Top ten tallest lighthouses

The world’s tallest lighthouse is the 133m (436 ft) Jeddah Light in Saudi Arabia, which doubles as the control tower for this busy commercial port. The white tower and dome can be seen from about 40km away, and it’s a vital marker on this coastline which is dotted with dangerous coral reefs.

The second-tallest lighthouse is technically a monument rather than a true navigational aid, and is unfortunately (for us) located on an island in Lake Erie which is only covered by low-resolution satellite imagery. The 107m (351 ft) tall granite tower has the somewhat unwieldy title of “Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial”, and it commemorates a US naval victory over Britain in the War of 1812.

Just one metre shorter is the Yokohama Tower which also stretches the true definition of a lighthouse. While it is illuminated, the tower mainly serves as a tourist attraction with an observation deck and restaurant offering views of the city.

From here on we’re looking at more traditional lighthouses, built solely to serve as beacons for shipping. The fourth tallest lighthouse is found on the island of Île Vierge off the north-west coast of France. Built in the late 1800s, this lighthouse (like many around the world) has today been automated, though in this case a lighthouse keeper still lives on site. Despite the hazy image, Street View from the nearest point on the mainland gives us a good idea of how immense it is.

The Lanterna is one of the most famous landmarks in the Italian port of Genoa, and a lighthouse has stood on this spot since the 12th century.

The existing 77m (253 ft) tall structure dates to the 16th century, though it has been repaired many times following damage from lightning strikes and military action. While it’s visible from many parts of the city, it really needs to be seen from up close to be truly appreciated. There’s also a good museum at its base, though you’ll need to find your way past the busy ramps used by trucks going to and from the port.

Back to France for the sixth tallest lighthouse – the Phare de Gatteville. At 75m (246 ft), the granite tower was the tallest in the world when it was constructed in the 1830s.

The recent launch of Street View imagery in Russia gives us a good look at the seventh tallest lighthouse – the Lesnoy Mole Rear Range Light in the commercial port of St Petersburg. The distinctive red and white stripes of this 73m (240 ft) tall structure also identify it as a range light – a marker to help sea traffic approach a narrow channel.

The eighth and ninth tallest are just a few kilometres apart on Hainan island in China. The Mulantou and Baishamen lighthouses are both 72m (236 ft) tall and mark the narrow strait between the island and the mainland.

Finally, the tenth tallest lighthouse in the world is the Storozhenskiy Light on Russia’s Lake Ladoga, but sadly it isn’t visible on satellite view yet.

Tall lighthouses around the world

The tallest lighthouse in the southern hemisphere is the Recalada a Bahía Blanca Light in Argentina – a 67m (220 ft) tall iron tower allegedly built by the same company that built the Eiffel Tower.

The recently launched Street View imagery in Poland allows us to see the world’s tallest brick lighthouse – the 65m (213 ft) tall Świnoujście Lighthouse.

The tallest lighthouse in the US is the Cape Hatteras Light in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Originally built in the 1860s, the structure was moved inland several hundred metres in 1999 to protect it from shore erosion. This video shows how it was moved.

The UK’s tallest lighthouse sits on a remote rock called Skerryvore off the west coast of Scotland, and isn’t visible on Google Maps, so instead let’s travel to Africa, where the tallest lighthouse is the Nosy Alañaña Light on the tiny Île aux Prunes off Madagascar.

Locations: Argentina, China, France, Italy, Japan, Madagascar, North Carolina, Ohio, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia / Categories: Monuments, Shadows, Street Views, Structures, Towers, Watercraft

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5: New Delhi

Our first mention takes us to India’s capital city, New Delhi, which is home to a population of nearly 14 million within its metropolitan area. From those who responded in the IBM survey, 62 percent say traffic has negatively impacted their school or job performance, and 96 percent say traffic has negatively affected their overall health! Looking from above, it’s hard to spot any real lane usage by any of the multitude of buses, cars, and rickshaws!

