Saturday, June 11, 2016

Seen From Above

I came across this aerial image of Guatemala the other day. I zoomed in to find Lake Atitlan, which wasn't hard due to its distinctive shape. (And the fact that I've pored over many maps of Guatemala!) The lake is on the left in the picture below. Panajachel is located at the top of the lake.

As I was marvelling at the details in the volcanoes, my eye was drawn to the big pale smear on the right. My first reaction was, "What is that horrible grey area?"

Can you guess what it is?
Aerial image of Guatemala, showing Lake Atitlan and...
It's Guatemala City! Yeah, eeks. For one, it's HUGE. For two, so grey and miserable looking. But to be fair, it's because most of the buildings are made of concrete blocks and roofed with tin. To me, I can't shake the image that it's a scar on the Earth. Like the land got burned with acid and never healed properly.

Anyway, it was an interesting exercise in perception to look at a satellite image of the world with no pretty colored lines and arbitrary borders. Can you pick out where you live on a map with no labels to guide you? Try it here at Flash Earth.

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