Perth's 'hovering car'
By Stephen Hutcheon
January 30, 2006 - 12:08PM
Eagle eyed users of the satellite imaging service Google Earth have spotted what appears to be a car hovering above the ground in a suburban Perth car park.
The photo is of a car park just off Honour Avenue at Point Walter in the affluent south western suburb of Bicton. The spot is a popular picnic location on the banks of the Swan River.
A number of cars are shown in parking bays and the vehicle in question appears to hovering above the ground nearby, its shadow clearly visible beneath.
Google Earth images are mostly taken by satellites - and sometimes by aircraft - within the past three years and there are no "live" images on the site.
The intriguing image was reported last week by the British IT news website, The Register.
One the the website's readers subsequently visited the very spot and sent in photos showing that there were no unusual structures there that could explain the phenomenon.
Other sceptical readers wrote in insisting the image was an optical illusion and was either a bus shelter, a pergola, a hole in the ground. One said it was obviously "Harry Potter and his friends on vacation".
Google Earth, launched last year, allows users to zoom across the planet and drill down to a height of about 300 metres. The program also has "tilt" function to give a side or angled view of an area or object.
Cars and boats are clearly visible at this level and in some areas, where even higher definition images are available, people can be seen.
The Google service has spawned a group of devoted followers who scour the satellite images for strange sightings. Users in the past have spotted a Stealth bomber parked on a runway in California, commercial planes in mid-flight and an image of what appears to be a ship on its side in a river estuary in Scotland.
The service has been critcised for giving terrorists a bird's eye view of sensitive areas, such as the Lucas Heights reactor in Sydney and Parliament House in Canberra.
It has also given stickybeaks an opportunity to peer into neighbourhood backyards and the home of the rich and famous.
(The hovering car can also been seen in this image on the Google Local service. People who have downloaded the free Google Earth software can see the car image here.)
Mighty_Emperor said:
Human_84 said:I found this by searching the area around my old home for no specific reason. Possibly a 747. Its in flight, note the double exposure. Very cool. Imagine how high-speed the camera must have been!!!!
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=44.611745,-86.007586&spn=0.001620,0.003380&t=k&hl=en
evilsprout said:How come all the interesting places I try to look at are low res? Rendlesham Forest. Point Pleasant. Loch Ness. Nazca. Roswell. The Big Brother House. Pah!
Never mind the people, what is that green thing on the street corner, apparently spilling out over the road?UsedtobChrisFord said:It will be very hard to see people because you can only see the top of their heads and their shoulders. If someone is lying down you will be more likely to see them. Look at the link below and you can see the specks of people all around when it is zoomed in completely.
giant frog google map
UsedtobChrisFord said:It will be very hard to see people because you can only see the top of their heads and their shoulders. If someone is lying down you will be more likely to see them. Look at the link below and you can see the specks of people all around when it is zoomed in completely.
giant frog google map
I think the clue is in the name of the link : "giant frog google map". Pretty much does what it says on the tin, I'd say. Clearly, it's a giant frog. Not a toad, mind. A frog.rynner said:Never mind the people, what is that green thing on the street corner, apparently spilling out over the road?UsedtobChrisFord said:Look at the link below and you can see the specks of people all around when it is zoomed in completely.
giant frog google map
think the clue is in the name of the link : "giant frog google map". Pretty much does what it says on the tin, I'd say. Clearly, it's a giant frog. Not a toad, mind. A frog.
filcee said:Rrose, go to the top row of buildings and 5 in from the left. There's a tall white building on that block, an oblong red outline on the block next to it. On the bottom left corner of that block there is what appears to be a giant frog.
To see the detail, zoom in twice and scroll up three times, the frog will be about centre screen then.
UsedtobChrisFord said:
skinny46 said:...I also had low-rez trouble with Stonhenge. Found Salisbury and even Avebury, but alas, no stones.
skinny46 said:Google Earth is very stressful for the eyes. I can surf text for a few hours without too much irritation, but looking for unmapped things on Earth is hard. I tried to find Mecca in Saudi Arabia, and it took about 1/2 an hour. My eyes were shot for hours afterwards. Tried finding Tenoctitlan for an hour without success. The hybrid map is great in the US and Europe, but has virtually nothing beyond the country's name anywhere else in the world. Google Earth is incredible, but these difficulties are sucktastic. *sighhhh* Such are the perils of the cyber-explorationist.
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Soong2 said:skinny46 said:...I also had low-rez trouble with Stonhenge. Found Salisbury and even Avebury, but alas, no stones.
Wow, I know the henge is smaller than expected when peeps see it for the first time, but it is just not there. You can see the car park, but no stones. Odd
What is confusing is there are no real place names until you turn on Google Community - then then you also get meaningless rubbish that seems to have been put in by some Tom Dick or Harry- Isn't there a way to superimpose more appropriate information like a proper map without all the "community" crap??
It's not just you, Ringo! A few weeks ago, I found that my house was visible in much higher resolution than had previously been the case. I could even make out the point where our hedge changes from green to yellow. But now, our whole area is just a blur, with the road layout only just discernable if you squint. Any detail has just gone.Ringo_ said:This is all a bit wierd. I had just typed a post saying how easy to find and how clear the stones were when I looked at them months ago. Then I thought I would double check to make sure I remembered correctly and lo and behold, the stones aren't there.