Secrets of google maps. Mobil Oil Corporation, Buffalo, New York, USA. "The Hill", a correctional facility in Elmira, USA

Mysterious Island

In 2012, a team of Australian explorers discovered an "undiscovered" island the size of Manhattan (58.8 square kilometers) in the South Pacific. Mysterious place was named Sandy Island and took a place on the maps to the north-west of New Caledonia. It also appeared on Google maps, resembling a black angular sausage. However, when scientists arrived at the site of the proposed island in November 2012, they found only endless ocean expanses. In their explanation, released in April 2013, the scientists declared the island a "mistake", explaining that, most likely, some kind of accumulation or formation, possibly made of pumice, was taken for the island.

lake of blood

Outside the city of Sadr in Iraq, at 33.396157°N, 44.486926°E, Google Maps indicates a blood-red lake. There is no official explanation about the origin of this object. Among unofficial versions: discharge into the lake of waste from production or local slaughterhouses, and possibly (and most likely), special bacteria that give the water a red tint.

©livescience.com

Ant peas

A strange pattern in the form of polka dots in the area of ​​the volcano on north side The Grand Canyon in the US has received a fairly simple explanation from scientists. The authors of the pattern turned out to be red reaper ants (Pogonomyrmex barbatus) that live in this desert. They create nesting mounds up to 120 cm in diameter, around which about 10 square meters. m stretches bare land. Meanwhile, this explanation, put forward by the physicist Amelia Carolina Sparavilla from the Institute in Turin, is still only a hypothesis and has not received official confirmation.

©livescience.com

Island-"matryoshka"

And this is the world's largest island on a lake, which is located on an island in a lake located on an island. A narrow strip of land is located in Canada on small lake located on another island. He, in turn, is located on a lake 90 km from the coast inside Victoria Island in the Canadian arctic archipelago. According to the assumptions of journalists, a human foot has never set foot on the “matryoshka” island.

©livescience.com

Cemetery of retired planes

Davis-Monten Air Force Base is where military planes come to die. "Burial" with coordinates 32 08 "59.96 ° north latitude, 110 50" 09.03 ° east longitude and an area of ​​​​more than 10 square meters. km is officially closed to the public, but you can still look at it using Google Earth. It contains the remains of many legendary aircraft, from the B-52 StratoFortress to the F-14 Tomcat. Among the several thousand units of aircraft, there are also spaceships that have served their time. According to some estimates, the total value of the scrap metal located here exceeds $35 billion.

©livescience.com

name in the sand

Sheik, billionaire and member ruling family Abu Dhabi Hamad bin Hamdan Al Nahyan instructed to carve his name on the sand of his Al Futaisi island (8 km from Abu Dhabi) in the Persian Gulf. Apparently, this is the largest sand inscription in the world. The letters are so large that they interact with the tide, filling with water instead of being swept away by it.

©livescience.com

Mysterious Gobi Pattern

In China's Gobi desert, images have captured quite a few structures that are hard to explain. One of them is a mysterious mesh of regular shape. Discussing the pictures, Internet users were mainly inclined to the military-strategic origin of the object. The area of ​​the pattern was embarrassing - about 33 km. However, most likely, this is the Yagi-Uda antenna, it is also a “wave channel”. This antenna consists of active and several passive vibrators located parallel to each other along the radiation line and is used in radio communication and radar systems.

©livescience.com

Trolling Google maps has a long history - people can not deny themselves the pleasure of diversifying their landscapes with man-made symbols. Even a special term appeared - mapvertising. As a result, the largest Coca-Cola logo in the world can be seen on a hillside in Chile. At the same time, it is alleged that it is made from 70,000 empty soda bottles. Another advertising creative that has settled in Nevada is a giant image of the KFC symbol, Colonel Sanders.

©livescience.com

"Kiss of the Earth"

One of the funniest objects on Google Earth is definitely the "Kiss of the Earth". These unusual lip-like hills are located in Sudan's Darfur and are traditionally the source of witty comments on the web.

