So in celebration, we’re posting Woodstock, Illinois, the location where most of the scenes from the excellent Bill Murray comedy of the same name were filmed (although it was actually set in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania). And yes, in our thumbnail of the town square you can actually see “Gobbler’s Knob”…

For fans of the movie, the official Woodstock website has a PDF map which identifies all the locations used.

Previously on Google Sightseeing: Groundhog Day, Groundhog Day, Groundhog Day, Groundhog Day.

Locations: Illinois, Pennsylvania / Categories: Movie Locations

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5. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

Starting out at number 5, we find ourselves in the never-ending sun of Los Angeles, California. Between January and May 2011, the Los Angeles International Airport served an astonishing 24,230,832 passengers, all while competing with four other airports in the Los Angeles area. LAX is designed so that each terminal’s arrival gate feeds directly to the exit, and its eastbound approach over the Pacific Ocean is known for terrifying new flyers!

4. O’Hare International Airport (ORD)

Nestled west of downtown Chicago we find the fourth busiest airport in the world, O’Hare International Airport. ORD is perhaps the most intriguing airport on our list to look at from above, due to its centralised design being surrounded by six intersecting runways. From January to May of 2011, O’Hare handled 25,986,415 passengers in its busy and sometimes frantic terminals. The weather around Chicago has been known to leave its mark on O’Hare as well – in 2010 1 out of every 5 flights (21.5%) into O’Hare was delayed by more than 15 minutes.²

Like most busy airports around the world, O’Hare is expanding through its own modernisation plan. Evidence can be seen from above in the form of a new east-west runway being built at the south end of the airport.

3. London Heathrow Airport (LHR)

Ranking number three in our list, we find the busiest airport in the EU and the airport that handles more international passengers than anywhere else, London’s Heathrow Airport. In the first half of 2011, Heathrow saw 26,733,585 passengers, which is logistically impressive when you consider LHR only has 2 runways, and it’s also competing with London’s four other airports! In what is becoming a common theme, the airport’s terminals are centrally located in this mess between the runways, with the exception of an international terminal on the south end of the airfield.

What would the world’s largest international airport be without the world’s largest passenger airplane? Here’s one of the massive Airbus A380s, which we found heading out towards the runway. This plane can be configured to hold up to an amazing 853 people, but sources indicate this particular bird has somewhere between 550-650 seats onboard.

2. Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK)

The Asian market is well represented on our countdown in the form of China’s Beijing Capital International Airport, ranking number two in passenger traffic with 31,080,482 flyers in the first 5 months of this year. That’s nearly 5 million more than Heathrow in the same time period! It looks like the day this satellite photo was taken however things are kind of slow, as there isn’t much traffic sitting at the gate.

We did however happen to spot this Boeing 777 mid-takeoff! Or is landing? Hmm…

1. Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)

Surprised? Well you shouldn’t be! Year after year, the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta continues to dominate the various statistical categories and easily claim the title of “The World’s Busiest Airport”. It’s had the highest number of annual passengers every year since 1998, the most air traffic in 1999, 2000 and from 2005 through to today, and it even set a world record in 2007 when the airport had a mind boggling 994,346 takeoffs and landings in one year! That’s an average of nearly one takeoff and one landing every minute of every day for a solid year! In an effort to handle this unbelievable amount of traffic, the airport expanded and added a fifth runway in 2006 that literally crosses over Interstate 85 Interstate 285.

ATL has 195 gates spread across six terminals, all accessible by an underground train system. Some of these gates are squeezed extremely tightly together. Delta Airlines (which appropriately happens to be the world’s largest airline) uses Hartsfield–Jackson as its main hub airport, flying over 59% of all flights here. To avoid radio confusion the FAA officially renamed taxiway D (normally pronounced Delta everywhere else) to Taxiway Dixie.

Atlanta had 36,548,629 passengers between January and May of 2011, which is 5.5 million more than Beijing, and they’re still expanding! Google imagery shows us construction of the new terminal F, due to be opened in Spring 2012, and also the airport’s control tower, which happens to be the tallest in the United States as well!

