Unless you’ve been hiding under a very large rock, you’re probably aware that today sees the start of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Held in Beijing, China, the celebrations begin at precisely 8pm local time, 8/8/08. This is a date of extremely special significance in China, as the number 8 is considered to be very lucky.

10,500 athletes are expected to compete in 302 events across 28 sports, in a competition that has been beset with controversy since long before it was due to begin. Political issues aside, the Chinese government has invested heavily in new facilities and transportation systems – in total 37 venues will play host to events, including 12 newly constructed ones.

Google recently released up-to-date images of Beijing, so we’ll be able to see the finished structures, despite some having only been completed a few weeks ago!

Today we’re kicking off with the centrepiece location of today’s opening ceremony: the Beijing National Stadium. Completed in March this year, it’s nicknamed “The Bird’s Nest” because of its skeletal, nest-like structure, which was constructed using 36 km of steel sheeting.

The 330 m long, 220 m wide, and 69.2 m tall Bird’s Nest cost about 3.5 billion yuan, and during the course of the competition will seat up to 91,000 spectators, who will be here watching the main track and field events.

Originally the Guangdong Olympic Stadium was going to be the main venue for these Olympics, but it would appear that the Chinese wanted something much newer and shinier to show off to the world.

If you’re using Google Earth then you’ll be able view 3D models of the places we’re featuring during the Olympics by turning on the “3D Buildings” layer.

Read more about the Beijing National Stadium and the 2008 Summer Olympics at Wikipedia. Also, boston.com’s Big Picture blog published an absolutely stunning photoset of China’s preparations for the Games which you’d be foolish to miss!

Thanks to Dave and Christian Stüben.

Such is the volume of new imagery that is added to Google Earth, that by the time we got around to posting the longest cross-sea bridge in the world, it had already been superseded.

Fortunately for us however, the current reigning champion was captured whilst still under construction, which means that we’re able to bring you the longest cross-sea bridge on Google Earth, China’s Donghai Bridge.

Measuring a whopping 32.5 kilometres (20.2 miles), the Donghai Bridge was completed in 2005, and connects Shanghai (above) to the Yangshan Islands in the East China Sea.

Most of the six lane bridge is low-level viaduct, but there are two cable-stayed sections which allow ships to pass, the larger of which has a span of 420 m.

Apparently the seemingly meandering path the bridge takes across the East China Sea was specifically designed to keep drivers more alert during their long crossing.

While questions have been raised over the financial logic of projects like the Donghai Bridge, China is rapidly emerging as the new Land of Long Bridges. China now has seven of the top twelve longest bridges in the world, all of which were completed in the last 5 years.

There’s information about and a great picture of the Donghai Bridge available at Wikipedia. You can also read about the current longest cross-sea bridge, which will likely also have been superseded by the time we get to it.

Thanks to Lukas Nowacki and Tom.

Driving across the frozen Amur River between Russian and China we can see a couple of trucks – driven by the fearless and legendary Ice Road Truckers!

Although it seems ludicrous, building “Ice Roads” over lakes, rivers or seas, is at times preferable to carving a road on land, as you can get long continuous straights on the ice, which hilly tree-covered land just doesn’t offer. However in this case it appears to be the only existing way across the river.

Driving across frozen water in a 2 tonne truck is of course slightly dangerous. Depending on the country, the ice only needs to be about 20cm thick for authorities to allow trucks onto the surface, and speeds may be limited to a painfully slow 16mph. Luckily our particular truckers don’t have far to go, unlike the men who drive the 568 kilometre Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road each year.

Ice road truckers were made famous by the TV show of the same name, and the green light has apparently been given to make a fictional film based on the series in 2008. I’ve not seen the TV show, but I hear it’s much more exciting than boring footage of lonely truckers driving at 16mph across vast empty frozen lakes.

Read more about ice roads at Wikipedia.

Thanks to pooms.

At Beijing’s huge Capital International Airport, it looks as if disaster is about to strike. As one unsuspecting propeller plane begins its take-off, it seems completely unaware that a large jumbo jet is hurtling towards it, also ready to leave the ground.

Thankfully, the images were taken at different times, and, with some relief, we can report an incident was avoided – nevertheless, a rather disconcerting sight!

In time for the controversial Olympics this summer, the new – Norman Foster designed – Terminal 3-E has also just been completed, and holds the long winded title of the largest airport terminal building complex built in a single phase, with a floor space of almost one million m².

This image was collected when the terminal was nearing completion and, as you can see, the two main parts and the gates are not yet complete. However, Foster & Partners have lots of images showing the completed design in all its glory.

Thanks to Al Cohole.

North of the Chinese city of Hangzhou, a brand new housing development is taking shape in an unusual style. At least unusual for China anyway, as Tianducheng is designed to look like Paris, France! There are currently just 2000 residents living in the development, but its eventual capacity will be around 100,000.

Hoping to bring the ‘European Lifestyle’ to China’s growing number of wealthy residents, the 31 km² development features several reproductions of famous Parisian landmarks, including the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe. At 108 metres, Tianducheng’s Eiffel Tower is the second largest replica of the Eiffel Tower in the world¹ – roughly one third the height of its Parisian namesake.

The development has large landscaped gardens containing several ornate fountains, and from the few photographs of the development available online it would seem likely that in the next thumbnail you can see the Bassin de Latone, which is a copy of the one in the Palace of Versailles’ garden.

As we have seen, there are replicas of specific landmarks here, although much of the design seems to be an amalgam of Parisian architectual styles, so it’s really interesting to compare the two. This video shows just how much work has gone into Tianducheng, and Reuters has a great photo slideshow.

Finally, it should be pointed out that Tianducheng is not the only such European-style development – in Shanghai they’re also building Thames Town (only partial high-resolution), which is modelled on a typical English town, and apparently Italian and German versions are planned elsewhere too!

Thanks to GEforumprofr at the Google Earth Community.

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