Could these be the shadows of one or more dog sleds following old tracks through the snow on Svalbard, the northernmost part of Norway?

Unfortunately these are only medium resolution images¹ (which disappear in Google Maps if you get too close), but zooming right in on Google Earth certainly seems to add weight to the theory.

Perhaps they’re travelling from the nearby EISCAT radar station to the nearest town - the administrative centre of Svalbard, Longyearbyen?

Actually Longyearbyen is interesting too, as it’s the world’s northernmost town² and therefore has the world’s northernmost of quite a few things, including the world’s most northern bank, ATM, hospital, library, night club, bus station, taxi rank, tourist office, supermarket, school and not not forgetting pub!

Oh yeah, they’ve also got the world’s most northern permanent airport with scheduled flights - Svalbard Airport.

See Wikipedia for more on dog sleds, Longyearbyen, Svalbard and the world’s most northern things.

Thanks to Harry.

Back on May 1st 1981 a de Havilland Dove twin-engine aircraft was leaving Sebring, Florida for Miami and suffered an engine failure.

The pilot was forced to crash land in a nearby field and the aircraft ended up in the shallows of lake Istakpoga. Luckily all the crew walked away unscathed.

What’s surprising about this story is that, 26 years later, the plane is still there. Presumably recovery from the lake was too expensive for the owner so it has been left for the fishes.

You can see a closer aerial shot of the plane (complete with graffiti) on Air Britain.

Previously on Google Sightseeing: Mystery Plane Crash and Addis Ababa-Bole Airport Crash (recently updated).

Thanks: JesterDan001

The Google Latlong Blog has posted an announcement of new terrain and imagery in Google Earth and Google Maps.

Rather than the usual list of what’s new, the team have provided clues to various locations around the globe for you to explore yourself. But, if you’re feeling lazy, then the Digital Earth Blog have also posted all the answers.

So, get suggesting those sights!

It would seem that we have finally reached the absolute pinnacle of our continuing quest to discover the latest and greatest “World’s blankest blank“, as seen by satellite!

Yes you lucky people, prepare yourselves for… The World’s Largest Cow!

This is actually Salem Sue of New Salem, North Dakota, who is 38 feet high, 50 feet long, and was constructed from six tons of reinforced fiberglass back in ‘74 for the primary purpose of, um, bigging up the local dairy farmers I guess.

Over in the UK we have our own famous Concrete Cows sculpture, which were created four years after Salem Sue by Canadian-born artist Liz Leyh, but are only about half life size.

More about Salem Sue at Roadside America and more about Concrete Cows at Wikipedia.

Thanks to Simon Cope and Jason Smith.

Like something out of Blazing Saddles, here’s a completely fake city outside of Washington D.C.!

In fact zooming out to see the surrounding area, we can see there’s all sorts of odd things here, including driving courses, underground bunkers, some sort of weird runway / skid track thing, and a helipad complete with helicopter beside what looks like, um.. the front of a rocket?

In actual fact this is the US Secret Service James J. Rowley Training Center which officially comprises around 500 acres of land, six miles of roadway and 31 buildings. Unofficially, it also has an obstacle course, simulated airport, firing range, and several outdoor training and tactical response areas.

The not-very-secret Secret Service website says the facility provides an environment:

that promotes critical thinking and innovation in the areas of physical, site and event security, threat assessments, antiterrorist intelligence techniques, emergency preparedness, criminal investigations, protection of critical financial infrastructure, and management development.

Strangley, on Google Maps there’s nothing of this facility shown at all on the road map - and on our own map page (which uses the Google Maps API data), the facility is marked as an Agricultural Research Center!

And yet despite the secrecy, you can get an ever closer look at the fake city with Live Map’s Bird’s Eye View.

Thanks to Rickard Jensen, kjfitz and ZedNaught.

A small German church has laid a bold claim to the title of “World’s most squinty building“.

Located in the town of Bad Frankenhausen, the bell tower of a 14th century church has been measured at an angle of 4.5 degrees to the vertical. With the backing of the Guinness Book of World Records, the town hopes to steal the limelight from the well know Leaning tower of Pisa and its puny 3.97 degree angle.

The folks in Italy responded to the announcement with barely more than a “meh”.

However, the nearby German town of Suurhusen kicked up fuss with their leaning church tower of 5.07 degrees, claiming this to be the true title holder¹.

Google Earth users might ask what all the fuss is about as, from appearances, the cities of New York and Dallas must hold the title with their precarious leaning skyscrapers.

These towers are, of course, not leaning at all. They are at the points where two differently angled aerial photographs have been stitched together.

Previously on Google Sightseeing we’ve seen The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Leaning Tower of Niles and the intentionally leaning Kio Towers which, at 15 degrees to the vertical, must surely be a world record contender?

Thanks: Sunday Telegraph, Craig Simpson, Simone, Jeff Cutter & Catdoor

This is the Badeschiff or “bathing ship” in Berlin, Germany - an old barge which has been converted into an outdoor swimming pool, actually in the River Spree.

Opened in the summer of 2004, the facilities have proved highly popular as it has allowed Berliners to swim (at least in a figurative sense), in the long polluted and unsanitary Spree. In fact on closer inspection you can see several people swimming when this image was captured.

The 32 metre-long pool also has a bar with DJs until midnight, and is even open all-year-round.

Read more at Wikipedia.

Thanks to Jake.

I’m sorry to report that I don’t mean any old structure either… nope, this is honestly claimed by the Chinese to be The World’s Largest Phallus. At least I think this is it - as you can see the satellite shot isn’t vey clear. To make up however, here’s a gratuitous ground-level photo!

The 9 metre erection (30 feet), is named Sky Pillar, and has been built at the Longwan Shaman Amusement Park in Changchun city, and apparently symbolizes the “pursuit of happiness and prosperity”.

Which is pretty fitting really huh?

Thanks to kjfitz, read the full story at Ananova.