Massive Google Earth Update

[utelore]

Large areas of the PRC have been gone over with very good and updated sat imagery. Huge airfields with camoflage on runways and air hangers. really great stuff check it out. VERY LARGE GOOGLE UPDATE WITH LARGE CHUNKS OF THE AREA AROUND ROC AND PRC THEATER OF OPERATIONS

[WebMaster]

Thank you for sharing the google earth pictures. Just fantastic scenery.

[grahamsh]

Thanks for this...however...perhaps use with caution...the Shanghai area
I am currently looking at appears to be a photo/photos from several years ago...maybe 2001 or so...the building I am currently sitting in right now, just off People's Sq, is about 1/3 built (I can assure it is now a very nice building !).

Have not looked anywhere else yet but what is there may well not be up to date (which would make sense I suppose)

Where are you seeing the airfields etc ????

[WEN?]

could you prehaps give us the lat and long of the airfields. yeh it has changed a lot now.

[bd popeye]

Ok, I'm dumb:confused: I do not see anything posted...Is there susposed to be a link??

[Gollevainen]

how many 051C on Dalian???:confused: just to makes some things clear for change (And I cannot wiev it in my home, my CP is bitching again and shutdowns the screen when ever wieving something intresting...)

[Totoro]

GE does let you know when the image has been taken. What does it say about the particular shangai image allegedly from 2001? what's the date it's been taken? (in case you need help its bottom left corner of screen, layers menu, last several layers reading DG coverage)

With varyag pic, i remember looking some two months ago and not seeing varyag at all. Now a whole new batch of pics has been uploaded (tons of airfields all over china) and presto - vayag is seen. Date of latest pic of that area is march 25th, 2006.

[Totoro]

I've seen one building. It features 4 round holes on the mock helicopter hangar and two more round holes in the front, can't miss it. It looks to be still under construction for some time to come.

On a side note, a good deal of hi res pics throughout china were clearly taken with the purpose of photographing military airfields. I've lost count now how many times theres an area of no big importance, nothing close to any major areas, and then - bang - a hi res pic in the middle of it with a military airfield smack in the middle of that. While it's possible aviation enthusiats payed for some of those pics i wouldn't be surprised that governments too ordered some, saves up on fuel of their own spy satellites. :)

[planeman]

Links please. :)

[swimmerXC]

how many 051C on Dalian???:confused: just to makes some things clear for change (And I cannot wiev it in my home, my CP is bitching again and shutdowns the screen when ever wieving something intresting...)

there's two Golly ;)
see them my Finnish friend? one tied down with weapons fitting the other in dry dock..
look at the 4 missile tubes :D
http://img289.imageshack.us/img289/5109/051c1kj.jpg

[Gollevainen]

Could be...then again the other ship is comftably fuzzy enough to say anyhting certain...But lets wait bit more solid proof untill I offically admitt being wrong;)

[KYli]

Could be...then again the other ship is comftably fuzzy enough to say anyhting certain...But lets wait bit more solid proof untill I offically admitt being wrong;)
Take your times, Golly.:D

I won't mind to wait few more month to prove you are wrong.:) :roll: I am quite optimistic.;)

[Totoro]

Here you are Golly, slightly less fuzzy version.

[utelore]

Also it appears very large parts of Iran are now covered. check out the large air assault base on the west side of terhan with many helos. Also Bandar Abbas and areas are detailed pretty good. Also found a base in north eastern china with 70+ J-8 and J-7. This was not a scrape yard but looks like a active base...Huge base pretty cool

[planeman]

I now have google Earth and I must say it is the coolest computer game ever, like "Play Cold war Spies".... I swear I see missiles in Cuba!!!!

But seriously, there should be a thread with all the highlights, maybe country by country. For interesting comparrison, look at some British bases (USAF inc) and look at Taiwanese and Chinese.... a world apart in terms of shelters etc. And Kuwait has some awesome bases.

[Gollevainen]

Yeas that was good close up of the one of the two ships that looks more of 051C. But the one on the pier side looks somewhat smaller and narrowed, and it looks too blurry to tell wheter it has VSLs or not....
But once im back at my own computer, I check it myself.....

[grahamsh]

Thanks Totoro re GE coverage, I am new to this !

However, still puzzled....the area around my building, which appears to have been covered with 2006 imagery, most certainly does not look like it does on the sat pic ! How do they overlay new stuff over old stuff ???

[Gollevainen]

Well i looked and looked and yeas, it seems I was wrong, tough I still have some doupts. I calculated it and the ship in the pierside is in fact shorter than the ship in the drydock...This all can be just the error caused by the distance and the lins of the satelite but...so you won but i reserve a remach untill the both ships sail and we can look for additional details...