Honourable Mentions

Amongst aviation geeks you will hear the grumblings that an airport isn’t the busiest unless it has the most planes, or the most cargo, or the most international passengers, or whatever! So to be well-rounded in our not so scientific list, here are a few honourable mentions that don’t quite have the passenger counts to make the top 5, but make up for it in other areas.

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) – Ranks number 4 in traffic movement.

Denver International Airport (DEN) – Ranks number 5 in traffic movement.

Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) – Ranks number 1 in cargo traffic.

Memphis International Airport (MEM) – Ranks number 2 in cargo traffic.

Locations: Arkansas, California, China, Colorado, Georgia, Hong Kong, Illinois, Texas, United Kingdom / Categories: Aircraft, Buildings, Structures

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While it is hidden by the retractable roof on the satellite view, the new 45-degree imagery reveals what I personally think is the strangest possible thing to have in a sports stadium – a swimming pool!

Granted it seems to be more like a large hot-tub than a swimming pool, but for $100 per person you and 34 of your friends can splash about (or more accurately, crowd together) in probably the most unusual spectator spot in all of sports. It must be great on hot days, though during the worst of Arizona’s summer weather the retractable roof is closed and the massive air conditioning system is turned on.

While Phoenix’s pool is currently unique in the major leagues, a second stadium pool will be available next year when the Florida Marlins move into the new Miami Ballpark¹, seen under construction in Google’s images.

However, in this new stadium the pool may not be the most bizarre aspect. There are plans to have two massive aquariums, totalling over 17m in length, behind home plate!

This new ballpark will give a total of four stadiums with retractable roofs in the National League. Another is in Houston, where thankfully the roof is shown open and we can see the grounds crew mowing the grass.

The Astros’ ballpark is also built on the site of a former train station and is named for juice manufacturer Minute Maid. Tying these two facts together, a large model train – with a car full of oranges – runs along the stadium wall whenever a home run is scored and whenever the Astros win a game.

The final retractable roof is at Miller Park in Milwaukee.

While Google shows the roof open, we’re unfortunately not able to see the slide used by the team mascot after each home run, so take a look at it in this YouTube video. Sponsored by a local theme park, this new slide is perhaps more friendly than the one at the team’s old stadium where the mascot – who is still named Bernie Brewer – slid into a giant beer mug!

One of the more feature-laden parks in the National League is the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati².

At the entrance to the stadium is a large limestone carving called The Spirit of Baseball.

On the north side of the stands is The Gap – an open section allowing views of the city’s downtown. On the south side a pair of smokestacks commemorate the paddle steamboats which used to ply the Ohio River which runs beside the stadium³. Nearby is a Toyota truck on top of an elevator shaft. This can be won by a fan if a home run ball happens to hit a sign between the smokestacks, though I’ve not been able to discover if that has ever happened yet.

Google’s new 45-degree imagery gives us great views of ballparks in some cities, including San Francisco, where certain rotations show the stands full and a game in progress!

Along the left-field wall we can see the 24m long Coke bottle, giant mitt and miniature ballpark that make up this stadium’s family zone. And we can see kayakers in San Francisco Bay, hoping to be able to scoop up home run balls that occasionally leave the stadium!

Further south in California, the San Diego Padres play at Petco Field, where the notable feature is a century-old warehouse that was originally intended for demolition, but was restored and incorproated into the design. The Western Metal Building now houses team offices and luxury suites and the corner of the building is coloured yellow to act as the left field foul pole.

To the north of the stadium is “The Park at the Park” – accessible to the community for most of the year, and for which very cheap tickets are sold on game days.

Another stadium with a giant Coke bottle is Turner Field in Atlanta. It’s too bad that we can’t see the other huge advertising icon – a robotic cow (YouTube video) which does the ‘tomahawk chop’ motion used by the Braves’ fans.

In Pittsburgh, the Pirates honour some of their most famous players with statues outside the stadium: Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Honus Wagner. A fourth, for Bill Mazeroski, has been added near the south-west corner of the stadium but the Street View car visited before it was constructed.