4: Moscow

64 percent of the surveyed commuters in Russia’s capital city said that the city’s traffic nightmares have worsened in the last three years, and the city ranked worst on the average duration of its traffic jams. It’s got to be nerve-racking to know that once you hit traffic, the average expected delay is nearly two-and-a-half hours! At least people are somewhat following lanes here behind the street view car.

3: Johannesburg

South Africa’s largest city of Johannesburg ranks the highest amongst those cities commuters believe have worsened over the past three years. Eighty percent of those surveyed agreed that the traffic situation isn’t getting any better, and the city scored 97 points out of 100 on the scale of the emotional and economic toll of commuting. We have access to the 45° Imagery on Google Maps this time to get a closer look, and sure enough the delays are easy to find.

2: Mexico City

Mexico’s capital city scored a nearly “perfect” 99 out 100 on the survey. More than half of the commuters surveyed say that traffic has negatively affected their school or job performance. Just like before, it doesn’t take long to find some backups with Google’s street view car. Looks like we could be here a while.

1: Beijing

Ranking the highest (or worst) on our list is China’s capital city of Beijing, which is home to nearly 20 million people. Even outside of rush hour, many roads to and from Beijing remain clogged with traffic. The daily rush in traffic also causes air quality issues around the city; so much so that during the 2008 Olympic games, drivers were only allowed to drive on either even or odd days (based on their license plate number). Today, Beijing has a limit on how many license plates they issue a month to try to control the number of vehicles, and non-Beijing plated cars are banned from entering certain areas of the city during rush hour.

Beijing also holds the record for the world’s worst traffic jam… ever! In 2010, a clog between Beijing and Jining stretched for 100 kilometres (62 miles), and lasted nearly a month! Needless to say it took a large effort from hundreds of police to keep order. Hoping to catch a glimpse from Google, all we could find on the imagery today was this little congestion near the Great Wall.

Locations: China, India, Mexico, Russia, South Africa / Categories: 45˚ Imagery, Crowds, Other Vehicles, Street Views

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Unguja lies just off of the Tanzanian mainland and to the south of its sister island, Pemba. The hilly island is 85 km (53 miles) long and 30 km (19 miles) wide, and is home to about 625,000 residents, most of whom live in the capital, also named Zanzibar.

The heart of Zanzibar City is Stone Town, a densely-packed maze of coral stone buildings and narrow alleyways mixing Arab, Persian, Indian, European, and African architecture. Rock fans may know Stone Town as the birthplace and childhood home of Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Stone Town traces its beginnings to the 1830s when Zanzibar was ruled by the Sultanate of Oman, and flourished as one of the major spice trading ports of the entire world. During this time, Zanzibar was the largest global exporter of cloves (and, unfortunately, also a major exporter of slaves until 1876). The streets of Stone Town are too narrow for cars; the alleyways are instead packed with motorcycles and bicycles.

The most-well known landmark in Stone Town is the House of Wonders, the residence of the sultan between 1883 and 1963. Its name came from its status as the first building in the country to have electricity and the first building in all of East Africa to have a mechanical lift¹ inside. Adjacent to the House of Wonders is the Old Fort, built by the Omanis in the 16th century; it now houses a cultural centre, performing arena, and shops.

Beyond Stone Town lies the rest of Zanzibar City, known as Ng’ambo (literally “the other side” in Swahili). Here the housing is much more diverse. One unique feature of Ng’ambo are the massive apartment complexes called Plattenbauten that form a giant cross in the heart of the Michenzani neighbourhood. The long concrete buildings were built in the 1970s with aid from East Germany in an urban renewal scheme, but today are falling apart; most units no longer even have plumbing. Elsewhere in the city, we see densely packed houses of corrugated siding typical of urban sprawl in the area (zoom in and you can make out individual pots and pans!)²

Off the west coast of Unguja lies Changuu, or “Prison Island”, so nicknamed because it was originally meant to be a prison; the facilities are still visible today. Instead, it became a quarantine station for yellow fever patients. For the past century, it’s been used as a holiday destination for cottagers and tourists looking to get a peek at the island’s endangered giant tortoises.

