Sometimes, it's easy to forget how many things are now possible through technology. Google Earth may not be something that most of us need to use every day, but just knowing it by that name goes a long way to making it feel normal.
Sometimes, it's easy to forget how many things are now possible through technology. Google Earth may not be something that most of us need to use every day, but just knowing it by that name goes a long way to making it feel normal.
Granted, it's what the world looked like when those photos were taken, but it's still mind-blowing to realize we can see what any part of the world looks like whenever we feel like it.
And for that, we're forever grateful. How did we live before seeing this picture of the underwater tidal channels of the Wadden Sea of Denmark?
As he told Bored Panda, "I tried to find interesting examples of geologic processes to use in lecture presentations."
But in this case, he doesn't have much of one. All he knows is that it's an oddly-shapped clearing in Punjab, India.
For instance, he's deduced that this is a push boat moving a bunch of barges up Alabama's Tombigbee River.
Take, for example, this pile of "black stuff" in Douglas, Arizona. He figures it could be a massive pile of waste rock from a mine, but he didn't see any signs of a mine nearby so he's not 100% sold on that theory.
That's because this is an aerial view of Pointe du Hoc, Normandy, which was the site of German defenses on D-Day.
Those craters were apparently preserved since the bombs originally fell on them.
Specifically, we're looking at the ruins of the USS Arizona and the memorial built above its final resting place.
This breathtaking view from Iran compelled him to say, "I really like the blue color of the formation ringing the center of the anticline. I need to go there and get a sample. You can see the colors of the formations reflected in the fan."
He figured it was a target for military aircraft, but that theory made him a little nervous because whatever this is, it's not far from a heavily populated area.
He also said that water that ends up here started as snowmelt from the mountains peeking out from the bottom.
He also said that the sand dunes in the northwest happen when there's enough wind to move dunes around, but not enough sand.
At least, that's what the circles are. The white specks are apparently oil pads connected by roads.
Will wondered why the fields had such an orange tint to them, and one commenter from the area said it had to do with the high clay content.
With that in mind, it probably doesn't come as a surprise to learn that each one of those little squares marks a fort.
Considering the struggles that would've occurred at just one of these positions during the war, it's not difficult to see how the battle escalated to such infamous heights.
One you take a look at that, it's not difficult to imagine what all that dusty land surrounding it used to look like when it was possible to farm there.
This is what this area looks like most of the time due to upriver dams.
For his part, Will wasn't sure whether the difference in color between them had to do with Google stitching images taken at wildly different times together or with the use of different buildings materials.
What we have here is just the Rio Grande River flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.
And no, that doesn't exactly narrow it down. But the point is that it's great shot of the circular waves reflecting off of this breakwater.
It shows ice breaking up at a marina in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and he finds it the most visually-appealing of them all.
Or as Imgur user [DramaticLlamaSyndrome](Or as Imgur user DramaticLlamaSyndrome put it, "It's like travelling but for poor people! JK this is actually really cool. The world is an amazing place.") put it, "It's like travelling but for poor people! JK this is actually really cool. The world is an amazing place."
You never know what you could find!
h/t: Imgur | geologistsmakethebedrock