All sights in North America

Google Sightseeing takes you on tour of the world as seen from satellite, using the free Google Earth program, or Google Maps in your web browser. Each weekday your guides James and Alex present new weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.

The editors: James & Alex

World’s Greatest Cunning Stunt

Posted by Rob, Monday, 21st April 2008

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Please note that some or all of the objects mentioned in this post are no longer visible on Google Earth or Google Maps.

We’ve all been there – the camera is on us, and we suddenly feel a burning desire to impress it. Sadly, not everything turns out how we plan.

Take for example this cool customer – he spots the Googlemobile cruising down his street, and decides his patented bicycle ’skid and turn’ manouvre should be executed, maybe with the objective of sending a small puff of dust into the eyes of the unsuspecting driver.

As our intrepid daredevil starts to make the turn everything seems to be going perfectly – but suddenly the stunt falls apart, and moments later he lies in a bizarre tangle with his two-wheeled friend.

As the camera car moves on – rather heartlessly I might add – we see the boy in further distress as he presumably tries to free himself by way of a reverse roly-poly.

As the Google car continues on down the street the poor lad appears to be lying flat on his back, presumably regaining his composure. I do hope he was alright.

Thanks to Jason O and Streetviewfun.

Put Your Hands Behind Your Head!

Posted by Rob, Friday, 11th April 2008

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Reaffirming my belief that the most interesting things happen when the Street-view car is around, today we can see a man getting arrested in Tampa, Florida, or at least having his back pockets searched in a rather heated way.

arrested.jpg

The cause of the arrest is unknown, but seated behind the patrol car are two white sacks which clearly weren’t there when the police officers arrived!

bags.jpg

Sadly the word ‘SWAG’ is not visible on either, so we may have to discount bank robbery in this case. Nevertheless, this alleged crime must have been serious enough to warrant a full shake-down by the (frankly rather unfit looking) cop duo. Which might explain why they seem to have called backup to help deal with this particular miscreant…

In the past, the street-view car has captured what looks like breaking and entering and even a drug deal in action.

Thanks to streetviewfun.

Update: Google has since removed this imagery.

Dancing in the Street

Posted by Alex Turnbull, Tuesday, 8th April 2008

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Here in New Orleans the party looks to be so good that the guests have all spilled out into the street!

It looks like they’re gathered around Joe’s House of Blues – and yet the giant red arrow outside clearly indicates they should be inside instead. So on the off chance Joe’s sound system isn’t all that loud, why else might all these people be hanging around outside?

Thanks to Joey.

Burning Car

Posted by Alex Turnbull, Sunday, 6th April 2008

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While capturing Street View images in Cleveland, Ohio, the Google team drove past a car in flames.

The incident that caused the car to burst into flames took place before the Google car arrived on scene, as the smoke from the fire is visible all the way up the street. It’s worth pointing out though that the frame that should have shown the wreck in most detail has been replaced with a shot taken on a different occasion.

What might have happened here?

Via Virtual Globetrotting.

See our previous posts Expensive Car Crash and Multi-Vehicle Car Accident Captured on Google Street View.

Stonehenge Replicas

Posted by James Turnbull, Wednesday, 2nd April 2008

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Earlier this week archaeologists began excavating Stonehenge in an attempt to decide once and for all exactly when this enigmatic monument was constructed.

Stonehenge has most certainly been around many thousands of years, meaning there has been plenty of time for people to build loads of rip-offs and copies, most of them in the US.

Stonehenge II in Texas is a replica made from wire-mesh “stones” a bit like giant Papier-mâché. Strangely, the stones are about 90% the width of the originals, but only 60% the height – and if you make your way out to see the monument you’ll find it’s flanked by beer-bellied Easter island Moai. Obviously.

There’s ground level pictures on Flickr and more information at Roadside America.

Our second Stonehenge replica is found at Missouri’s University of Science and Technology is at least made of stone, this time made from 160 tons of granite carved with high pressure water jets. Sadly it’s only ½ the size of the original.

There’s also a ground level picture on Flickr.

East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania have a small replica which they apparently dubbed “Stroudhenge”.

Montana’s Stonehenge is located on a private golf course in Montana, and is claimed to be the most accurate replica ever built. But no-one’s been able to confirm that as the golf club is so exclusive.

Lastly, it’s difficult to see from the satellite photos, but Truckhenge whilst not a faithful reproduction certainly scores points through being constructed entirely in the medium of trucks. More info and pictures on Kansas Travel.

Thanks to Henderson Smith, James, FBK and others.

Previously on Google Sightseeing we’ve featured Stonefridge, Maryhill’s Stonehenge, the Segway Inventor’s Stonehenge and a little-known version in England simply called “Stonehenge“.