New 21 cities with 45° imagery

Viewing 45° imagery can make the map much more fun and informative by enabling you to see a tilted aerial perspective of some of your favorite spots. In this month’s 45° imagery update in Google Maps, I highlight one of my favorite towns in Colorado.

Boulder, Colorado is a mecca for outdoor hiking, cycling, and climbing excursions and 45° imagery can help users plan their adventures. Located at the base of the Rocky Mountains, Boulder is at an elevation of 5,430 feet (1,655m) above sea level which makes for fun terrain to look at from a bird’s eye view. Here’s an image of Folsom Stadium at the University of Colorado, Boulder:


The “Strip” in Las Vegas, Nevada is also included in the latest batch of 45° imagery. Now you can see the some of the large casinos and resorts that dot the famous Las Vegas Boulevard.

Next we head to the southern hemisphere to Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. The city sits high up on a plateau and some say the aerial view of Brasilia resembles an airplane. Now you can fly even closer and get a 45° look.

Here is a list of updated cities:

U.S.
Albuquerque (west), NM; Benton, AR; Boulder, CO; Eldridge, IA; Boston (east), MA; Centennial (south), CO; GooglePlex, CA; Indianapolis (south), IN; Las Vegas Strip, NV; Montgomery (outskirts), AL; Olathe, KA; Petaluma, CA; Tulsa, OK

South America
Brasilia, Brazil

Strange structures in the Middle East

 

First discovered in 1927 by British Royal Air Force fliers, the strange wheel-shaped structures in the middle east are gaining new attention thanks to Google Earth. Researchers have discovered thousands of them in Peru, Jordan, and other nearby countries.

 

wheels.jpg 

Some believe that the structures were used to contain animals, but there is no consensus about that. According to an article on CBSNews.com:

In Saudi Arabia, (David) Kennedy’s team has found wheel styles that are quite different: Some are rectangular and are not wheels at all; others are circular but contain two spokes forming a bar often aligned in the same direction that the sun rises and sets in the Middle East.

The ones in Jordan and Syria, on the other hand, have numerous spokes and do not seem to be aligned with any astronomical phenomena. “On looking at large numbers of these, over a number of years, I wasn’t struck by any pattern in the way in which the spokes were laid out,” Kennedy said.

The function of the wheels may also have been similar to the enigmatic drawings in the Nazca desert.

“If we consider, more generally, the stone circles as worship places of ancestors, or places for rituals connected with astronomical events or with seasons, they could have the same function of [the] geoglyphs of South America, the Nazca Lines for instance. The design is different, but the function could be the same,” she wrote in her email.

Kennedy said that for now the meaning of the wheels remains a mystery. “The question is what was the purpose?”

 

Beyond that, what do you think the purpose of these wheels was for? Practical, religious, astronomical, or something altogether different?