When I need a break from working on my computer, what do I do? I hop on my computer and cruise around the web. When that gets old, I travel the world… kind of.
I could spend hours on Google Maps or Google Earth… seriously. Hours.
Not only is it super cool to see the city, town, hamlet you live in from space, but you can go pretty much anywhere in the world and look down on the people there… LIKE GOD DOES!
Enter the design. Urban planning is design right? Hell yes it is. Seeing how cities are constructed and built up over years, decades and centuries is fascinating to me. Take an hour and cruise over Europe. They knew what they were doing, then they didn’t and now they do again. You can see where they messed up!
Rome and Vatican City are worth a look as well. The churches and random other architectural spaces are weird and wonderful. Everything is a shape of some kind. A cross, a star, another cross, a different kind of S… you know the shapes!
The next thing to check out is the design of nature. Deserts, forests, mountain ranges and rivers are all brilliantly laid out in a perfect layout. I’m not saying it’s a map to the universe, but it could mean something.
Of course, why go anywhere in the world without going to places you’re not supposed to go to. Area 51 (type it in and Google takes you there) is really just an air force base. But weird it is. There are landing strips going all over the place and strange shapes in the desert surrounding the base. Plus you can usually see planes on the tarmac. I’m not sure how many times they update the images, but that’s pretty awesome.
Speaking of conspiracy theories and black helicopters, The Register held a contest to scour Google Maps / Google Earth for crazy things. It’s pretty amazing what a satellite can capture. Check out what they found here!
So next time you have some time and need to look at a different kind of page layout or web design, take a cue from Google Maps / Google Earth. I’m sure you’ll find just what you need somewhere in the world.
Oh and take a look at Roswell, NM. Lots of circles… seriously, it’s weird.