©livescience.com

Google Maps service, as well as the mapping program "Google Earth", without a doubt, are one of the most popular products of the Internet giant. Who among us has not looked for his street and his house on aerial photographs, who has not tried to fly using the flight simulator built into the program? Every day, hundreds of thousands of people around the world surf the virtual planet and use the mapping service.

From time to time they make wonderful discoveries, finding unusual uses for standard functions or discovering something mysterious or simply funny in aerial photographs, and we present an exposé of the 10 most interesting secrets on google maps.

Chat with a Martian

The name of the program "Google Earth" has long been out of line with its capabilities, since it can also be used to travel on the Moon and Mars. To do this, just switch to another mode using the corresponding button on the program toolbar.

In the fifth version of Google Earth, users had an unusual opportunity - everyone was invited to chat with a Martian. To do this, just switch to the "Mars" mode, enter the Meliza query in the search box. The program will detect a robot lurking on the surface of the red planet. Click on it and a chat window will appear. You will see a warning that the robot is using an account on another planet, so errors may occur during the transfer process.

Try to chat with Melisa - she will rephrase your messages and tell you a lot of interesting things about Mars. True, the robot is ready to communicate only on English language. It must be assumed that the name of the robot Meliza stands for "Martian Eliza". As you know, Eliza was one of the first chatbots.

far route

One of the most popular features of the service Google Maps- laying routes. Indeed, it is very convenient when you are going to a store that you have never been to before, or going to another city, to see how best to get there.

But the possibility of laying routes also works for very long journeys. For example, if you decide to drive from Tokyo to Beijing, Google Maps will tell you exactly where to go. The service also has advice on overcoming the ocean, which will definitely appear on your way. Google proposes to cross 782 kilometers of the ocean ... on a jet ski.

And if you decide to go, say, from Boston to Sydney, Google Maps will help you with route planning, and they will advise you to overcome 2756 miles of the way across the Pacific Ocean in a kayak - a single-seat kayak. In other words, if you plan to travel as a couple, then following the advice of Google, it is worth taking two boats.

It is interesting that earlier, when laying a route from North America to Europe, Google Maps offered to swim across the ocean. In the current version of the service, the calculation of routes between points so far from each other does not work.

1.68 kilometers of love

Google Maps have many different functions, one of which is laying your own routes. Photographer Derek Montgomery, 28, used it to upload his daily runs. And then one day, looking at the path done on Google Maps, Derek found that it somewhat resembled a letter. And since at that moment he was thinking about how to propose to his beloved, interesting idea: run a path that, when loaded onto the map, will look like the letters MARRY ME? (Will you marry me?).

It took Derek several attempts to implement his plan. Firstly, it was necessary to find a suitable place without trees, where nothing would interfere with writing out the necessary zigzags. By the way, Google Maps helped with this - Derek looked at the pictures of the area near his house and found two football fields located next to each other.

Secondly, Derek was forced to draw a run plan, because in order for his route to turn into readable letters, it was necessary to run along a strictly defined trajectory. But even with the plan, it did not work out right away - in the data downloaded from the GPS watch to google maps, the letters were not readable. When, after another workout, the loaded route finally satisfied young man he didn't waste any time. That same evening, Derek asked the girl to look at the plan for his run today, informing her that something strange had happened to the GPS data. 1.68 kilometers of love and 1250 calories burned while jogging did their job - the girl answered “Yes”.

Symbols of love

The love theme on Google Earth is almost inexhaustible. As it turned out, there are dozens of objects on Earth that, when viewed from above, have the shape of a heart. Some of them are the fruit of human activity, but those created by nature are much more interesting.

For example, in 2009 Galesnjak island in Croatia became widely known. Its owner, Vlado Giuresco, was quite surprised when, on the eve of Valentine's Day, he was approached by many couples with a request to stay on the island. The island is uninhabited, and few people showed interest in it until Google Earth revealed that it has the shape of a heart. And since Croatia is tourist country, the presence of the island of lovers turned out to be very handy. You can admire the island by typing "Google Earth" in the search bar coordinates 43°58’42.70″N, 15°23’0.14″E.

