Google Sightseeing » Oklahoma

Navigating Aircraft Navigation

Chris Hannigan — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:01:51 +0000

Ever wonder how airline jets navigate the Earth from 30,000 feet on a cloudy day? The road maps provided by Google Maps wouldn’t be that relevant after all. The fact is most flights use radio navigation or GPS to find their way, and the radio navigation beacons they use are often visible in Google’s aerial and satellite imagery.

There are many types of radio beacons that are still in use today, but the majority are called VHF omnidirectional radio range or VORs. There are VOR stations all around the world, and given how widespread they are, you may well have passed one by without realising. The most common shape of the ground station resembles something of a bowling pin on a circular building. Pilots use the signal which is broadcast from these towers to fly to and from stations, therefore navigating across the sky.

Most beacons are located either at the airport, or placed out in far-away regions to avoid any interference on the signal. Some examples of these remote beacons include the Mitbee VOR in Oklahoma and the McComb VOR in Mississippi.

Take a look at the Babylon NDB (Non-directional beacon) on Long Island near New York. This beacon is situated right in the middle of a densely packed neighbourhood, and since it is only used as a directional beacon and not an omnidirectional range, it doesn’t have the classic bowling pin shape like the VORs. Due to the congestion around this beacon the FAA has declared its signal unusable beyond 15 nautical miles, which isn’t very far at all from a pilot’s point of view.

It’s not unusual to find beacons in very remote and rugged areas of the west of the US as well. Remember, some of the aeroplanes flying over these sparsely populated areas still need beacons to navigate, and thanks to this we see some interesting locations for these VORs. Out in the barren desert we can find beacons like the Sod House VOR in Nevada and the Peach Springs VOR in Arizona.

If you start looking deep in the mountains however, beacons like the Salmon VOR in Idaho and the Red Table VOR in Colorado (which is almost completely buried under the snow!) can be found. Notice how the Red Table VOR is painted in dark colours to contrast with the snow.

Pilots use these different types of beacons to navigate across the sky when they can’t see the ground. For example, let’s say we were going to pilot an aeroplane from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Orlando, Florida. If we chose to use radio beacons for navigation, we could depart to the north using Fort Lauderdale’s own VOR as an initial direction (flying away from it), then switch over and fly towards the Palm Beach VOR as our initial waypoint.

After we cross over the Palm Beach VOR, a slight turn to the west and radio beacon frequency change would allow us to lock onto the Vero Beach VOR, then another shallow west turn and switch would take us directly to the Orlando VOR. During this entire flight, we would not need to see the ground at all (until we land anyway) just as long as we have functioning navigation equipment in the cockpit.

Aviation beacons are all around us, but the reality is that radio navigation is quickly becoming a thing of the past. With technological advances like GPS navigation, existing radio beacons are more commonly being used as a waypoints rather than actual navigation aids. For more information on aircraft instrument navigation, be sure to check out Wikipedia. If you would like to try and fly to a VOR yourself, try this free web based simulator.

Thanks to Runway Finder for helping me locate some of the above beacons.

Locations: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Mississippi, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma / Categories: Aircraft

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The World’s Largest McDonald’s

Chris Hannigan — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 13:00:01 +0000

Standing over the Will Rogers Turnpike outside of Vinita, Oklahoma we find a McDonald’s large enough to cross a four-lane highway! At 29,135 square feet in size, that makes this McDonald’s (you guessed it) the largest McDonald’s in the world!

Opened in 1957, the building was originally home to the Glass House restaurant. You can clearly see why because the “Mickey-dees” still has the original glass house design, just with the addition of the golden arches.

In time the Glass House became a Howard Johnson’s restaurant, before it was finally subsumed into the world’s largest chain of hamburger-based fast food restaurants – and started serving Big Macs.

In truth, most of the interior of the restaurant is today turned over to gift shops, coffee bars, and even a gas station; so the claim to be the world’s largest McDonald’s should be taken with a pinch of salt (as is always the case with claims such as these).

Will Rogers himself does welcome every guest though!¹

If you’d like to see this potentially record-breaking restaurant for yourself, simply take I-44 northeast out of Tulsa. You really can’t miss it!

No, not the real one. ↩

Locations: Oklahoma / Categories: Buildings, Street Views

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Masonic Temples Around the World

Matt Bucher — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:42:43 +0000

Freemasonry is the world’s largest and oldest fraternity. It’s also sort of hard to define. It’s a fraternal organisation, but it’s also bound up with ideas of morals, charity, and social gatherings.¹ For centuries, Masons have taken pride in constructing monuments to their brotherhood (although a common Masonic saying is “Freemasonry erects its temples in the hearts of men” or something similar). Let’s take a look at how some of these lodges and temples appear in Google Street View.

The largest Masonic temple in the world is in Detroit, Michigan. The temple opened in 1926, just a few years before the Great Depression began. Now, the massive auditorium is primarily used as a concert venue called The Masonic.

Modern Freemasonry traces its roots back to the formation of the United Grand Lodge of England in 1717. The U.G.L.E. is headquartered at Freemasons Hall in Great Queen Street, just off Drury Lane, in London.

Across the street from Freemasons Hall, you can see several of the regalia shops that cater to London Masons. These shops sell Masonic books, aprons, keepsakes and trinkets as well as the formal attire required for certain meetings.

In addition to craft lodges (or “blue” lodges), which confer the three degrees of Masonry (Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason), there are dozens of Appendant organisations for Masons to join. Two of the most well-known are the Scottish Rite and the Shriners. The U.S. has two governing bodies of the Scottish Rite, but the larger of the two is called the Southern Jurisdiction and its headquarters are in an impressive building in Washington, D.C., called The House of the Temple (Dan Brown fans might recognise it from The Lost Symbol).

