Thanks for the info!

…Now if only we could get a shot of a camel market in progress!

TIme to “comb the desert” (Spaceballs pun intended) again!

pat

Just my uninformed opinion
Take care all!!!

Were the trailers setup along the road make-shift houses?

Thanks for any info, and the gas to go out there!

pat

Took my Harley out there this morning and the colours on google are not what is going on out there. Could get too close to the area due no roads but ohter places close by don’t have those colours.

As soon as I showed the site to them, they said it _is_ (not was) a large family grouping/compund. The colors are a screw-up that the entire photo pass suffers from.

In Saudi Arabia, when you get married you are allowed to ask for land, and the government _has_ to give it to you. As you can see, there is plenty to go around.

Typically, the union of 2 families is quite large, and it is customary for them to all live together afterward. The site’s earlier rectangular areas are (they think) from earlier marriages i nthe family line, each one taking up larger amounts of land.

To keep things even (or to keep an eye on everyone else), the houses (yes, they are houses with yards) are not put in rows. All can see the others. The fact that a house lot is approximately a certain width, and there are so many, is what determined the dimensions of the square. The radial lines on the inside of the block are thought to emminate from the newlywed’s (most recently wed’s, really) house.

The circular area in the middle is a gathering, ceremonial area that is “not finished”. Over time it will be developed a bit more-this is the “official” word from my “unofficial” friends. I would assume that although the families have obvious relative wealth, they are not necessarily exceedingly modernized/westernized. The area being relatively spartan in nature by western standards is most liekly due to it’s being intentionally traditional (nothing but sand).

Strangely, when I asked if the area to the southeast was a truck stop, they looked at me with puzzlement, saying “There is no such thing in Saudi Arabia!”. It might be true, as there are no fuel distribution facilities (pumps), and the area the vehicles are in has no paved access-which would be expected of trucks with heavy loads being “customers”.

The tracks in the area mostly go “through” the places that the “trucks” are, with precious few tracks seeming to come to or from the vehicles. Looking at the site of each truck/trailer, you can see “yards” or sorts drawn out. I think these are mostly tractor trailers for housing. If you notice, there are no “cabs”, or vehicles to pull them. They aren’t there for storage/transfer, as there is nothing stored anywhere near them, nor signs of any vehicular traffic-save for the older tracks. With a lack of building materials, trailers would make ideal housing for those unable to afford more.

…just my $0.02

pat

Houses/dwellings/buildings: probably a large, extended family built the small community, then abandoned it. All of the abandoned houses out there are stripped of materials, supposedly due to no trees anywhere?

I think the trucks that are lined up might be practice areas for suicide bombers? I thought SA was a little mellow in that regard, but the area seems to have been deserted for a while.

Looking around, I saw a lot of military bases with large airports and TONS of housing that is seemingly completely abandoned. I didn’t post a link (don’t know how), but you don’t have to look far.

Aren’t there some other satellite sources? I was at one the other day, but can’t remember what it was. An alternate shot might help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_pivot_irrigation

Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
On high resolution regions, it really looks like some kind of sprinkler system for agriculture.