Huge Scale Model of Disputed Border Region of China Found in Google Earth

This is one of the most interesting finds in Google Earth in quite some time. A few weeks ago a first time poster, called KenGrok, at the Google Earth Community (GEC) discovered a scale model of some mountainous region located in the middle of a desolate area in north central China. Seen in Google Earth the huge scale model is .9 km tall by .7 km wide. It is adjacent to what looks like a military base with many camouflaged vehicles.

Last week, the same poster found the location the scale model represents - a region occupied by China but claimed by India near north central India. If you turn on the 'Borders' layer in GE you will see they are colored red to indicate the dispute. Another GEC member showed how exact the scale model is by taking a screen shot of the satellite photo of the scale model and overlaying it over the real terrain (turn the image overlay on and off to see how exact it is). This scale model was most likely created for military reasons.

via Google Earth Blog

Peer Review Map Gallery

The good folks over at CartoTalk have put together an interactive map gallery that allows users to post works in progress and receive constructive feedback from other users. I'm a strong proponent of seeking input on mapping projects-- just ask my students.

The gallery is divided into different categories devoted to:

• Peer Map Review -- post your maps for peer feedback
• Map Critique --post maps not created by you for critique
• Interesting Found Maps -- post maps found "in the wild," or other interesting map samples

via CartoTalk

Animated Middle East Crisis Map

In an earlier post, I mentioned that the BBC had a series of static maps that show the day-to-day details of this crisis. One of their competitors, The Guardian, has improved on this idea by creating a Flash-driven time-series map of the conflict.

Helpful hint: To begin the animation, you must click on the tiny arrow beside the word "Next"-- Why couldn't they have made it easier on the user by making a larger hot spot?

Some Stellar Cartography

You would think I would have found this resource before now, especially considering the name of my blog...

One of my previous employers has posted a collection of images and artwork from their collection of rare books. This collection features a number of famous astronomical atlases, such as the 1603 and 1661 editions of Bayer's Uranometria, as well at the Atlas céleste de Flamstéed.

There are high resolution images available from each of the volumes online, which are very nicely executed. If you are a fan of early cartographic artwork, you will enjoy exploring this collection!

via United States Naval Observatory website

Middle East Crisis in Maps

BBC News is publishing updated maps that show the location of the latest Hezbollah and Israeli military strikes. Unfortunately, this is a static map that only shows strikes during the past 24 hours. It's too bad that they don't provide a way to view earlier maps.

via BBC NEWS

Tour de France 2006: Google Maps + GPS + heart rate data = Ubilabs TdF tracker

I knew that the TdF would inspire a few Google mashups this year, and here's one that updates in real time--

Using rider GPS and heart-rate monitor data, Ubilabs has set up a Tour tracker that lets you monitor the position of 8 riders: Jens Voigt and Christian Vande Velde of CSC, Filippo Pozzato and Bram Tankink of QuickStep, Michael Rogers and Patrik Sinkewitz of T-Mobile, and Sebastian Lang and Beat Zberg of Gerolsteiner.

It also shows the course with intermediate sprints, king of the mountain lines, and feed zones.
Very cool.

via tdfblog

Tour de France 2006 in Google Earth

Last year, shortly after Google Earth was released, a bunch of Tour de France (TdF) fans in the Google Earth Community (GEC) put up the complete route of the 2005 TdF. The race was still going on while they were completing it. This year, the complete TdF 2006 course has already been mapped in Google Earth well ahead of the July 1st start (see the official TdF 2006 web site). It's a network link, so any refinements will get updated automatically, so save it in your 'My Places' if you plan to follow the race. Once it loads, you will just see the tracks for each stage. For more details open up the folder and turn on each stage's detailed placemarks showing the checkpoints. You can check out the satellite photos, but more importantly make sure you use the pan/tilt features in GE so you can see the mountains they go through.

via Google Earth Blog