Google’s satellite images caught the buzz of game day at a couple of stadiums:

In Philadelphia, at Citizens Bank Park, we find batting practice underway and the stands filling up while crowds of people head in to the stadium. Meanwhile, others are still in full tailgate mode in the busy parking lots.

Meanwhile in Washington it appears as though the game may be just getting underway with the stands partly full and lines of people still at the gates on the north side of the stadium.

Some notes about the other National League stadiums:

Coors Field in Denver has the highest elevation of any ballpark, with a row of seats near the top of the stands supposedly indicating the ‘mile high’ level – the nickname often used for this city. I think the row of purple seats can just about be made out in this image.

In New York, the Mets play at Citi Field and honour their home town with a ‘Big Apple‘ which lights up for every home run.

The Chicago Cubs play at historic Wrigley field, where we see batting practice in progress.

In St Louis, the 45-degree imagery shows a lot of activity at Busch Stadium. However, the field is not setup for a game, and there are crowds of people around the perimeter and the dugouts, so it may have just been tour groups visiting, or an open house.

While in Los Angeles, we can see Dodger Stadium both with and without grass.

Every stadium can be explored in more detail in the appropriate team’s section on the MLB site, and Wikipedia has good information as well.

Locations: Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin / Categories: Buildings, Crowds, Large Type, Stadiums and Sport, Street Views, Structures

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In an effort to attract families, this park features both a carousel, visible in the north-west corner of the stadium grounds, and a ferris wheel with ball-shaped cars.

Home to the Tigers, there are feline statues and motifs all over the building, including this 4.5m tall figurehead at the entrance to the stadium, flanked by two giant baseball bats. Note that the struts holding up the name sign are also bat-shaped!

The blue tank in centre field is a large fountain which gives elaborate displays between innings and after every Tiger score. Note the vehicles in each corner – the fountain is usually sponsored by one of the car manufacturers for which Detroit is renowned.

Unlike football stadiums and multi-purpose arenas, which tend to be quite generic, baseball stadiums provide architects and teams with much more freedom to add unique features to try to make their buildings attractive to the ticket-buying public.

A construction boom in the last couple of decades saw a trend towards smaller ‘retro’-styled parks topped off with design elements which range from the whimsical to the spectacular. The first of these was Oriole Park in Baltimore.

The stadium was built on former train yards owned by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and is officially called ‘Oriole Park at Camden Yards’. A former B&O building dominates the view from much of the park, and stretches the length of Eutaw Street which is closed on game days, with cheap tickets allowing access to standing areas with a view of the field.

When a home run lands in the street, the spot is marked with a plaque. See if you can also find the two orange seats inside the stadium that mark the locations of famous home runs!

There are two American League stadiums with retractable roofs. In Seattle, the satellite image of Safeco Field¹ shows the 3-section roof open and the infield apparently set up for some kind of corporate function, with tables and chairs and a small stage. When open, the roof is partly cantilevered over the train tracks which run past the stadium. Note that the sponsor’s huge logo is clearly visible whether the roof is open or closed.

Unlike virtually all other domed stadiums, the roof here does not fully enclose the facility to allow heating or cooling, it merely serves to protect it from the frequent rain that occurs in the Pacific Northwest.

Toronto’s variable seasons also make a domed stadium a necessity. With interesting timing, the satellite images caught the Rogers Centre²roof partway through the 20-minute rotational process of opening (or closing), showing the smallest of the segments on the west side of the building.

We also get an unusual perspective on the CN Tower, formerly the world’s tallest building, and one of the earliest sites visited by Google Sightseeing.

In New York, the new Yankee Stadium sits across just to the north of the recently-demolished original 1923 version.

The Street View images in the area allow us to see both stadiums standing side-by-side, and of course you can use Google Earth’s time slider to see how the sites have changed over many years – see prime parkland transformed into sports facility at great expense!

The focus here is on celebrating the game’s traditions, through artwork, monuments and historical items on display. Perhaps these distract game attendees from the exorbitant $2.3billion construction cost and seats which are some of the most expensive in professional sports.