You can also take your loved one to german city Braunschweig, where there is a small pond on the territory of the Bürgerpark, which, like the island of Galesniak, has the shape of a heart. You can quickly move to this place by entering the coordinates 52°15’27.48″N, 10°31’17.62″E.

And the biggest kiss in the world can be sent from Sudan. That is where it is interesting find, which was dubbed the lips of the Earth. A nondescript hill about 800 meters long, when viewed from above, really resembles huge lips. The find coordinates are 12°22’13.32″N, 23°19’20.18″E.

Canadian Badlands Guardian

One of the most remarkable discoveries in google maps made fifty-three resident of Canada Lynn Hickox (Lynn Hickox). Using Google Earth, she tried to find her way to a dinosaur museum near her home, but instead she saw a huge Indian head, which was later dubbed the Badlands Guardian. The relief, approximately 255 by 225 meters in size, is located in the province of Alberta, near the border with the United States. The "face" itself natural origin, but people worked on the creation of "headphones" - in fact, this is an oil well and the road to it.

This place, unlike the Croatian island, has no tourism potential - there is not much to see from the Earth, and the territory is closed. However, thanks to Google's aerial imagery, the Badlands Guardian and the place where he is located, has gained truly worldwide fame.

Interestingly, the farmers who rented the land on which the Indian was found found out about the hype that had risen on the Internet about this site, quite by accident. When the land lease for the next ten years came up, they drove to the nearest town, where they were told about the Badlands Guardian.

To see the Indian with headphones, enter the coordinates 50.010083, -110.113006.

Drawings in the fields

An Arizona farmer spared four hectares of land to create a giant portrait of the famous TV presenter Ofra Winfrey. You can see it if you enter in the search bar "Google Earth" coordinates 33.225488, -111.5955.

Interestingly, next to it, in the neighboring field, there is another lesser-known drawing. The giant inscription on the field is very reminiscent of News 3D - I wonder if the farmer reads our site in the morning?

Lenin is always alive

In May 2008, Google Earth enthusiasts combing maps of Russia discovered a gigantic inscription "Lenin is 100 years old" between the Siberian villages of Trud, Znanie and Zverinogolovsk. The inscription was formed with the help of trees cut down (and possibly planted) in a special way. Due to the nature of the inscription, it is easy to determine the time of its creation - 1970. Could the Siberians, performing such a grand task, think that after forty years the results of their work could be seen by anyone simply by entering the coordinates 54.468142.64.79923 into Google Earth?

The amazing find was just the beginning. It turned out that there are quite a lot of similar symbols of the past on the territory of Russia. For example, the same inscription, carved from trees, was found near the village of Arkhangelskoye (coordinates +54.419444, +56.780278), and on the banks of the Tura River there are huge letters “Glory to the CPSU” (coordinates 58.346111+59.803611).

Observant Google Earth users also found several inscriptions created for the fiftieth (coordinates +57.091111+40.854444) and sixtieth (coordinates 54.623889+65.019444) anniversaries of the USSR (1967 and 1977, respectively).

But the time of the creation of the giant word "Lenin" is close Belarusian village Lyaskovichi (coordinates +52.158333+25.562222), unfortunately, is unknown - there are no dates in the inscription that could tell when this happened.

Get on Google Maps

search interesting objects Entire communities of people all over the world are engaged on Google Maps. Some (like, for example, the Canadian who discovered the Indian in the headphones) are lucky almost the first time, others spend it for satellite maps days on end, but nothing particularly surprising is found.

However, if nothing remarkable can be found, you can go the other way - create an object with your own hands that can get on Google maps and become available for viewing by the whole world. So, for example, in September 2008, the residents of Chelyabinsk amounted to main square city ​​giant smiley with a radius of about eighty meters. True, despite the fact that the Google satellite shot a bright symbol, which amounted to several thousand people, it still has not appeared on the maps.

More fortunate enthusiasts from National University Oregon, who celebrated the release of the second version of Firefox by creating a huge program logo on the field. The logo, about 67 meters wide, can now be seen on Google maps. To do this, just enter the coordinates 45.123464, -123.11431.