Speaking of tourists, dozens of high-end luxury resorts rim the Unguja coast, such as the ornate complex below. The beaches here are long and wide, and diving and ATV rides are popular.

For most locals, however, income still comes from the land and sea, whether it’s growing fields of sugarcane inland or farming seaweed off the east coast. Few places on Earth have such a clash between east and west, rich and poor, as Zanzibar.

Locations: United Republic of Tanzania / Categories: Buildings, Islands, World Heritage Sites

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Above is Estadio Lluís Sitjar in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Built in 1945, for over half a century the 18,000 seat stadium was the home of football club RCD Mallorca. The stadium has sat unused since 2007, but the word ‘Mallorca‘ can still be plainly seen spelled out in the seats. The field of play, however, is already in a sad state.

On another populous Spanish island, Gran Canaria, lies Estadio Insular, which was the home of UD Las Palmas. Built in the same year as Lluís Sitjar, the 21,000 seater was abandoned four years earlier. Grass and trees are already rooting themselves in the stands, and the walls are covered in graffiti.

Stade des Charmilles in Geneva was the site of five FIFA World Cup games in 1954. Much of the facility was dismantled in 2002 and the field is completely barren, but the grandstands remain in place. In the rival city of Zurich, the demolished Hardturm also hosted World Cup games. Satellite imagery shows the shells of the grandstand are still intact, and Street View shows the rubble surrounding it.

In Germany, Gelsenkirchen’s Parkstadion was the home of the Bundesliga’s Schalke 04 from 1973 to 2001. Since then, about one-half of the seating has been removed, but the rest remains.

The largest abandoned stadium seen on Google Maps is the Estadio Fonte Nova in Salvador, Brazil. Originally built to a capacity of 66,080, the stadium was expanded to a monstrous 110,000 seats in 1971. Tragedy struck Fonte Nova in 2007, when an upper terrace collapsed during a Third Division championship final, killing seven spectators and injuring forty. The stadium was immediately closed. Since this imagery was captured, Fonte Nova has been demolished.

At one point the largest arena in the Czech Republic, Brno’s Stadion Za Lužánkami has sat in state for the past decade. Not only is the old playing field easy to make out, but even the goalposts are still standing. Around the edges, though, trees up to 3 metres high have sprouted in the bleachers.

Not all abandoned stadiums are left to rot. The Dell, the former home of English side Southampton, was redeveloped as a housing estate after its 2001 closure. Not only does the estate retain the shape of the original stadium, but all of the apartment blocks are named for famous Saints players.

Naturally, there aren’t only modern abandoned arenas to be found on Google Maps. The Plaza de Toros in Cartagena, Spain has been abandoned for nearly a century. Built on top of an ancient Roman arena, the location is set to be the home of a new Roman museum. Over in Merida, this ancient amphitheatre dates all the way back to 25 BC. The gladiator pit is exposed in the middle of the arena.

We end the first part of our tour in South Africa, where in Cape Town, Greenpoint Stadium was torn down to make way for the neighbouring Cape Town Stadium in advance of the 2010 World Cup¹. Here we see demolition crews working to dismantle the arena. The north grandstand, however, remains standing.

Read part two of our abandoned stadium tour: Abandoned Stadiums of the United States.

Locations: Brazil, Czech Republic, England, Germany, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland / Categories: Abandoned, Stadiums and Sport

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Windsor

The English Windsor is about 40km west of London. Its Castle, shown above, is justly famous – built by William the Conqueror and still used regularly by the royal family, it is both the largest inhabited castle in the world, and the palace which has been occupied for the longest period of time. We visited it back in 2006.

It bears little resemblance to Windsor, Ontario, which is most often in the news for its dwindling number of car manufacturing plants, and its increasing number of casinos designed to draw American tourists across the border from Detroit.

Cornwall

Cornwall, in England’s far south-west, is a holiday-makers paradise, with pristine beaches, soaring cliffs and picturesque villages, and is of course home to Land’s End.

