The world’s longest bridge in Google Earth

The world’s longest bridge over water, connecting China’s port city of Quingdoa with an airport on the other side of Jiaozhou Bay, has finally opened. The bridge is 26.4 miles long, making it the longest bridge in the world.

The building of the bridge has generated some amazing statistics:

• It stands on 5,200 pillars.

• It cost around $1.5 billion to build.

• It uses enough steel for almost 65 Eiffel Towers – 450,000 tons, along with 81 million cubic feet of concrete.

• It can withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake, typhoons, or the impact of a 300,000 ton ship.

GEC member TomKjeldsen found the bridge in Google Earth, and added a few paths to show the bridge in the “open water” areas that don’t show anything in there.

Qingdao.jpg

To see it for yourself, you can simply use this KMZ file.

The bridge will hold its title for about 5 years; in 2016, a 30 mile bridge is expected to be completed that links Hong Kong with Macao and Guandong province.

Natural Disaster Map from New York Times

New York Times: Where to Live to Avoid a Natural Disaster

 

 

At the end of last month, the New York Times published a map called Where to Live to Avoid a Natural Disaster, measuring the risk to 379 U.S. metro areas from hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes. Matt Rosenberg doesn’t like this map: “This map is irresponsible as it gives a false sense of security to those who live in extremely hazardous cities and overstates the hazard in tornado-prone regions. Perhaps the map is simply a reflection of recent disasters in the news. Regardless, no city west of the Rocky Mountains should be listed as low risk as the entire Western United States is seismically active. They definitely could have done better.”