English alphabet on Google Maps

The potential of Google Maps is inexhaustible. For example, they can be a source of inspiration for people in creative professions. Australian designer Rhett Dashwood assembled the first English alphabet from aerial photographs. It took the designer about six months to find all the letters on Google Earth. Interestingly, the search area was limited to the Australian state of Victoria. Links to all the places that are in the alphabet can be found on Rhett's website.

Twenty-five-year-old Briton Rachel Young (Rachel Young) got into a car accident and was forced to comply with bed rest. After reading about an Australian designer's alphabet, she decided to make her own using UK maps. It took her much less time than the Australian to search for suitable places on the maps - only 15 hours. It is interesting that, according to the British, during this time she discovered about a hundred variants of the letter B, but the letters K, N and Q did not want to be.

But the story with the alphabet did not end there either. After Rachel showed her alphabet to the news agency she works for, she was asked to look for letters on a map of New York City. Despite the fact that the British woman had never been to this city, in just five days she completed the task and compiled another English alphabet, this time from aerial photographs of New York.

Dutch designer Thomas de Bruin went even further. Exploring the map of the Netherlands, he found on it all the capital and lowercase letters of the alphabet. In addition, he supplemented his alphabet with numbers from one to ten and punctuation marks.


You can see the results of Thomas' work on his Flickr page.

Zone 51

In the Google Earth search bar, you can enter not only coordinates geographical objects or their names. If you try to find a secret military facility, codenamed "Area 51" (Area 51), the program will "give out military secrets" and show the legendary American base in Nevada.

Many sincerely believe that it is in this place that the secrets that the American government carefully hides from civilians are located - either UFOs will be noticed there, or rumors will spread that the landing of astronauts on the moon was actually filmed at this base.

Creative approach to work distinguishing feature Google company. Even on Google maps there are unusual and funny places, and many other interesting things.

Surprises await users in different corners planets - virtual walk on your own or neighboring city will turn into an amusing trip if you do it with cards from a popular search engine. According to several secret and interesting objects let's walk right now.

Wasteland Guardian

In the late fall of 2006, Lynn Hickox was browsing Google Maps and accidentally discovered unusual place. The woman was surprised by the similarity of the relief with the head of an Indian. It seemed that the aborigine was wearing a national headdress, and an earpiece was inserted into his ear.

In reality, the find turned out to be a geological formation in one of the provinces of Canada. Soils in this area are soft, clay. For a long time - at least a hundred years - they were exposed to winds, erosion, as a result of which the image appeared. What users mistake for a wired earphone is just the road to the oil rig and the oil well itself.

The dimensions of the "head" are impressive - its length and width are the same, they are 255 meters. Its coordinates are 50°00′38″ s. sh. 110°06′48″ W d.

heart lake

This amazing place can only be viewed from a height or on Google maps. It is privately owned by the state of Ohio, next to Columbia Station.

The heart-shaped lake is filled with clear turquoise water. Romantics and lovers are happy to pay for flights and aerial photography to admire this beauty.

The owner of the land makes good money on such air excursions.

Galeshnyak

Since we are talking about hearts, we need to remember one more of the most interesting places on Google map, discovered in 2008. This is the Croatian island of Galesnjak, a place of pilgrimage for lovers from all over the world.

Why is it so attractive to couples? First of all, the shape of the heart. It is symbolic that an Internet user found this amazing place on the eve of For Lovers. The community immediately dubbed Galeshnyak "the island of love."

Until that moment, the uninhabited part of the land became the center of tourism. The local society took advantage of the situation by organizing engagements at the heart center. A Moscow couple was the first to celebrate their engagement here.

Sandy

Its shape resembles a black sausage, and this island became famous when scientists officially recognized it as non-existent. About everything in order. unknown island V pacific ocean discovered by the Australians. It was located in a northwesterly direction from New Caledonia and occupied an area of ​​about 60 km2.

In 2012, a few months after the discovery of the new island, Google put it on their maps. And in November of the same year, a group of scientists went there to study Sandy in detail.

What was the surprise of the scientists when, on the site of land, they saw ocean waters. In the spring of the following year, Sandy Island was officially declared a "mistake" with the explanation that Australian travelers mistook a pumice accumulation for land.

blood red pond

Strange places on google maps do not always have official explanations. illustrative example- a bloody reservoir near the city of Sadr, in Iraq.