Another fascinating (and massive) Scottish Rite Temple is in the unlikely location of Guthrie, Oklahoma. Part of the building once served as the Capitol of the state of Oklahoma.

Guthrie is a fairly small town in Oklahoma and you can see just how large the footprint of the Scottish Rite Temple is—it takes up several blocks of the town.

The Scottish Rite Auditorium in San Antonio, Texas, is one of the largest in the United States, and like Guthrie, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Outside the U.S. and England, there are many fascinating Masonic buildings—of course, not all of them on Google Street View. In Toronto, there is a large, ornate building labeled “Masonic Temple” but it’s no longer owned by Masons, in fact, it’s now the headquarters of MTV Canada.

Many of the former British colonies have long histories of Masons establishing lodges in the far reaches of the world. Here’s the Masonic Hall in Hong Kong:

These are just a few of the examples of the literally thousands of Masonic temples around the world. Do send in your favourites!

Full disclosure: This author is a Mason! ↩

Locations: District of Columbia, England, Hong Kong, Michigan, Oklahoma, Ontario, Texas / Categories: Buildings, Street Views

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Blob in the Bath

Alex Turnbull — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 23:59:13 +0000

Wayne Coyne is the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of rock outfit The Flaming Lips, and is known for his extravagant stage entrances and over the top performances. Flaming Lips gigs have been described as “psychedelic experiences”, and Mr. Coyne considers himself a bit of an experimental artist.

All of which might go some way to explain why he was photographed by the Google Car whilst sitting outside in a bathtub, with a large painted sign behind him which reads “Blob in the Bath”.

Naturally enough it was a member of the Flaming Lips forums that discovered this little tableau, and they directed us to some photos of the event on Myspace which prove it really is Mr. Coyne in the bath.

Unfortunately we haven’t got a Myspace account¹ to see if Wayne offers any sort of explanation as to what led him to believe this was a sensible sort of thing to do.

Here’s the Flaming Lips on Wikipedia, and more about Wayne himself.

Thanks to Allistair and the members of the Flaming Lips forums.

And we’re far too old to sign up for one. ↩

Locations: Oklahoma / Categories: Street Views, Weirdness

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Top 10 Rudest Place Names in America

Chris Hannigan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:59:37 +0000

Back in February, GSS presented the wildly popular Top 10 Rudest Place Names in Britain. Now, it’s time for the American version! Take a deep breath, bring forth your sense of humor, and drum roll please…

10. Smackover, Arkansas: Claims to have the only “center of the road” traffic light in Arkansas!

9. French Lick, Indiana: Former home of Pluto Water, a laxative with the slogan “When Nature Won’t, PLUTO Will”!

8. Tightwad, Missouri: Supposedly named by a postman following an incident involving a watermelon and an extra fifty cents!

7. Climax, Minnesota: The actual town motto is “Climax – More than just a feeling”!

6. Gayville, South Dakota: Conveniently located in Yankton County!

5. Cumming, Georgia: Nicknamed the “Gateway to Leisure Living”!

4. Horneytown, North Carolina: Be sure to get the t-shirt!

3. Big Bone Lick State Park, Kentucky: Accessable by taking a ride on Beaver Road!

2. Hooker, Oklahoma: Home to the Horny Toads baseball team!

1. Cooter, Missouri: No, not because of the Dukes of Hazzard character!

Honorable mentions by popular request – Hell, Michigan and Truth or Consequences, New Mexico!

Locations: Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota, U.S. States / Categories: Weirdness

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Picher, Oklahoma

Alex Steinberger — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:30:41 +0000

Picher, Oklahoma is a small town in north-eastern Oklahoma near the Kansas-Missouri border. It was once a major hub for heavy metals extraction, boasting some of the most productive lead mines in the world. By the early 1970s however, all mining operations ceased leaving 480 kilometres of underground tunnels, more than 180 million tonnes of toxic waste, and a town without much of a future.

Located in close proximity to the Tar Creek Superfund Site, the citizens of Picher have been left to deal with toxic mine tailings left over from underground drilling operations. These tailing piles, known locally as “Chat“, litter the landscape, some towering one hundred metres or more above the town.

Aside from detracting from Picher’s overall scenic beauty, these chat piles contain extremely fine lead dust and pose a tremendous health risk to its citizens. Children are especially susceptible to the toxic dust because elevated levels of lead in their blood can lead to learning disabilities. Lead and zinc have even contaminated Picher’s drinking water as well as many swimming holes frequented by local youngsters.

To make matters worse, the kilometres of abandoned mining tunnels below the town have been collapsing since the 1950s and continue to do so even today. Due to this geological instability, much of the town has been deemed unsafe for habitation leaving many former commercial and residential blocks in disrepair.

In 1983, Picher and its surrounding mines were declared one of the most polluted places in the United States and became a top clean-up priority of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In the decades since, the EPA and the U.S. Government have made repeated attempts to relocate the residents of Picher. Though a small group of stalwart individuals have resisted relocation, the town is set to close on or around September 1 of this year. On June 13, a final farewell was held, allowing long-time residents to reflect on better times.

For more information about Picher’s history and final days take a look at this CNN article. Also worth checking out, “The Creek Runs Red” is a compelling documentary about the Tar Creek Superfund Site.

Thanks to Brian in Texas.

Locations: Oklahoma / Categories: Abandoned

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Top Ten Confusing Place Names

Ian Brown — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:59:42 +0000

Following the example of Alex’s Rudest Place Names post, I hereby present my top ten confusing place names.

For each of these sights, I picture a confused driver arriving in town, rolling down the car window and asking a passer-by “Can you tell me where I am?”

10. Smile, KY