Google have added yet more features to Google Maps :). There is now a new ‘Hybrid’ button on the maps interface that gives you the satellite imagery with the roads and place names overlaid. Pretty neat! Of course, as we now use the Maps API this all Just Works over on our map page.

Thanks to Ryan, Andrew, Kjfitz & Justin for spotting the change.

According to submitter “Roberto” this house is owned by a local butcher who had his swimming pool built in the shape of his company’s logo, a Scimitar sword.

I checked our submissions database and there were no other custom-made pools in recognisable shapes. I’m sure there must be loads out there so if you can find any then please leave a comment on here

Back in 1977, Charles and Ray Eames made a short movie entitled ‘Powers of Ten‘, which Wikipedia describes like this:

It begins with a couple picnicking in a park; the view is that of one meter across. The viewpoint then slowly zooms out to a view ten meters across. The zoom-out continues, to a view of 100 meters, then 1 kilometer, and so on, increasing the perspective and continuing to zoom out to a field of view which is 10²⁶ meters, or the size of the observable universe.

Anyway, this is the spot in Chicago where the film began (although it doesn’t look quite the same these days), so you can re-create a bit of the film yourselves (Here’s a still from the film showing the starting point, and there’s lots of info on the official site).

You can also watch the whole film on Google Video.

Thanks to Mark Eichin.

Here at Google Sightseeing we’re big fans of structures that hold the title of “world’s largest something” and at 212 feet (65 meters) The Texas Star at Fair Park is the largest ferris wheel in the Western Hemisphere. The Texas Star opened in 1985 and has a maximum capacity of 260 persons (ground level shots).

Sadly there’s no high-res shots of the world’s largest ferris wheel, the Tempozan Harbor Village Ferris wheel in Japan.

Thanks: Chris & Jon