An unusual pond was discovered in 2007, its coordinates are 33.396157 ° N. sh. and 44.486926° E. d. official explanation there was no red water, but dozens of unofficial versions were exaggerated.

The inhabitants said that local slaughterhouses poured the blood of animals into the reservoir, others explained the bloody hue by draining waste or bacteria living in the water. Over time, the redness disappeared - the water in the lake acquired a normal shade.

Labyrinth as an imprint

Anyone can see this amazing place if they come to British Brighton. In Hove City Park, there is a labyrinth designed like a fingerprint.

The walls of the building were made of limestone slabs in 2006. And Internet users found the labyrinth using Google maps.

german cross

Users noticed the swastika on Google maps in the same 2006. The building, whose shape resembles a German cross, is run by the US Navy.

Users were indignant at the similarity with fascist symbols and demanded clarification. The command of the Navy apologized for the unpleasant situation and explained that the similarities were discovered during the construction process.

A year later, installation work began. solar panels- in such a non-standard way, the owners decided to change the shape of the building.

overgrown ship

The ship was photographed by satellite near Sydney. The ship was moored at the mouth of the Parramatta River and overgrown with trees. Later, his story became known.

It turns out that the SS Ayrfield went on its maiden voyage in 1911. It was operated until 1972, after which it was decommissioned. Since then, SS Ayrfield has stood motionless on the river.

At American aircraft there is also a cemetery. Its coordinates are 32 08'59.96° N. sh. and 110 50’09.03° E. d., area - 10 km 2. The aircraft burial ground is located at the closed US military base "Davis-Monten".

The only way to see this place is to use the Google Earth service. Several thousand decommissioned aircraft and spaceships rest on the territory of the cemetery, there are legends among them. According to unofficial data, the total cost of scrap metal is estimated at $35 billion.

Desert circles

Two spirals emanate from the center. One spiral consists of cones, the farther from the center they are, the wider. The second spiral is recesses installed according to the same principle as the cones. From a height, the sculpture looks like circles. And everything would be fine if it were not for its location.

The sculpture is located in the Sahara - it was built by the employees of TO D.A.S.T. back in 1997. They expected that in a few years, under the influence of wind and erosion, nothing would remain at the site of the composition. More than 20 years have passed, and the strange circles are still in place today, they are perfectly visible from space.

Darfur lips, the kiss of the Earth - whatever they are called. Indeed, it is not every day that giant lips meet in the middle of the desert. Their proportions are close to ideal: length - 2.5 km, width - 1 km. And even the color from a height seems pink-red.

Lips are not an art object, but natural hills in the Darfur plateau in Sudan. You can only see and appreciate their perfect beauty from the air. On the Internet, unusual hills often become an occasion for jokes and witty comments.

Strange places on google maps

1. Baker Lake, Inuit territory in northern Canada

The man, who identified himself as "Dr. Boylan", believes that the darkened area in this picture and in several other locations hides extraterrestrial beacons of aliens.

2. Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany

This NATO air base is the starting point for Operation Iraqi Freedom forces, and for this reason, it can certainly be a target for terrorist attacks. This may explain why this feature is partially cut from Google Maps.

3. Pacific Northwest, USA

What exactly are we not seeing in this photo? This place is located near the border of the states of Washington and Oregon. Enthusiasts personally examined this place and found nothing remarkable, except for the sinister appearance of the fence and the unmarked entrance.

4. Shazalombatta Oil Refinery, Hungary

This is one of the strangest examples of censorship in Google Maps - this place is simply painted over in green. The factory area has been removed, the buildings have been erased, and all you can see is regular grass.

5. Huis Ten Palace, Holland

It's hard to imagine that the Dutch royal family could be a prime target for a crazed terrorist, but Royal Palace Huis Ten is heavily blurred on Google Maps when viewed from any angle. (However, the surrounding area and trees can be seen with crystal clarity at close magnification.)

6. unknown zone, Russia

No one knows what is hidden in this region. One of the opinions is that there is a "radar station or missile interception system" there, and some argue that the image of the surrounding area is pasted from another region of Russia.

