Here at Google Sightseeing we get a lot of people asking us stuff, so we’ve finally put together a Frequently Asked Questions page. There you can learn how to send us maps, visit a specific latitude and longitude, and even who we are, amongst lots of other useful stuff.

We’ll be adding to the FAQ page over time, so feedback is welcome. But for the moment, we hope you find it useful

Another Theme Park in Texas is Six Flags Fiesta Texas which has a pool shaped like… Texas! Genius.

Thanks: Klobetime & Freddie

Île Sainte-Hélène (or St. Helen’s Island) is an island on the Saint Lawrence River and is part of the city of Montreal. Along with Île Notre-Dame. the island hosted Expo 67, for which the island was expanded and a theme park was built.

The theme park, La Ronde, recently became part of the American ‘Six Flags’ chain and now has 36 rides and 7 rollercoasters. The former American Pavilion from Expo 67 has become the Biosphere, an interpretative museum about the Saint Lawrence River. Lastly, follow the road south-west from the Biosphere to see ‘Man‘, a modern sculpture by Alexander Calder.

Thanks: Nebojsa Petrovic

The Mount Weather Special Facility is an unacknowledged US Continuity of Government (COG) facility located in a huge underground bunker 45 miles west of Washington D.C., near Bluemont, Virginia. OK, there isn’t high res coverage of the exact area but I love these secret bunkers :). The facility was built in the ’50s as a relocation point for senior government officials in the event of nuclear attack or other national emergency. Today, the site also houses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Emergency Coordinating Center. Some other cool facts:

• Total constuction costs, adjusted for inflation, are estimated to have exceeded $1 billion.
• Tunnel roofs are shored up with some 21,000 iron bolts driven 8 to 10 feet into the overhead rock.
• The entrance is protected by a 34-ton blast door that is 5 feet thick and reportedly takes 10 to 15 minutes to open or close.
• Tunnels inside the complex accomodate 20 office buildings, some of which are three stories tall.
• On-site 90,000 gallon/day sewage treatment plants and two 250,000 gallon above-ground storage tanks are intended to support a population of 200 for up to 30 days.

Loads more reading and higher res photos at FAS and GlobalSecurity.

Thanks: John

Another strangely beautiful shot of six cooling towers. This one is at Catawaba Nuclear Power Station in South Carolina.

Pinal Airpark was originally built in 1942 as a WW2 Army Airfield and was known as Marana Army Airfield. It later became the headquarters of all CIA air operations during the Vietnam War years.

Today, the primary occupant of the field is Evergreen Air Center who offer various maintenance services for planes (look for the large hangar capable of completely enclosing a 747). Evergreen also serves as “the world’s largest storage facility for non-military aircraft”, with a total capacity of 300 aircraft (including 747’s, DC-10’s, etc.). Marc Borom’s site has some ground level shots of the various planes stored here.

Just a little to the north of Pinal Airpark is Silverbell Army Heliport, the location of the Western Army National Guard Aviation Training Site.

The 2002 design for the Fritzlers Corn Maze depicts an eagle in front of the American flag and the slogan “God Bless America”.

Thanks: Gus

Here’s a cool picture of some trimarans docked in Quebec. Perhaps they were competing in the 2004 Transat Québec Saint-Malo, which is the only crewed non-stop transatlantic race to be held from west to east (Canada to France). The race is open to vessels between 45 and 60 feet, and the 2004 winners completed their 3000 mile journey in just 7 days and 21 hours.

There’s some good ground-level shots here.

Thanks: Chris Hand