Of particular controversy are those in the ‘Legends Suite’ – several rows behind home plate where seats have ranged in price from $500 to over $2,000! Opening in the midst of an economic crisis, takeup was slow, and the public perception of this zone fenced off from the surrounding fans was quite poor. As a result Yankees games on television often show many of these seats vacant.

Empty seats are also a problem on the other side of the continent where the Oakland Athletics play in a mixed-use stadium that, in 1996, had 10,000 additional seats constructed. This development – nicknamed Mount Davis after the notorious owner of the NFL’s Raiders – is covered during baseball season so that it doesn’t look so bad on television. The huge tarps, with the Athletics’ logo, are visible on Google’s recent 45 degree imagery.

Just to the south-east, in Anaheim, Angel Stadium is also visible in the 45 degree images. It is an older stadium, having opened in 1966. However, since Disney took over the team in 1996 it has been extensively modernised. Many new features have been added, including two large red caps by the main entrance, and an attempt to bring nature to the ballpark, with a rocky waterfall and trees beyond the centre field fence.

The iconic ‘Big A’ is a 70m tall metal structure that used to support the scoreboard inside the stadium. It was moved to the parking lot in the late 1970s. The ‘halo’ lights up whenever the Angels win a game.

To finish, here are a few notes about the other American League Stadiums.

Fenway Park in Boston is the oldest MLB stadium, and is best known for ‘the green monster’ – an 11m high wall in left field, though the satellite image doesn’t do it justice. (We can however see the grounds crew hard at work, and the field being setup for batting practice.) It also has a red seat marking the landing location of the longest home run, though I can’t find it on Google’s images.

In Kansas City, the Royals play in Kauffman Stadium which features a waterfall and acrobatic fountains which play between innings.

Google’s satellite images show players training on the field in Cleveland.

In Texas, Rangers Stadium is the only ballpark that I’ve noticed has its own heliport – just across the road to the west of the building. The exterior wall of the stadium is ringed with beautiful stone carvings, though they’re hard to make out on the first-generation low-res Street View images.

The Tampa Bay Rays play in a domed stadium which is actually in St Petersburg, Florida.

In Minneapolis, the Minnesota Twins play at Target Field, a new stadium not yet shown on the satellite images, though we can see it – and its dedicated transit station – mostly completed on Street View.

Finally, the Chicago White Sox play at US Cellular Field, which has a huge list of attractions – from luxury restaurants to misting rooms to cool off on hot summer days – though none of them are really visible from above.

Every stadium can be explored in more detail in the appropriate team’s section on the MLB site, and Wikipedia has good information as well.

Part two of this series will cover the National League, including a stadium with – would you believe – a swimming pool!

Locations: California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Ontario, Texas, Washington / Categories: Buildings, Monuments, Stadiums and Sport, Street Views, Structures

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So in celebration, we’re posting Woodstock, Illinois, the location where most of the scenes from the excellent Bill Murray comedy of the same name were filmed (although it was actually set in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania). And yes, in our thumbnail of the town square you can actually see “Gobbler’s Knob”…

For fans of the movie, the official Woodstock website has a PDF map which identifies all the locations used.

Previously on Google Sightseeing: Groundhog Day, Groundhog Day, Groundhog Day¹.

Locations: Illinois, Pennsylvania / Categories: Movie Locations

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So, today Google Sightseeing presents a collection of the most ‘creative’ neighbours¹.

First up: the small Colorado town of Antonito, where we find Cano’s Castle.

After repeated complaints from neighbours about the growing pile of beer cans on the property, the owner decided to put them to good use … nailing them to the walls and roof of the increasingly ramshackle buildings, along with hubcaps and other assorted scrap metal and assorted signs about the evils of alcohol and tobacco! It’s now a fairly well-known tourist attraction.

Following the same general idea is the imaginatively-named Beer Can House in Houston, Texas.

Owner John Milkovisch has used an estimated 50,000 beer cans (and has the beer belly to show it) in the decoration of his home, which is open to visitors on the weekend.