7. Mobil Oil Corporation, Buffalo, New York, USA

Some criticize Buffalo-based Mobil for blurring images of its operations, saying that oil corporations are not of much interest to terrorists. On the other hand, we do not know what the terrorists themselves think.

8. North Korea

Everyone has heard of this country, which is part of the supposed "Axis of Evil", but very few have ever visited it. You won't see it on Google Maps either, as the entire country exists in the imagery, but without road markers, street names, or any other identifying details.

9. Reims Air Base, France

The reasons why this air force base blocked in Google Maps, unknown.

10. Indian Point Power Plant, New York, USA

Many members of the United States government called for a shutdown of the Indian Point power plant. Environmental considerations aside, according to energy experts, the power plant is not strong enough to withstand an earthquake like the one that recently devastated Japan.

11. Volkel Air Base, Holland

It's quite funny to see how this air base is rudely blurred on satellite images, however, WikiLeaks has published diplomatic correspondence that confirms the presence of nuclear warheads on the territory of this base.

12. HAARP, Gakona, Alaska, USA

HAARP (High Frequency Research Program) northern lights) is one of the most controversial operations currently underway in the United States. Gakona, the site of research, and the ionosphere experiments being conducted there, are revered by some conspiracy theorists as the cause of everything from floods to earthquakes, but there is very little evidence of this.

13. Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway, Salinas, California, USA

This is one of the strangest examples of censorship on Google Maps: the Laguna Seca race track in Salinas, California. The strangest thing about this is the fact itself: this is an apparently harmless race track.

14. Babylon, Iraq

While the surrounding area is perfectly visible, the city of Babylon itself is blurred in the pictures. You can bet it has something to do with the local rebels...

15. national park Tantauco, Chile

Why is this endangered species sanctuary completely cut out of Google Maps? Nobody knows.

16. The Hill, Elmira Correctional Facility, USA

This is the highest security prison in New York State. Perhaps, after the riots in the Attica prison and several incidents of uprisings and mass escapes around the world, the authorities may indeed be worried about the possibility of escapes using helicopters.

17. House of Alexey Miller, Russia

According to Wikipedia, this place is the "private palace of the executive director of JSC Gazprom Alexei Miller." But why is he given preference over all other people? Maybe we're just not powerful enough to convince Google to cut out our homes from satellite imagery.

18. Colonel Sanders

This is the strangest fact from Google: Colonel Sanders, the face of the Kentucky Fried Chicken chain, does not appear in any of the Google Street View images. This is because, according to Google representatives, Sanders was real person, and images real people should be blurry in any shots.

19. Faro Islands, Denmark

It is believed that in this zone there are some non-advertised military installations.

20. NATO Headquarters, Portugal

This shot would be the funniest if it didn't have such an ominous context. Whoever edited the picture of the Portuguese headquarters of NATO, he simply copied another part of the earth's surface over the image of the building. Very strange.

21. Seabrook Nuclear Station, New Hampshire

Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant is believed to be located in this northeastern United States.

22. Missile mine, Spain

According to one researcher, “At this site is a small building with what looks like a missile silo in the middle. What is strange is that this area is not blocked in Yahoo! Maps, but its image is not Google Maps.

23. Nuclear zone, France

We're not entirely sure what "The Marcoule site of the Commissariat l'Energie Atomique" means, but we think "atomique" is the key here.

If you look closely at Google Maps, you will notice several hidden places, they are not allowed to be shown.

Let's find out more about them.

1. Baker Lake, Inuit territory in northern Canada

The man, who identified himself as "Dr. Boylan", believes that the darkened area in this picture and in several other locations hides extraterrestrial beacons of aliens.

2. Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany

This NATO air base is the starting point for Operation Iraqi Freedom forces, and for this reason, it can certainly be a target for terrorist attacks. This may explain why this feature is partially cut from Google Maps.

3. Pacific Northwest, USA

What exactly are we not seeing in this photo? This place is located near the border of the states of Washington and Oregon. Enthusiasts personally examined this place and found nothing remarkable, except for the sinister appearance of the fence and the unmarked entrance.

