Yes, another update is upon us!¹ Only in Earth at the moment (but sure to appear on Maps very soon) Now in both Earth and Maps, Google has unleashed the following coverage for us to explore:

New high resolution

• Canada: Downtown Vancouver, BC
• England: Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Berkshire, Peakdistrict, Birmingham, Greater Manchester, Avon, Gloucestershire, Lincolnshire
• France: Rennes, Poitiers
• US: Omaha, NE; Missoula, MT; Amherst, MA; Keowee, SC; Catawba Wateree, NC/SC; Rolla, MO; Nashville (”Burbia”), TN; Gaston County, NC; Anne Arundel County, Maryland; Metro Water District of Southern California; State of Arkansas

Updated Imagery

• Spain: Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, El Hierro, La Gomera, Tenerife, and Las Palmas (Canary Islands) Spain
• US: Austin, TX; San Bernardino, CA; State of Connecticut, Los Angeles, CA in spots
• Australia: Sydney harbour area.

Sadly however, Google have fixed the photoshopped plane formation in Denmark that we posted about a couple of weeks ago — which is a shame, but doutless the wealth of new stuff will help make us feel better

Thanks to the Google Earth Blog.

Although in these images it remains unfinished, the most recent image updates have at least allowed us to see what is today, the tallest road bridge in the world - The Millau Viaduct.

Constructed by the Eiffage company (better known for the slightly shorter Eiffel Tower), the Millau Viaduct tops out at a whopping 343 metres, and the traffic travels a terrifying 270 metres above the bottom of the valley.¹

In these images you can clearly see the temporary towers erected to enable the positioning of the bridge deck (they show as orange in these images, but they were really red), which dates these images to around early 2004.

Hopefully Google will update this area of France soon, and we can see the viaduct in all her glory!

Thanks to Jan Fabry, Freddie, Alexander Apostolovski, Marc, Patryk and Nick Miners.

Welcome to the fourth in our irregular series “Keeping Up With The Joneses”, where we feature communities around the globe who are trying to to get one-up on their neighbours.

The requirement for social acceptance in this South Texan town is not (as in previous episodes) Tennis courts, Aircraft or Trampolines but instead your own personal pier.

Luckily for those who want to live in the area, but can’t afford their own sailboat, it would appear that having something to park at your personal pier is not a requirement; of all the 45 piers in the neighbourhood nobody’s moored so much as a rowboat!

Thanks: John

Using our inside connections we can exclusively reveal super-secret spy pictures of Google’s latest offering to the world - Google Boat (beta)!

This image was taken as part of the recent Australia Day flyover and, if you look closely, you’ll see that the writing is not on the boat but instead each letter is being held in place by a different person.

Unfortunately our “Sightseeing” cruise liner that was supposed to be to the south failed to make it in time for the photoshoot

Thanks: Gearth Hacks

I suppose it had to happen eventually, but a submitter (who actually asked to remain anonymous!), thinks they may have found the first Google Earth image of… someone doing something which we must all do at least once a day.¹

Yes, it looks a lot like this man is answering nature’s call on a lonely path, here in Mali, Africa.

While we’re going to remain on the fence for at least a while, we hope you lot are ready to weigh in on this one!

Thanks to Anonymous

Does anyone know why these kids in a French playground have formed a giant star shape? Perhaps it’s some sort of playground game, but not one I ever played!

Which makes me wonder — has anyone found any other kids playing playground games?

Thanks to Andrew Crawford.

There are about 80 known whale species around the globe, the largest of which is of course the Blue Whale, which can measure up to a massive 30m long.

Such a giant beast should easily be visible on the aerial and satellite photographs of Google Earth, it’s just a matter of finding them…

To start with, there’s definitely a blue whale in this Japanese swimming pool, but I don’t think that counts.

The Route 66 landmark Blue Whale slide is so famous it even appeared in Sega’s King of Route 66 video game. More info.

Outside of UC Santa Cruz’s Long Marine Laboratory there’s an 85-foot long Blue Whale skeleton. The female whale was washed ashore of Pescadero Beach in 1979, after dying of unknown causes.

We’ve still not found any live whales though! Off the coast of Santa Barbara there’s a 10m long grey blob that could resemble a whale, or more likely a shark. Either way it would have to be very close to the surface to be seen so easily. I’m not convinced.

‘Reverence‘ is a sculpture by Jim Sardonis, which depicts two whales seemingly diving into the grass. The tails are each 12-13 foot tall and made of granite. More info.

Back in Japan, and Ueno Park has more than tails - there’s a life size Blue Whale diving into the ground. More info.

And finally, to Argentina, where there could just be real whales.

According to whale expert wildslide these are southern right whales who breed in this area during the months of May and October. Success!

Previously on Google Sightseeing: Whales! and Beached Whale

Thanks: The many people who thought they saw a whale, including: Jonathan_Tronson, FrequentFlyer, danescombe, bagabnoosh, kjfitz, Ralph Mettier, Nick, Jim Morton, Andrew, Rking, Yoshino, Barb, Caraurta, danescombe, Todd Pearson, Andrea from Italy, Nichole, James, A30 & John Hartnup

The BBC’s Top Gear program recently took the Bugatti Veyron for a quick test drive — a very quick test drive¹. James May was asked to test the car’s top speed, and there was apparently only one place in the world it could be done — Volkswagen’s super-secret test facility in Germany, Ehra-Lessien.

Why? Because Ehra-Lessien has an unbroken straight 9 kilometres in length, which you can see running along the top of our thumbnails. It’s so long, that if you stood on one side of the straight, you wouldn’t be able to see the other end due to the curvature of the Earth. Seriously, this straight is enormous. One or two thumbnails just couldn’t do it justice, so we’ll do it in two parts. Here’s the northern end…

…and then we have to skip a couple of thumbnails before we get to the southern end!

There’s several cars visible on the straight, including one that seems to be going really very fast.

There’s also a small blob — which is either some kind of bug on the image, or a very strange new kind of concept-tractor.

Anyway, while May couldn’t get the Veyron up to its theoretical top speed, he did manage to equal the fastest speed of any production road car, reaching an almost incomprehensible 253 miles, or 407 kilometres per hour² on this very straight. You can watch the clip on Google Video to really get a feel for how fast that is.

Thanks to Top Gear.