The resort offers the full winter experience, from building snowmen to taking ski lessons. There is even the ‘cozy mountain lodge’ where you can sit by the fireplace and enjoy some apres ski … though of course your glass of mulled wine would have to be non-alcoholic.

This however is not the largest indoor ski slope in the world  – that honour goes to SnowWorld in Landgraaf, the Netherlands, while AlpinCenter in Bottrop, Germany claims the longest indoor run.

Still, Ski Dubai doubtless has the largest energy bill as a result of maintaining a temperature around -1°C in the desert!

More information and lots of images at the official sites of: Ski Dubai, SnowWorld and AlpinCenter, and Wikipedia has a full list of indoor ski centres.

Thanks to Roy, Jack Langdon and David Thornton.

Locations: Germany, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates / Categories: Buildings, Stadiums and Sport

View in Google Earth

Currently standing at a staggering 688 m, construction of Burj Dubai is set to continue for another year, and the final height will not be announced until the building opens in September 2009.

As you can see, the Google Earth image was taken while the building was still just a toddler, but you can get an idea of how it might look with a 3D model.

Before the Burj Dubai came along the process for deciding on the world’s tallest building was strangely complex – there’s actually 4 possible categories to consider – and there were separate records for supported masts.

Burj Dubai simplified the debate by taking the top spot in all possible categories, but it gives us an opportunity to revisit all the previous record holders, many of which have been updated since we previously looked at tall buildings and the world’s tallest towers.

Taipei 101 in Taiwan once held the “tallest building” record in 3 of the 4 possible categories with its architectural height of 508 m, highest occupied floor of 438 m and roof height of 448 m.

For the moment at least, Taipei 101 retains the title of largest completed building, but after the completion of Burj Dubai it will have to settle for being the location of the world’s fastest ascending elevator, which can get you up to the 101st floor at a gut-wrenching 37.7 mph!

Chicago’s Sears Tower was once the holder of all tall building records. Taipei 101 failed to conquer its record of “height with antenna”, at 529 m, but Burj Dubai has easily cleared that without the need of extra-reaching aerials.

Lastly, the rope-supported KVLY-TV mast in Blanchard, North Dakota, was officially the tallest man-made structure on the planet at a height of 629 m. The fact that Burj Dubai already tops this height without any external supports is testament to just how amazing an engineering feat it really is.

Further reading at the Wikipedia pages for Burj Dubai, Taipei 101, Sears tower and KVLY-TV mast.

Locations: Illinois, North Dakota, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates / Categories: Buildings, Towers

View in Google Earth

Here we can see it in a relatively early stage. From the timeline of pictures on Wikipedia, this image looks to have been taken in early 2006.

But things have changed substantially since then. Already, as of last week, it towers 639m into the sky, with 160 floors. Within the next few weeks, it will likely surpass the – now destroyed – Warsaw radio mast to become the tallest manmade structure ever built. And it won’t even be finished then! It is expected to top off at around 818 metres.

The challenges of building the Burj Dubai are immense, with the incredible heat of the desert, meaning that most of the work is carried out at night, coupled with the problem of pumping concrete that high, all challenges that are overcome thanks to the extraordinary amount of money that is being poured into Dubai by wealthy Princes. It is even said that over 25% of the world’s tower cranes are working on projects in Dubai.

However, the record may not stay with this tower for long, as plans are already being made for a mile-high tower nearby!

Read up on the Burj Dubai and watch its progress in pictures at Wikipedia, see a recent picture of Burj Dubai (and neighboring developments) on Flickr and see a previous post on the current tallest buildings.

Thanks to David Kelly

Locations: United Arab Emirates / Categories: Buildings

View in Google Earth

The first developed island is owned by Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher. The $7 million piece of land was gifted to him by Dubai’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and is located in the Arctic (although I’m sure he would have preferred Germany).

There’s various rumours of who owns the other islands, including reports that Rod Stewart spent $33 million to buy mini-Britain.

The entire project is scheduled for completion in 2008, and over in what looks like it might be Spain, we see a boat “spraying” sand to create the island.

Official Website and thanks to Brad, Catherine, alexandrecavaco, Others.

Locations: United Arab Emirates / Categories: Islands

View in Google Earth

Perhaps it’s just the beginning of a longer word? HARRY? HASTA LA VISTA? HALP (sic)?

Thanks: Heather Muise

Locations: United Arab Emirates /

View in Google Earth

The images haven’t made their way into Maps yet, so if you click the image below you’ll just get an out-of-focus empty shore, but click the Google Earth link and you’ll fly to one of the super-cool artificial Palm Islands in Dubai.

There’s loads of things to see all over the place so hopefully we’ll see the images in Google Maps soon!

Locations: United Arab Emirates / Categories: Islands, Structures

View in Google Earth

Thanks: Rob B

Locations: United Arab Emirates / Categories: Buildings

View in Google Earth

Thanks to Tggb3k (We noticed your submissions eventually!)

Locations: United Arab Emirates / Categories: Buildings

View in Google Earth