4. Shazalombatta Oil Refinery, Hungary

This is one of the strangest examples of censorship in Google Maps - this place is simply painted over in green. The factory area has been removed, the buildings have been erased, and all you can see is regular grass.

5. Huis Ten Palace, Holland

It's hard to imagine that the Dutch royal family could be a prime target for a crazed terrorist, but the royal palace of Huis Ten is heavily blurred on Google Maps from any angle. (However, the surrounding area and trees can be seen with crystal clarity at close magnification.)

6. Unknown zone, Russia

No one knows what is hidden in this region. One of the opinions is that there is a "radar station or missile interception system" there, and some argue that the image of the surrounding area is pasted from another region of Russia.

7. Mobil Oil Corporation, Buffalo, New York, USA

Some criticize Buffalo-based Mobil for blurring images of its operations, saying that oil corporations are not of much interest to terrorists. On the other hand, we do not know what the terrorists themselves think.

8. North Korea

Everyone has heard of this country, which is part of the supposed "Axis of Evil", but very few have ever visited it. You won't see it on Google Maps either, as the entire country exists in the imagery, but without road markers, street names, or any other identifying details.

9. Reims Air Base, France

The reasons why this air force base is blocked from Google Maps are unknown.

10. Indian Point Power Plant, New York, USA

Many members of the United States government called for a shutdown of the Indian Point power plant. Environmental considerations aside, according to energy experts, the power plant is not strong enough to withstand an earthquake like the one that recently devastated Japan.

11. Volkel Air Base, Holland

It is rather amusing to see how this air base is grossly blurred on satellite images, but WikiLeaks has published diplomatic correspondence that confirms the presence of nuclear warheads on the territory of this base.

12. HAARP, Gakona, Alaska, USA

HAARP (High Frequency Northern Lights Research Program) is one of the most controversial operations currently underway in the United States. Gakona, the site of research, and the ionosphere experiments being conducted there, are revered by some conspiracy theorists as the cause of everything from floods to earthquakes, but there is very little evidence of this.

13. Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway, Salinas, California, USA

This is one of the strangest examples of censorship on Google Maps: the Laguna Seca race track in Salinas, California. The strangest thing about this is the fact itself: this is an apparently harmless race track.

14. Babylon, Iraq

While the surrounding area is perfectly visible, the city of Babylon itself is blurred in the pictures. One can argue that this has something to do with the rebels there ...

15. Tantauco National Park, Chile

Why is this endangered species sanctuary completely cut out of Google Maps? Nobody knows.

16. The Hill, Elmira Correctional Facility, USA

This is the highest security prison in New York State. Perhaps, after the riots in the Attica prison and several incidents of uprisings and mass escapes around the world, the authorities may indeed be worried about the possibility of escapes using helicopters.

17. House of Alexey Miller, Russia

According to Wikipedia, this place is the "private palace of the executive director of JSC Gazprom Alexei Miller." But why is he given preference over all other people? Maybe we're just not powerful enough to convince Google to cut out our homes from satellite imagery.

18. Colonel Sanders

This is the strangest fact from Google: Colonel Sanders, the face of the Kentucky Fried Chicken chain, does not appear in any of the Google Street View images. This is because, according to Google representatives, Sanders was a real person, and images of real people should be blurred in any pictures.

19. Faro Islands, Denmark

It is believed that in this zone there are some non-advertised military installations.

20. NATO Headquarters, Portugal

This shot would be the funniest if it didn't have such an ominous context. Whoever edited the image of NATO's Portuguese headquarters simply copied another area of ​​the earth's surface over the image of the building. Very strange.

21. Seabrook Nuclear Station, New Hampshire

Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant is believed to be located in this northeastern United States.

22. Missile mine, Spain

According to one researcher, “At this site is a small building with what looks like a missile silo in the middle. What is strange is that this area is not blocked in Yahoo! Maps, but its image is not Google Maps.

23. Nuclear zone, France

We're not entirely sure what "The Marcoule site of the Commissariat l'Energie Atomique" means, but we think "atomique" is the key here.