[planeman]

Just sharing a curiosity; a plane caught in flight: 36 05'08 N 120 19'35 E

Minsk carrier at Shataukok: 22 33'12 N 114 14'13E

Indian LCA fighters: 12 56'53 N 77 40'00 E

[grahamsh]

Thanks for this.

Also in Qingdao

36 03' 16" N 120 19' 20" E

Qingdao Naval Museum - interesting place, I was there in 2003 - they have an ex USN LST ; the frigate Kunming (Chinese copy of Soviet Riga) ; destroyer Chi Lin (ex Soviet Retivy) ; and another ship I don't have details for, plus a 1960s vintage diesel sub (you can go inside it) and assorted old aircraft, ship guns and AFVs (I've got pics somewhere if anyone is interested)

36 03' 18" N 120 17' 16" E

What's this then ? These pretty large aircraft are right down by the sea. Seaplanes ????

Talking of curiosities...

31 06'15" N, 121 00' 55" E

Now how did that get there ???? !!!!! ;)

It's a theme park at Dianshan Lake, west of Shanghai. The "carrier" is a mock up. There are also some artillery guns under funny little covered postions and a "trench system" next to it. All very wierd. They sure love their carriers huh !

On the lakeside itself, the long enclosed stretches of water are part of a canoe training school - where they train Olympic canoeists I believe. I was out there with some sailing friends couple of years ago.

People's Daily reports GE....

http://english.people.com.cn//200606/15/eng20060615_274331.html

Google updates Google Earth


Google Inc., the Internet search giant, recently released its updates for its satellite imagery and map products. The update comes a year after the launch of its popular mapping tool "Google Earth".

The company announced that about 100 million people have downloaded Google Earth software since it was offered a year ago and more than 30,000 websites integrate their own items of information into Google Maps.

New tools for Google Maps are designed to fashion buildings as 3-D structures by the user.

Whereas the previous Version 3 was only available for Windows XP/2000 and Mac OS X from Version 10.3.9 upwards, the new Version 4 Beta also comes in a Linux guise.

Being offered in French, Italian, German and Spanish, Google Maps, the update of the software will quadruple the use of land than its predecessor, enabling about one-third of the world's population to obtain an aerial view of their homes and neighborhood.

The company also announced that it will license usage of its online maps to businesses that want to customize the service.

By People's Daily Online

[akinkhoo]

the warehouse at dalian shipyard got their name written on the roof... :D
would you think they discover google earth as a valid advertisement tool since the last update! :D

[swimmerXC]

DF-5 ICBM missile site :coffee:
HQ-2 field... whats in the middle? A plane?
Close up

Anways from that middle thing thats getting protected go North 300 meters and you'll see the end of a plane....

[Seacraft]

DF-5 ICBM missile site :coffee:
HQ-2 field... whats in the middle? A plane?
Close up

Anways from that middle thing thats getting protected go North 300 meters and you'll see the end of a plane....


The item in the middle looks like a tower of some sort. The plane 300 meters north looks like an old MIG/J series. Common around most air fields to have some of the old stuff painted white and on display (though that would be an odd place for it).

Where do you see the missile silos?

[swimmerXC]

The item in the middle looks like a tower of some sort. The plane 300 meters north looks like an old MIG/J series. Common around most air fields to have some of the old stuff painted white and on display (though that would be an odd place for it).

Where do you see the missile silos?

Well I think that DF-5 silo is that bunch of houses are with the white blocks, remember not all countries have to same looking missiles silos as the US
I don't think that's a tower (that shadow probably is), it looks more like a concrete building that goes underground... it's pretty close to the DF-5 site so it could be the control center?

[LiLaZnMaGiCsCt]

I wonder if China has this kind of power of spying through space, like the USA and Europeans.

[swimmerXC]

Something interesting I came across in Chinese Forums

[swimmerXC]

more...

[grahamsh]

more...

What are these things ? Is that characters carved into the ground ?
Can someone translate them ? :) Tks

[grahamsh]

Just in passing, handy list of lats and longs for Chinese cities/towns

http://www.mapsofworld.com/lat_long/china-lat-long.html

[Tiranui]

Chinese airspace using the Aeronautical Information System from Russia's Academy of Science and Google Earth. Note: Some of the airspace layers are overlapping.

http://img448.imageshack.us/img448/9075/chinaairspace4qh.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


Where I got the plug in: http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2006/06/aeronautical_in.html#more

[DarkEminence]

My pardons for my random thoughts, but I have always believed that a military is as strong as it's competitors. Perhaps we could highlight nearby/local bases of other countries besides China (Japanese Bases, US Bases in Okinawa, US Navy headquarters of the 7 seas fleet)...they, after all, will effect China someday (God forbid another war).

Perhaps members in this forum more acquainted with the technology of other nations might help.