In the same city, but a different neighbourhood, we find the Orange Show.

A bizarre testament to one man’s love for citrus fruit, which has manifested itself in the form of garish folk art, much of it made from recycled junk. Jeff McKissack worked on it for 24 years until his death in 1980, at which point the neighbours may have hoped to see it disappear. Instead, a community association purchased the property which is now a thriving tourist attraction named the “Orange Show Center for Visionary Art”. Mr Milkovisch’s Beer Can House is apparently included in their definition of ‘visionary’.

While many people love Elvis, most don’t go quite so far as Paul McLeod – the owner of Graceland Too, a house in Holly Springs, Mississippi, which is about 70km from the real Graceland.

Once bright pink, the Street View cameras captured this modestly-sized replica painted white (and with a large election sign outside). We can, however see the lion statues and fake Christmas wreaths which echo the original. The interior is full of Elvis memorabilia, with the owner happy to give visitors a tour of his collection.

For something a little different, we have a perfectly normal house … which happens to be surrounded by nightmarish concrete and stone sculptures – the Garden of Eden in Lucas, Kansas.

Samuel Dinsmoor created this ‘sculptural environment‘ in the early 20th century, and thoughtfully included a 12m high limestone mausoleum, where his embalmed body is still on display decades after his death.

Some people take their creativity to rural areas, where they have more space to express themselves, as in the case of the Golden Pyramid House in Wadsworth, Illinois.

This is a private residence, so any curious passersby have to content themselves with the view from the road, where the pyramid can be seen in the distance beyond a giant statue and a wall covered in hieroglyphics.

Even more remote, and likely not even vaguely concerned about the neighbours, is Jim Bishop, who has been building a castle in the wilds of Colorado for more than 40 years!

While visitors are allowed, they are greeted by a long list of rules and a host with what are described as ‘extreme views’, who has been battling with authorities who control the state parks where he gathers stones for his creation, and the local tourist office which refuses to officially list it as an attraction.

We end with a couple of examples of property owners responding directly to complaints from their neighbours…

First to Youngwood Court in Los Angeles.

Neighbours weren’t happy when the owner Norwood Young erected a single replica of Michaelangelo’s statue of David. He responded to the complaints by installing a further 18 statues … and from time-to-time he decorates them in seasonal attire such as Santa outfits! The property is also known as the House of Davids!

Finally to St. Paul, Minnesota and a rather unusual triangular house.

The property at the corner of 3rd St and Gotzian is rather unconventional due to the angle at which the streets meet. The owner tried to build a normal house on the lot, but the neighbours, perhaps having enjoyed an empty space nearby for some years, objected to the plans.

Eventually the owner gave up trying to apply for variances and just built his home to the exact dimensions allowed, resulting in a house that must have some very interestingly-shaped rooms!

Locations: California, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Texas / Categories: Buildings, Street Views, Weirdness

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The technique has been popularised on the Internet in recent years by pavement artists such as Julian Beever and Edgar Mueller, but as far as we’re aware, their creations have never lasted long enough to be captured by any of Google’s cameras. However a number of buildings around the world have been adorned with large Trompe-l’œil murals, many of which which can be seen on Street View – if you can get to exactly the right spot…

This massive mural on the Lani Nalu Plaza building in Honolulu features Hawaii’s last monarch, Queen Lili’uokalani, alongside Duke Kahanamoku, the father of modern surfing. The figures are shown on a towering wave that threatens to crush three onlooking children.

Mana Nalu mural by John Pugh

From the right angle the effect is so realistic that when some passing firefighters first saw the mural, they actually rushed over to save the children. Don’t believe this isn’t 3D? Look how the illusion is completely shattered by moving only a few metres down the road!

Mana Nalu mural by John Pugh

Sometimes trompe-l’œil can have practical applications too. In Paris, the Saint-Georges Theatre was transformed from a featureless modern carbuncle into a stylish original building, simply with the addition of some convincingly realistic paintwork.

