Google Map Surprise

[travel-to-go]

I am not going to take credit for this one. In fact, I was waiting for Host Doug to post it.

 

Rich in Sacremento on the Yahoo Cunard List posted this yesterday and I am surprised no one has cross- posted. I was going to ask his permission but I promised someone I would post the url to cruise critics, and we are going out to dinner shortly, and this is, after all, a public page!

 

Go ahead. Click on this url:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=lisbon,+portugal&ie=UTF8&z=18&ll=38.697799,-9.172913&spn=0.002093,0.006051&t=h&om=1

 

As you can see, this is Google Maps, Lisbon, Portugal, Just East of the Ponte 25 de Abril (or 25th of April Bridge)

 

Zoom in to the next to last step. And tell me what you see, and if it is anything anyone here recognizes.

 

I wonder how many more of these there are out there?

 

Anyone bored and wants to goggle a bunch of places?

 

Karie

Who is amazed at the clarity, even thogh I have used Terra Maps before and we use them extensively at work!

[Liv4cruzin]

Hmmmm, QM2???

[CASHIPman]

...so is QM2!

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=New+York,+NY&ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=40.768956,-73.998199&spn=0.003819,0.013475&t=k&om=1

[travel-to-go]

I tried to look at Southampton, but couldn't remember which docks. I didn't see anything that looked like it could be her.

 

Surely there must be other ports that she or one of her sisters were in when the satellite was overhead snapping cameos! Remember, some of the shots were a few years back. So the QE2 or...Who knows?

 

Karie,

who thinks that shot is just marvelous!

[captain_rad]

The QE 2 docks at berth 38 & 39 at the QE II terminal in Southampton. I did a google search there, no ship.

[Colin_Cameron]

She's also at NYPST.

 

QE2 used to be in San Pedro until they updated the photos

[bobby1119]

I tried to look at Southampton, but couldn't remember which docks. I didn't see anything that looked like it could be her.

 

Surely there must be other ports that she or one of her sisters were in when the satellite was overhead snapping cameos! Remember, some of the shots were a few years back. So the QE2 or...Who knows?

 

Karie,

who thinks that shot is just marvelous!

Karie, Go to Google Earth and look at the westside piers of Manhattan... Queen Mary 2 can be seen, her butt sticking out beyond the pier into the North River! As the satellite phots were taken at different times and are updated, there can be multiple sightings.

 

I have been trying to locate QE2 but cannot find her. I have been spying on many of the ports we will call at during the world cruise. It's actually great as it is giving me a pre-orientation.

 

Should we start a "Where's QE2?" quest a la "Where's Waldo?" on Google Earth?

 

Be well,

Bobby

[lannp]

The QM2 was in Lisbon last month. So that's what it looked like when we were docked there.

[duck tune]

The google maps are not current or reflecting real time. I discovered this some time ago when looking at my home using this web site. I knew that my car was in the driveway but the map did not show that and the leaves on the trees did not match the season. If you want to double check, go to San Diego where the Oosterdam is docked today and you will not see a ship in port on the google map site (Type in San Diego, CA). Not sure when the "maps" were posted but if the QM2 is actually in Lisbon now, it is coincidence - I thought she was doing Transatlantic cruises from NYC.

[duck tune]

Forgot to mention that if you look at San Diego the USN ship "Midway" is not docked and that has been in place at least 2+ years. Plus, if you check out Seattle you will find a cruise ship at the Bell St. pier, but cruising season is over for Alaska!

[travel-to-go]

DuckTune,

I'm sorry. I sort of make assumptions. I assume just because I have worked with some of the resourrcees in my job, everyone in the universe should know! It's easy to see once I stop and think, in this age of cnstantly updated webcams, how people might assume these shots are realy time. They are not. These are satellite photos. They are't like web cams that are constantly updated. At any given time there may not be a satellite directly over a particular landmark. These are high resolution photos taken by NASA or one of the commercial satellite operators. TerraMaps, is one. They scedule when they will be doing a particular area, and they don't always get really high high resolution, which you can tell by a couple of things. One is, on some maps you can go all the way to the highest resolution, others you can not. If you look at some rural reas (try Colchester, CT, where I live, for an example. Go a bit south and west of the main highway through the town, and you will see that it suddenly goes to a much lower resolution and you can see the actual plats, or squares where the pictures are "sewn" together. Also, you may notice tht some are taken at an angle, if the satellit is not directly overhead. NOAA does these, The USGS, US Geological Survey has some really good maps for various purposes, including collecting information on watersheds and waterways. Some of their maps are publicly available, some you must subscribe to. When we want to explore terrain for the appropriateness of locating an antenna, or for placing one on an existing structure, we use a lot of these resources, plus some commercial terrain software and such. Aerial mapping is totally different from satellite mapping. I learned about aerial mapping when I was a teen in the Civil Air Patrol in Florida. With aerial, you can get very high resolution with the right equipment, mounted to the bottom of the plane. Of course, those, by necessity are much smaller plats. At any given time and place, these satellite images may be 2 years old or older. In the aftermath of Katrina, NOAA sent planes over New Orleans and took high res photos at relatively low altitude of the flooding, which Google overlaid over streetmaps. They also showed before and after that you could toggle back and forth. I do not know if those are still there. They were incredible, and depending on the angle of the plane to the objects below, could show incredible clarity. Of course an oblique angle is going to reduce clarity and create distortion.

 

Sorry. Because I knew about such things before Google maps came along, it didn't occur to me that everyone else didn't! DUH! Stupid me!

 

Well, I just checked, there is no longer the comparison in New Orleans, but if you move east to Biloxi and the Bridge over to Ocean Springs Mississippi (where my company has an office and set up two tent cities and brought in major tractor trailers full of food, water, portable showers, toilets and kitchens, generators, and so much more- We really rallied- ) you wil see an awful lot of houses with Blue roofs. and yes, there are a lot still like that. It is shocking to see it even months after the damage- like Christmas 04 in Florida after the August storms when we went to see both mine and Marc's folks.

 

Karie,

Who didn't mean to turn to thread to sad times.

[duck tune]

It is still a very cool site and cool thing to look at. Didn't mean to seem negative but also didn't want those who didn't know better to go looking for ships and not find them where they should be. Thank you for all of the information.

[travel-to-go]

It is still a very cool site and cool thing to look at. Didn't mean to seem negative but also didn't want those who didn't know better to go looking for ships and not find them where they should be. Thank you for all of the information.

 

Oh, no! I did not find your post to be negative at all! I was just dumb, not thinking that those who weren't as familiar with the technology, going back before google maps existed, but who are VERY familiar with today's ubiquitous web cams might not realize these are not realtime! In fact, the other day, a dear friend who has sailed QM2 twice with us, and who is failry knowledgeable about the internet (as a retired phone company engineer) remarked that she could tell how old the shot of her neighborhood was, becasue it showed a house that was torn down at least two years ago!

You didn't sound negative at all, and in fact presented some information that might be very valuable to those who also might go looking for realtime saatellite data- After all, you get it on the NOAA and National Hurricane Center site when looking at hurricanes, and on the TV weather forecasts, nightly, so there is no reason to think it isn't realtime, especially as there is nothing on the page to lead one to believe otherwise! You provided a service to many, I am sure, who otherwise might not have realized they are sometimes very (well, relatively) old shots!

 

Karie,

who wonders what sort of tune a duck makes (AFLAC, AFLAC!)