12 Stunning Satellite Images Of Earth Create A New Perspective

By
Liberal America
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Have you ever dreamed you could fly? Can you imagine moving through space and time to see the world as others cannot?

When astronauts see the world from afar, they experience a shift called the ?Overview Effect.? This shift in perception inspired Benjamin Grant?to create the Daily Overview. It is a project designed to capture what has not been available to us in order to:

??fully appreciate the beauty and intricacy of the things we’ve constructed, the sheer complexity of the systems we’ve developed, or the devastating impact that we’ve had on our planet.?

Let me take you to some of the most amazing sights on earth. Grant shares his new gallery here. Check the Daily Overview for more stunning visions.

 

Arc de Triomphe. Image Courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.
Image courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.

 

The Arc de Triomphe is the center Parisian hub of a wheel of avenues. It took Napoleon almost 30 years to build this magnificent structure.

2. Het Loo Palace ? Apeldoorn, The Netherlands

 

Het Loo Palace Gardens. Image Courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.
Image courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.

 

A perfect example of Baroque landscaping resides behind Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. It is called ?The Great Garden.?

3. Magdeburg Water Bridge ? Germany

 

Magdeburg Water Bridge. Image Courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.
Image courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.

 

A water bridge is water-on-water transportation. The Magdeburg Water Bridge is an aqueduct in central Germany, and the largest bridge of its type in Europe.

The water bridge crosses the Elbe River so that large commercial ships can move from the Rhineland and Berlin without needing to transport the Elbe. It took 24,000 tons of steel and 68,000 meters of concrete to build.

?4. Dubai Interchange ? United Arab Emirates

 

Man-made Islands Of Bahrain. Image Courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.
Image courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.

 

It took $6 billion for Durrat Al Bahrain to build 15 man-made islands. They include five fish-shaped and two crescent-shaped islands. Builders scheduled construction completion for mid-summer.

5. Mount Taranaki ? North Island, New Zealand

 

Mt. Taranaki, New Zealand. Image Courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.
Image courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.

 

New Zealand’s North Island is the home of an active stratovolcano, Mt. Taranaki. A natural circle of the green national forest surrounds the volcano.

6. Golden Gate Bridge ? San Francisco, USA

 

Golden Gate Bridge. Image Courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.
Image courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.

 

San Francisco’s signature suspension Golden Gate Bridge crosses the Golden Gate strait, linking San Francisco Bay and the Pacific. It is 1.7 miles long.

The reason it was painted ?international orange? is to make it more visible when the magnificent fog rolls over the area.

7. Norfolk Coal Train Depot ? Virginia, USA

 

Norfolk Train Depot. Image Courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.
Image courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.

 

A high-point in my life was sitting in the cab of the engine of a moving mile-long ore train. This photo shows us another perspective of trains. The largest coal-loading depot in this hemisphere is located in Norfolk, Virginia.

8. Fishing Nets ? Quanzhou, China

 

Taiwan Strait Fishnets. Image Courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.
Image courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.

 

These nets are so large they are visible floating in the Taiwan Strait between Quanzhou, China and Taiwan.

9.?Burning Man ? Nevada, USA

 

Burn Man Event In Nevada. Image Courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.
Image courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.

 

This is 65,000 people camping in a semi-circle around the “Man Sculpture” in Black Rock City, Nevado. The week-long event is “an experiment in community, art, radical self-expression, and radical self-reliance.”

10.?Rice Terraces ? Yuanyang, China

 

Chinese Rice Terraces. Image Courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.
Image courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.

 

This is what 1,300 years of cultivating rice terraces on the mountains of?Yuanyang County, China looks like.

11. Amazon Deforestation ? Brazil

 

Amazon Deforestation. Image Courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.
Image courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.

 

We hear about the deforestation?of the Amazon Rainforest. But seen from space, the destruction of the irreplaceable forest in Para, Brazil is sobering.

12. Palmanova, Italy

 

Star Formation Fortress. Image Courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.
Image courtesy of Benjamin Grant/Google Earth/Digital Globe.

 

The star fort configuration is a fortress that surrounds the town of Palmanova in northeastern Italy. The first ring was completed in 1593, the second in 1690, and the third in 1813.

 

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