Google Earth is a useful resource, as we should explore the entire world, not just one nation. :china:

[grahamsh]

Alleged tank training area in Ningxia....in mainstream Oz media..

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/07/23/1153593217781.html


The mysterious man-made landscape recently "discovered" by eagle-eyed Google Earth spotters in a remote part of China is almost certainly a tank training ground.

The Beijing correspondent for The Sydney Morning and The Age, Mary-Anne Toy, contacted authorities in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region - where the landscape is situated - on Friday.

She was told that the facility was used for putting tanks and their drivers through their paces and that the installation had been there for seven or eight years.

Situated near the town of Huangyangtan, the installation has many features which identify it as a military complex, including a communications tower and a watch tower. It also is situated nearby what looks like an artillery range.

Behind the main building, there is what appears to be a large area where numerous trucks - or tank carriers - are parked.

Although it is difficult to distinguish any tanks, there are several large red-roofed structures in what looks like a massive parking lot where tanks could be housed.

Huangyangtan is about 35km south-west of the provincial capital of Yinchuan, making it unlikely that this is some top secret military establishment.

According to comparative data gathered by members of the Google Earth community, the rectangular landscape bears an uncanny resemblance to 450 kilometres of territory occupied by China, but claimed by India, in the Karakoram mountain range.

The Huangyangtan site has a three-kilometre perimeter.

Launched last year, the Google Earth site became the first to offer users free access to satellite images covering many parts of the globe. In some areas you can see people sitting by swimming pools or walking the streets.

The service has spawned a devoted group of followers who spend their time, scouring the images for interesting or unusual natural and man-made features.

[grahamsh]

Alleged tank training area in Ningxia....in mainstream Oz media..

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/07/23/1153593217781.html


The mysterious man-made landscape recently "discovered" by eagle-eyed Google Earth spotters in a remote part of China is almost certainly a tank training ground.

The Beijing correspondent for The Sydney Morning and The Age, Mary-Anne Toy, contacted authorities in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region - where the landscape is situated - on Friday.

She was told that the facility was used for putting tanks and their drivers through their paces and that the installation had been there for seven or eight years.

Situated near the town of Huangyangtan, the installation has many features which identify it as a military complex, including a communications tower and a watch tower. It also is situated nearby what looks like an artillery range.

Behind the main building, there is what appears to be a large area where numerous trucks - or tank carriers - are parked.

Although it is difficult to distinguish any tanks, there are several large red-roofed structures in what looks like a massive parking lot where tanks could be housed.

Huangyangtan is about 35km south-west of the provincial capital of Yinchuan, making it unlikely that this is some top secret military establishment.

According to comparative data gathered by members of the Google Earth community, the rectangular landscape bears an uncanny resemblance to 450 kilometres of territory occupied by China, but claimed by India, in the Karakoram mountain range.

The Huangyangtan site has a three-kilometre perimeter.

Launched last year, the Google Earth site became the first to offer users free access to satellite images covering many parts of the globe. In some areas you can see people sitting by swimming pools or walking the streets.

The service has spawned a devoted group of followers who spend their time, scouring the images for interesting or unusual natural and man-made features.

More on this here - although members are maybe aware or involved already !

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/08/14/1155407679963.html

On the internet, a little mystery can go a long way.

Six weeks ago, a man living in Germany and calling himself KenGrok, announced a fascinating discovery on a Google Earth Community forum.

Poring over satellite images of China on the free Google Earth service, he came across a strange plot of land - approximately 900 metres by 700 metres, about the size of six Sydney Cricket Grounds.

The land, which KenGrok said was landscape that had been modelled for military purposes, is situated near the town of Huangyangtan about 35 kilometres from Yinchuan, the capital of the autonomous region of Ningxia, in northern China.

Nearby, there is a substantial facility complete with rows of red-roofed buildings, scores of what look to be military trucks and a large compound with elevated lookout posts and a large communications tower.

The land was contoured in a way that was out of sync with the surrounding countryside.

It appeared to be a mountainous region, complete with snow-capped peaks and glacial valleys dotted with numerous lakes.

Yet this piece of land was slap bang in the middle of a largely arid area due west of the rich alluvial plains bordering the upper reaches of the Yellow River.

A fellow Google Earth enthusiast suggested that the topography indicated that this was probably a model of land on one of China's frontiers.

KenGrok went looking and two weeks later came back with the answer. The swatch was a scale model of 157,500 square kilometres of territory in and around China's Aksai Chin border region that abuts India and Pakistan.

The scale is exactly 500:1.

Tim Brown, a senior fellow specialising in satellite imagery analysis at GlobalSecurity.org, said it was one of the more intriguing discoveries he had come across.

He said that, while he was aware of military trainers using terrain models, these were mostly only on a much smaller scale.

"These days, while terrain modelling is not completely obsolete, they do rely much more on computer-based simulation," he said.