It would be hard to find any similarities with Cornwall, Ontario, which has a reputation as a rough-edged town polluted by industrial waste and popular with those wanting to smuggle cigarettes across the nearby US border.

One advantage of the toxic waste dumps is that they can apparently serve as ski hills in the winter!

Waterloo

Waterloo is a municipality in Belgium where the famous Battle of Waterloo saw Napoleon’s French army defeated in 1815. A large monument marks the battleground.

The only battle of note in Waterloo, Ontario, is the one for control of the smart-phone market, with Blackberry-manufacturer RIM being based here.

Athens

The Greek capital of Athens is often called ‘the cradle of Western civilisation’ It is home to countless historic buildings and treasures, and was the birthplace of the Olympic Games.

It bears little resemblance to Athens, Ontario, which is a small farming town of 3,000 people, seemingly most famous for its corn festival held every summer. It also has a number of pleasant murals of rural life.

Tweed

The River Tweed is a bucolic waterway in the Scottish borders region. It attracts anglers from all over the world for its renowned salmon fishing.

Tweed, Ontario, is mainly noted for its amusingly-decorated fire hydrants. It was also rumoured to be a hiding place for Elvis by those who believe his death was faked, although – surprisingly – no real evidence of this has ever surfaced.

Khartum

Khartoum is the bustling capital of Sudan, with a turbulent and often lawless history on the banks of the Nile. Recent development has been spurred by income from the country’s oil wells.

It could in no way be confused with Khartum, Ontario, which is, well … not much really. If anything it’s a ghost town. It is identified on the map and there are couple of roadside signs with the town’s name, but there’s nothing between the two signs that could really define it as a community. How it got the name, we have no idea!

If you have a favourite namesake, send it to us through our submission form and it might be included in a future post!

Locations: England, Greece, Ontario, Scotland, Sudan / Categories: Buildings, Monuments, Street Views, Weirdness

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Reader Dave Schubert identifies the plane as being in an engine test stand. According to Google Earth’s historical imagery feature this image was taken on the 27th of June 2010, which is interesting as Concorde was retired in 2003 – so it’s perhaps a little strange that they would be testing the engines.

Next, to Canada’s busiest airport, Toronto Pearson. However, we’re looking at a very American icon – the Blue Angels aerobatic team.

More formally known as the Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, these planes were spotted by Kevin Hodgson. The six F/A-18 Hornets are seen parked near to a seventh plane, a two-seater F/A-18B that can be used as a backup plane if necessary. We can also see the C-130T Hercules nicknamed Fat Albert, which carries support personnel, spare parts and technical equipment.

You can read more about the Blue Angels at their official site, and at Wikipedia.

Given the recent situation in Libya, it may be a good thing that eight C-130 Hercules that were ordered by the Gaddafi regime are stuck in the southern US state of Georgia.

The desert-camouflaged planes were ordered and built at this Lockheed plant at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in the early 1970s. However before they could be delivered, the US imposed sanctions on Libya.

Because they are technically the property of the Libyan government, the planes cannot be moved, so they sit on flat tires, surrounded by weeds in the distant reaches of the base. Thanks to Cafe de Unie, SecretAgent Man and Jonathan Peterson for sending this one in.

Unused planes can be a problem for any airport, though at Hot Springs in Arkansas they park them a little more neatly and efficiently than they do at Manas Airport in Kyrgyzstan or Wilson Airport in Kenya. Thanks to ‘Me’, nga and Bryan Johnson for these.

Moving on to crashed planes (nervous flyers should probably stop reading at this point!), we start with a couple of real downed planes. This Curtis C-46F Commando crashed in November 1979, shortly after taking off from Churchill in northern Canada.

It was reported to us by Lindsay Marshall, and airliners.net has some good pictures. Apparently the inside has been setup with a picnic table, and is a local tourist attraction.

Just a few months ago, two people unfortunately lost their lives when their small plane crashed into Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin. New satellite imagery just happened to capture a crane recovering the wreckage. Thanks to milwhcky for reporting this one via Virtual Globetrotting.

