The 40 Most Bizarre Google Earth Images

Satellite imagery used to be the exclusive domain of governments and spy agencies, but ever since Google Maps and Google Earth we can all get to see weird things! Fancy a look at Area 51? Wondered what it’s like in downtown Moscow? Or maybe you want to check out the Principality of Sealand? These are just ordinary, everyday things that millions of people use Google Maps and Earth to research every day. But what about the things you weren’t supposed to see, the freaks of camera? Here are 40 of the most bizarre sights for you to laugh at. Enjoy.

Will U Marry Me
Marriage proposal seen on a rooftop via Google Maps.


Google Escher Effect – Paris, France
Stitching together satellite pix and aero pics of cities can result in situations like this where the different aerial vantage points result in buildings’ pictures being taken at different angles. Once stitched together, the taller buildings at the edges of each of the pictures appear to be leaning toward or away from one another at pronounced angles.


Graffiti in Google Maps
Site of an extinct volcano crater, the Cerro Prieto, located near Mexicali in Baja California (Mexico). Apparently, a lot of visitors to the site have decorated it with their graffiti, drawn huge enough to be seen from high above. The graffiti appears to have been drawn with the intention to be seen by people looking down into the crater from the eastern rim of the crater. Here’s a closeup shot of it, taken from the ground.


Mystery Stone Arrow


Auto Antics
Think parking is tough where you live? In Westenbergstraat, Netherlands, drivers apparently have to park on the sides of walls.


Localised Black Hole Discovered
As we all know, the general theory of relativity states that a black hole is a region of space from which nothing can escape – including light. Astronomers have identified lots of places where black holes may exist, but apparently they missed one – about 60km north of Tokyo.


Internet fan says he found the face of Satan using Google Earth


Heart-shaped island highlighted by Google Earth becomes hit with lovers
The 130,000 square yard islet of Galesnjak came to prominence after its unusual shape was highlighted on Google Earth.


Man-Shaped Lake in Brazil


Iraq’s Bloody Lake
This blood-red lake outside Iraq’s Sadr City garnered a fair share of macabre speculation when it was noticed in 2007. One tipster told the tech blog Boing Boing that he was “told by a friend” that slaughterhouses in Iraq sometimes dump blood into canals. No one has offered an official explanation, but it’s more likely that the color comes from sewage, pollution or a water-treatment process.


Issaouane Erg desert – Dunes (Algeria)
The shapes and colors of the dunes in this desert are amazing. Notice that the three dunes have almost identical shapes. And there are tens of throusands just like those all around.


Giant Gulliver from Google Earth, Hunters Hall Park, Craigmillar, Scotland.


Terrain Face in Google Maps
The terrain in Alberta, Canada accidentally forms what looks like a human face when viewed from the air or when viewing the satellite pic in Google Maps.


Osmington White Horse
The Osmington White Horse, outside Sutton Poyntz, UK. This prehistoric figure is carved into the white chalk of the hillside – such horse carved shapes are called “Leucippotomy”.


Google Escher Effect pic from Houston
Here’s another weird satellite pic from Google Maps of some downtown Houston skyscrapers. This effect has become known as the “Escher Effect”, or the “Google Escher Effect”.


Land Art near Munich Airport
Land Art or “Earth Art” appearing in a field near the airport in Munich, Germany.


KFC space logo
Yum! Brands Inc created the logo near Rachel, Nevada, and claimed it’s the first ad that can be seen from space. If you recall, the same company had previously wanted to beam a laser ad up onto the moon for Pizza Hut, but had later scaled back to buying ad placement on the side of a Russian rocket.


Where’s Waldo in Google Maps?
Canadian artist Melanie Coles built a large image of the iconic “Waldo” onto a rooftop at an undisclosed location in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.


Bunny in Google Maps
Giant Pink Bunny created by a group of artists near Artesina, Italy.


Coca Cola Logo in Google Maps
This Coca-Cola logo in Google Maps was apparently created out of coke bottles just outside of Arica in Chile.


Portrait of Ghenghis Khan in Google Maps
Out of some sort of fear that they might forget who he was, the people of Mongolia have carved the likeness of Ghenghis Khan onto a hillside outside of Ulaanbaatar.


The Vitruvian Man by Da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man – one of the world’s most recognizable illustrations – is rendered here in crop art in Germany.


The Palm Islands of Dubai
The Palm Islands are artificial islands in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on which major commercial and residential infrastructure will be constructed. They are being constructed by Nakheel Properties, a property developer in the United Arab Emirates, who hired Belgian and Dutch dredging and marine contractor Jan De Nul and Van Oord, some of the world’s specialists in land reclamation. The islands are the Palm Jumeirah, the Palm Jebel Ali and the Palm Deira.


Oprah Maze
She’s got a massive syndicated show and a magazine called O, and she was dubbed the most powerful celebrity in the world by Forbes. Why shouldn’t Oprah get her own corn maze? An Arizona farmer created this 2004 tribute to the TV talk-show host.


World’s Largest Fingerprint


Guitar-Shaped Mansion


I lOVE U


Crop Circles
Without a doubt, the best thing that ever happened to crop circles is Google Earth. This circle in the desert just outside Beatty, Nevada.


Firefox Logo
Crop circle art made in the shape of the iconic Firefox Logo near Portland, Oregon.




Roof Ad, New York City
Roof ad seen via Google Maps in New York City, apparently for a “Roller Skating” rink. Likely intended to target LaGuardia Airport passengers, but many rooftop ads like this are starting to provide impressions through users of Google Maps and other popular online mapping systems which include aerial photos and satellite photos.


Brand Spamming
Other corporate giants who can afford to do product placement in Google Earth include Ford who have placed a large logo on the roof of their HQ.


Ghost Town: Prypiat, Ukraine


Ni Pena Ni Miedo (No Shame Nor Fear)
Written in the sands of the Atacama Desert, Chile, are the words “ni pena ni miedo” which translate more or less as “No shame nor fear”, and together they form what must surely be the world’s largest poem.


Giant of Córdoba takes a bath
Giants have a hard time getting clean. I mean, baths aren’t usually built big enough to fit your average giant, right? Which is the only sensible explanation as to why there’s a giant sitting in the Guadalquivir river in Córdoba, Spain.


Google Maps Oddity
This is a very strange picture from Google Maps satellite picture of downtown Dallas. The rounded top building in the upper middle is the JPMorgan Chase Tower. Next to it is the tall rectangular 2100 Ross Avenue building (dead center). Catty-cornered from those two on the left side is the pointy-topped Trammell Crow Center which appears to be leaning at a sharp angle compared with the other buildings.


Brunel 200th Birthday Maze
This maze in the UK was made to celebrate Brunel’s 200th birthday.


Land Art – Bug in Illinois
Effigy Tumuli, by Michael Heizer, are a few different land art pieces built on Buffalo Rock in Buffalo Rock State Park, overlooking the Illinois River. (Built between 1983-1985) The animal shapes are barely visible now from satellite pics, though you can see the beetle or roach shape outline in this screengrab.


Karl’s Maze, Germany
Karl’s Maze in Purkshof, Germany. Since 1921?