Ammon News - Google Maps has become a staple of our modern society. Whether you're planning out a trip across the country or simply heading across town, Google Maps and Earth are probably helping you to get there, even in cases where you know exactly where you're going. And one of the cool features of Google Maps is its Street View feature.

Instead of viewing lines on a map, you can activate Street View to get a real-life view of the path you're taking. This is extremely valuable when looking up a place that you've never been to before. And that's just one of many neat features inside Google Maps that can make traveling easier.

If you're anything like me, you've probably used Google Maps simply for the fun of it. Maybe you're looking at a location that you dream of visiting someday, or perhaps you want to show your kids the home and street that you grew up on. And if you do enough searching, you may even come across some really strange and out-of-place things when perusing Google Maps or Google Earth. That's not an overstatement, as people have found everything from missing people to giant meteorite craters by using Google Maps.

Missing persons

The case of William Moldt shows the power of Google Maps in the hands of the average person. Moldt disappeared in late 1997 after a night out with friends. An investigation was launched, but police had very little to go on. Eventually the case would go cold, and for over 20 years his disappearance would haunt those that loved and cared for William Moldt.

Until one day, someone decided to check out their old house on Google Earth. As they navigated the platform looking to find old memories, they managed to find something else entirely. After looking at a pond near their home, they noticed something that seemed out of place.

The person who was simply looking at their old home had unknowingly discovered a white sedan hiding just under the surface (26°37'30.0"N 80°13'39.0"W). This turned out to be the remains of a vehicle that contained William Moldt. It was later revealed that the car had been visible since at least 2007, sitting there without anyone noticing. And who knows how many other cases may someday be solved with a simple search on Google Maps.

New hominid species

Researchers, explorers, experts, and amateur archeologists have been searching for the earliest forms of the human species for generations. As technology advanced and new tools became available, discoveries of our ancient ancestors have grown over the years. And thanks to Google Earth, researchers were even able to uncover a new hominid species in South Africa.

When Google Earth launched, every curious mind was trying it out and exploring their surroundings. In late 2007, while relaxing on holiday break, American paleoanthropologist Lee R. Berger was using the software to map potential caves in a location known as the Cradle of Humankind. While rotating images around, Dr. Berger saw distortions in certain shadow formations that he believed indicated the locations of previously unexplored caves.

A year later, Berger and his young son were exploring the area when his son came running back holding some bones. It turned out that these bones came from a totally new hominid species, one that is estimated to have lived two million years ago. Dubbed Australopithecus sediba, the find was made possible thanks to Google Earth, the good eye of Dr. Berger, and the inquisitive nature of his young son.

Satellite calibration patterns

There are close to 16,000 satellites orbiting the planet at the time of this writing. They come in all shapes and forms, and are designed and launched for various purposes. And one of these purposes is for governments to use them to track and monitor other countries. Spy satellites are nothing new, but have you ever wondered how those satellites are calibrated as they rotate around the planet?

As these satellites use high-end camera equipment, they can use test patterns to help calibrate their internal systems much like those here on the ground, only on a much bigger scale. If you peruse Google Maps, you might come across strange patterns in the deserts of large countries, such as these mysterious lines (40°27'07.6"N 93°44'31.6"E) in China's Gobi Desert.

Researchers believe that these lines in particular are used to help calibrate Chinese spy satellites, but similar lines are commonly used by other countries. And even non-spy satellites that are used for the great good, such as predicting natural disasters and tracking climate change use these sorts of patterns to calibrate focus, spatial resolution, color, and more.

Strange formations

The Badlands Guardian is a geomorphological formation located in Canada that was discovered in 2006 by Lynn Hickox when she was playing around on Google Earth. What's really surprising is that Hickox had only downloaded Google Earth a few days prior to the discovery. She initially dropped a pin on the location, naming it Indian Head for its resemblance to the First Nations people in the area.

This natural formation was created from thousands of years of erosion, allowing the human mind to fill in the gaps and see a face thanks to what is known as pareidolia. Still, upon first seeing the Badlands Guardian, it's hard not to think that the formation has been carved out of the earth. And while it does look a lot like an ancient First Nations person, others have seen different things when looking.

Not knowing the location, when I first came across a photo of the Badlands Guardian, I thought it looked like an Egyptian Pharaoh carved into the desert. And others have even seen Batman on the opposite side of the formation, showing how each person brings their own experiences and cultural background into interpreting what they are seeing.

Ancient ruins

Early in the days of Google Earth, Luca Mori, a computer programmer out of Italy, was having some fun with the newly released software. While exploring around his country, he came across something that looked a little bit strange and slightly out of place for the time. When he started investigating areas around his hometown, he found the remnants of an ancient river.

Following its path and exploring the area further, he came across several shadows left on the ground that all had a distinctive rectangular shape, as well as what looked like a courtyard. After looking at the area more closely and seeing other structures, he thought that what he was seeing on Google Earth was the remains of an ancient Roman village.

He quickly contacted experts in archaeology at the National Archaeological Museum, who then began their own investigation of the area. They would later confirm Mori's theories, determining that the location was, in fact, a Roman villa. The museum would even praise Mori's approach, one of the earliest cases of using Google Earth to aid in uncovering our shared past.


BGR