Saint-Georges Theatre by Dominique Antony

Some of the largest murals in the trompe-l’œil style have been made by Richard Haas, such as at 1211 North LaSalle Street, Chicago, where in 1980 he converted a plain 16-story 1929 building into a gargantuan tribute to Chicago School architecture.

Three sides of the building are covered in trompe-l’œil – here we can see the south face, which uses elements from several Louis Sullivan creations and includes a “reflection” of the Chicago Board of Trade Building in the painted windows.

Homage to the Chicago School by Richard Haas

Another artist working in the same medium is Eric Grohe, who converted the plain exterior wall of a shopping wall into a realistic sweeping vista onto a stunningly realised Niagara Falls.

Niagara by Eric Grohe

However in terms of sheer realism, we’ll have to come back to John Pugh, whose publicly visible work we’ve managed to find in several other places.

Siete Punto Uno (7.1) by John Pugh (created to commemorate the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake)

Bay in a Bottle, Santa Cruz, California, by John Pugh

Standin’ on the Corner Park, Winslow, Arizona, by John Pugh

There are hundreds more examples around the world – what other trompe-l’œil murals do you know of?

Locations: Arizona, California, France, Hawaii, Illinois, New York / Categories: Buildings, Monuments, Street Views

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So in celebration, we’re posting Woodstock, Illinois, the location where most of the scenes from the excellent Bill Murray comedy of the same name were filmed (although it was actually set in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania). And yes, in our thumbnail of the town square you can actually see “Gobbler’s Knob”…

For fans of the movie, the official Woodstock website has a PDF map which identifies all the locations used.

Previously on Google Sightseeing: Groundhog Day, Groundhog Day.

Locations: Illinois, Pennsylvania / Categories: Movie Locations

View in Google Earth

This doesn’t seem to be an officially sanctioned public artwork, but rather the work of either a kindly local patron of the arts (or possibly just the result of incredibly bad driving).

This mysterious artwork reminded me of Spindle in Illinois, a sculpture consisting of 8 actual cars impaled on a 15m spike, which we looked at from above way back in 2006, but which has since received an inspection by the Street View camera.

Back in 2006, locals informed us that this work of utter genius was under threat from those who, incredibly, felt it was an “eyesore”! The debate raged on until May 2008, when Spindle was sadly dismantled and scrapped.

All may not be lost however, as the top two cars (a 1967 Beetle and a BMW donated by the man who commissioned the artwork) were actually saved from being scrapped – in the hope they might one day be re-used as part of “Spindle 2″!

Is there a petition we can sign somewhere?

Thanks to John Burns

Locations: Illinois, New Zealand / Categories: Other Vehicles, Street Views

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8) Indecent Exposure

This woman’s dignity has been saved by a bit of face-blurring! Of course her nipples are exposed for all the world to see. Fail!

7) Antisocial Behaviour

These pesky kids are setting up a trip-wire between two bollards. The youth of today, eh? If only the Street View camera had captured the moment they tripped a passer-by…

6) Blocking the road

Five of Providence’s Police Force have blocked up this road for a bit of a pow-wow. How inconsiderate! Someone should give them a ticket.

5) Having a camera on the roof of your car

The French authorities obviously deemed the large camera on top of the car to be a suspicious device, and pulled the Google driver over for an investigation.

Move south down Rue de la Garde and you’ll experience a thrilling chase scene!

4) Grand Theft Auto

It’s one thing to steal a car, but propping that car up on six-foot stilts in your garden is probably unwise.

3) Grafitti

This the the work of Invader, whose Space Invader themed artworks can be spotted all over Paris. He’s even branched out into Oscar the Grouch artworks¹.

2) Taking Hostages?

Of course this could be any crime really, but if it requires an armed policeman hiding behind a car, you can expect whoever’s inside did more than steal some sweeties.

1) Alien Invasion

Presumably there can be no greater crime than invading our planet in little red UFOs?

All these Street View sightings were previously posted to our Twitter account – make sure you follow us for instant updates!

Locations: France, Illinois, Japan, Rhode Island / Categories: Street Views

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