That's not to say that the Chinese, with their vast pool of manpower, have scrapped the practice.

Last week a reader posted a link on our own MashUp blog that led to a Chinese site - wforum.com - where in late July a reader posted a photo showing men in blue overalls on what looks to be another large-scale terrain model.

The caption does not clearly state where or when the photo was taken but it is watermarked "Xinhua" - the New China News Agency, China's state-run new agency.

Although the land on which the model is based is Chinese territory, it is also claimed by India. The two sides fought a brief war over the area in 1962.

Covering an area the size of Switzerland, the Aksai Chin region is a high altitude desert plateau. It contains a strategically important highway 219 that connects the far north-western province of Xinjiang with Tibet.

While that explained what this man-made landscape was, it didn't explain why there was a need to construct such an elaborate model about 2400 kilometres to the east.

In the ensuing month, debate and discussion has raged across the length and breadth of the world wide web.

The story has been reported across the world in many languages by bloggers and news websites. It's become the topic of discussion on forums, blogs and bulletin boards.

Everyone from conspiracy theorists to model railway enthusiasts has joined in the debate, marvelling at the size and complexity of the structure and speculating as to its purpose.

Among the many theories doing the rounds are that the model is:

:: A navigation/gunnery training area where drones drop small flour or paint bombs in an exercise to simulate trajectories and dispersal patterns.

:: A model of the catchment areas of China's major river systems, simulating the effects of climate change.

:: A model to study the dispersal patterns for chemical or biological weapons.

:: A large-scale mini putt-putt course.

The Indian Express newspaper website last week quoted an unnamed Indian officer who had served in the region as saying that, while the military was aware that the Chinese had training facilities to prepare its forces in the event of an outbreak of hostilities in the disputed region, "the scale and detail is something new to us".

Still the mystery remains unsolved. Why is it there? How long has it been there? And how is it used?

When the Beijing correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age contacted local officials last month, she was told that the area was a tank training facility that had been there for seven or eight years.

But this theory is dismissed by GlobalSecurity.org's Tim Brown, who said that the scale of the model was just too small.

Moreover, as the actual land that the model represents is on a plateau 5000 metres above sea level, it would make tank warfare difficult if not impossible.

However, he did say there was evidence of a live fire range and a tank training course further to the north of the terrain model.

Brown said that the facility was unlikely to be a holdover from the 1962 conflict. He pointed out the lack of vegetation around the base, indicating that it was only recently constructed.

The size of the model also means that it is unsuitable for training pilots - unless they use it as a walk-through terrain visualisation training exercise.

All of which lead Brown to speculate that the model is all about what he calls "perception management".

"It could be that it's just there as a morale builder, " he said. "I mean, look, even I'm impressed by what they've done."

[DarkEminence]

Google Earth Tracks Nukes
The lovely Elizabeth and I spent the better part of the last week driving across country, to set up the winter Defense Tech HQ in Los Angeles. We didn't realize how many nuclear weapons we passed along the way: the old warheads at the Pantex facility, just outside Amarillo; the 1,914 doomsday devices at Kirtland Air Force Base, in Albuquerque.

When we drive back in the Spring, we'll know. Because the wonks at the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Federation of American Scientists have teamed up to make a Google Earth map of the nearly nearly 10,000 nuclear warheads in the U.S. arsenal.

The satellite map - drawn from this Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists study -- "offers a fresh accounting of the extensive U.S. nuclear inventory, and its dynamic graphics let site users 'fly' onscreen across a sprawling network of military facilities in 12 states and in Europe," a press release reads.

The researchers emphasize that none of the locations is secret. All have been known for years to house nuclear weapons and are highly secure military facilities that do not pose a direct security risk to surrounding communities...

The U.S. nuclear arsenal currently is housed at 18 military facilities in 12 states and six European countries. The highest concentration is at the Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific in Bangor, Washington, which is home to more than 2,300 warheads – probably the most nuclear weapons at any one site in the world. At any given moment, nearly half of these warheads are aboard ballistic-missile submarines in the Pacific...

Over the past decade, the United States has removed nuclear weapons from three states – California, Virginia and South Dakota – and one foreign country, Greece. And during that time, the estimated number of nuclear weapons in the U.S. stockpile dropped from approximately 12,500 to just below 10,000. At its height, in the mid-1960s, the U.S. stockpile boasted some 32,000 warheads...

[Today], more than two-thirds of the warheads are stored at bases for operational ballistic missiles and bombers. Only about 28 percent of the warheads have been moved to separate storage facilities, such as the massive underground vault at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which stores more than 1,900 warheads – the second largest cache in the arsenal.

Hmmm... maybe we'll take the Northern route home.


http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002949.html

Just some info...even the pro's are doing what you're doing.