Hollywood is fond of creating its own plane crashes, and the set from 2005′s War of the Worlds is now part of Universal Studio’s tour, as shown in this YouTube video. Thanks to Anthony Moore for the suggestion.

The studio spent $2million to bring an unused 747 to the lot, carefully broke it apart and then built the houses affected by the crash in the movie. Google’s 45-degree imagery allows us to see the set from different perspectives, including engines lying next to a house, seats in the ripped apart cabin, and the charred tail section.

Another apparently horrific plane crash was spotted by Bryan Johnson at the former Alameda Naval Air Station near San Francisco.

Some of the 45-degree imagery was apparently taken on a different day, and reveals crowds of people and emergency vehicles.

However, we can also see lots of technical equipment, including a camera crane, so it’s clear that this isn’t a real crash, and Geek.com reveals that it is, in fact, a set for the TV show Trauma.

We had previously featured Alameda for its role in a Matrix film, though personally I’m hoping that someday we’ll see images of the Mythbusters team who film regularly at this location.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this post. Please use the suggestion form if you know if interesting locations that you think we should feature.

Locations: Arkansas, California, England, Georgia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Manitoba, Ontario / Categories: Abandoned, Aircraft, Movie Locations, Shadows

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Rude messages

Not everything can make the cut obviously, but things like this painting of a naked woman on top of this building near Phoenix, AZ are certainly eye-catching. Thanks to GSS reader prmckinney for sending it in.

Henry sent us a friendly message in New Zealand that, well, gets directly to the point.

Or you could be like this guy near Austin, Texas who loves to express his satisfaction with American president Barack Obama! Make sure you notice the detail of the middle finger! Thanks to Chris S.

Lookalikes

At times just the strange artefacts of Google Maps itself are amusing! Take a look at this rather unfortunately shaped road near the Newcastle FC stadium sent to us by Chris. On the more natural side, Pamela sent us this lake in Alberta, Canada that looks, well, pretty much exactly like a rat.

Signposts for the sky

Rooftops can be an easy target for “on-the-fly” messaging. Marc sent us a link to a huge “Amazing Race” finish line painting on the final approach path to LAX. The wildly popular American reality show has used Los Angeles as the finish line before, but it does seem odd that they actually put a channel and time on it. Maybe it’s just a huge billboard instead?

Quetzal sent us the letter Z carved into the desert next to a highway in Coahuila, México, which is apparently the sign of a notorious Mexican Drug Cartel. On a lighter note, Dawn sent us a link to this extravagant field maze that takes the shape of a steam locomotive!

Mystery circles

Sometimes the most interesting things we see on the ground however are circles. You have the obvious crop circles around the world, but then there are perhaps stranger things out there. For example, any ideas what this little circle in the desert sent to us by Mastboy could be?

Or perhaps this circle off the coast of the United Kingdom? Maybe it could be a beacon of some kind? Thanks to scotty for the link!

In a more mysterious entry, a series of strange circular features have been sent to us from deep in the forests of Maharashtra in India. They’re remote, they’re large, and no one seems to really know where they came from!

The four circles appear to be man-made due to the perfect circular shape and similar size, but no obvious pattern or purpose can be seen. One of the most popular theories are the circles are some sort of ancient water reservoirs, but one could argue how much water needs to be collected in the middle of a monsoon-ridden country!

Some more imaginative people think that ancient aliens visited and made the circles, but they aren’t really a patch on traditional crop circles though.

Even the local villagers in Kumbhale aren’t sure where the circles came from, even though one of them is practically on their doorstep.

Another theory suggests that the circles are “strikingly” similar to meteorite impacts, but the rims of these circles do not appear to share the same crowning effect that occurs near other true craters – and there haven’t been any meteorite fragments found here (although this could perhaps be due to erosion from the monsoons we mentioned).

For some discussion on the circles, including ground level photos, check out this link. What do you think they are? Thanks to Sandesh for sending in this intriguing suggestion.

