earth sure is beautiful.
posted by bwanabetty at 6:02 PM on March 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


>> I also fail to grasp the significance of the second link.

> The UPS Store is freighted with meaning.

Overall there is a smell of fried onions.
posted by Jubal Kessler at 6:34 PM on March 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


i think we broke his site ...
posted by scruss at 6:44 PM on March 20, 2010


A Mongolian Oasis

Thanks, now my dying hallucinations will be more realistic.
posted by StickyCarpet at 7:16 PM on March 20, 2010


Jubal Kessler said: "Overall there is a smell of fried onions."

Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.
posted by sidereal at 7:17 PM on March 20, 2010


A Mongolian Oasis

And after all
You're my GreatWonderWall
posted by Horace Rumpole at 7:25 PM on March 20, 2010 [1 favorite]


wow, these are beautiful.
posted by Joad at 8:31 PM on March 20, 2010


The one labeled 'North Slope, Alaska' looks like it was done by Gustav Klimt. Don't you think?
posted by fontor at 8:52 PM on March 20, 2010


The one that got me was the Bonneville Salt Flats. I figured the roads were tiny little scratches in the ground that you might miss if you weren't paying carefull attention. Instead one of them is I-80.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 9:49 PM on March 20, 2010


Oh, thank god for $5 barriers to entry.

From the comments:

you’re a massive faggot.

1, get a proper website with some actual original content

2, stop looking like a massive faggot in your avatar

posted by UbuRoivas at 1:27 AM on March 21, 2010


The Northwestern Quebec one is amazing. It looks exactly like the land was just schmeared out with a spatula. Actually, I suspect that is what happened, with a glacier taking the place of the spatula.
posted by Rock Steady at 3:32 PM on March 21, 2010


Kinda makes you want to break out in to song.
posted by Theta States at 8:24 AM on March 23, 2010 [1 favorite]


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