Locations: Alberta, Arizona, California, India, Mexico, Morocco, New Jersey, New Zealand, Texas, United Kingdom / Categories: Crop Circles, Large Type, Movie Locations, Stadiums and Sport, Weirdness

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After decades of civil war, the southern region of Sudan first became autonomous in 1972. This lasted only 11 years until a second civil war broke out. A peace settlement in 2005 saw autonomy restored. A referendum in early 2011 resulted in an overwhelming majority of people supporting the proposal to become an independent nation.

The capital of this new country is the southern city of Juba, which sits on the banks of the White Nile.

The independence celebrations took place at the memorial for John Garang, a rebel leader with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. He played a significant role in the peace declaration of January 2005, following which he became a Vice President of Sudan, and President of the Autonomous Government of South Sudan. However, he died in a helicopter crash only seven months later. Garang remains a popular figure in South Sudan.

The new country’s Legislative Assembly can be seen just to the north of the memorial.

In many ways a city of contrasts, Juba has shockingly expensive tourist resorts along the river, a short distance from bases for relief agencies such as assorted United Nations programs, including the World Food Program and other groups such as Médecins Sans Frontières and USAID. Amidst the celebration of independence, it’s impossible to forget that this is one of the poorest regions on the planet, with ongoing humanitarian crises within the country and others which surround it.

Juba also has a busy airport – where we can see many planes and helicopters,  many no doubt used by the aid agencies – a university and a teaching hospital.

South Sudan’s territory contains a number of existing national parks and game reserves, though I imagine only the most intrepid tourists are able to visit them.

Unfortunately, the fledgling country also came into being with at least two pre-existing border disputes. The northern Abyei region is claimed by both sides of the divided country, and a second referendum will be held to determine the future of this area.

The dispute is the result of rich oil deposits in the region, with both sides desperately wanting the money that is generated by the industry. The Unity oilfield in Abyei is the starting point of the Greater Nile Oil Pipeline which runs through the northern country to Port Sudan.

In the south-east, the Ilemi Triangle is an area currently controlled by Kenya. The ongoing dispute over the region will be handled by the new South Sudanese government. Google Maps marks the disputed border in dashed lines.

Google Earth marks disputed borders in red, and shows an additional area between Sudan and South Sudan in the north-west, near the border with the Central African Republic. I also found a news article that mentions a dispute with Uganda. Traditional tribal boundaries don’t always fit well with national borders.

You can learn more about South Sudan through the new government’s web site. More can also be found at Wikipedia, and the BBC has in-depth coverage.

Locations: South Sudan / Categories: Buildings, Monuments, Natural Landmarks

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The countries receiving updated imagery are Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Romania, South Africa, Taiwan, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

Additionally, there is brand new coverage of two of Britain’s Crown Dependencies, the Isle of Man, and Jersey.

Peel Castle, Isle of Man

Mont Orgueil, Jersey

Of particular interest in the United States, brand new imagery has been added throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and San Diego, taking in sights such as the Golden Gate Bridge, Staples Center, and USS Midway which are now shown in stunning high-resolution.

What can you find in the new imagery? Send us your finds via our suggestion form, or on Twitter, and we’ll post a roundup later in the week of your best finds!

Read the full story at the Google Latlong blog.

Locations: Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, North America, Norway, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom / Categories: Street Views

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The image was taken in 2005, and shows what appears to be a 100 metre-long (328 ft) groove gouged from the desert sand. Your first thought might be that a plane crashed here, but there’s no sign of any wreckage. However, with the constantly shifting sand it’s entirely possible that any evidence of a crash has simply been covered over, but then why would the gouge itself still be visible?

Zooming in closer we can see that the formation actually sits inside a huge rectangle that has been partially worn away by the gouge itself – suggesting that the rectangle was here before whatever made the huge impression showed up. Could something have been aiming for this spot, and if so, what for?

So what are we seeing here? Clearly this is not a natural formation – could it be a crash site after all? The results of a missile test? A small meteor impact? Or something else extra-terrestrial?

More info about the Grand Erg Oriental, as ever, is available on Wikipedia.

Thanks to hank via our submissions form!

Locations: Algeria / Categories: Deserts, Weirdness

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