Insane photos caught on Google Maps
There are millions of images on Google Maps. But some of them look downright bizarre and their origin can’t be easily explained.
Hidden among the millions of Google images are some weird, incredible and downright terrifying photos.
Google stitches together billions of satellite and aerial images to create the Google Earth observation data.
Google Maps - in part created by Australian software engineer Noel Gordon, brings together a plethora of technology including Street View images collected by vehicles.
We’ve trawled through the images to find some of the coolest — and strangest — Google images.
Mysterious ‘pyramids’
This image from Google Earth shows an image some have suggested could be an unexcavated pyramid in Egypt.
There’s ongoing debate as to whether it’s a natural or artificial structure.
‘Desert Breath’
The Desert Breath is an artwork created in the Egyptian desert by a team of Greek artists.
The spiral looks incredible from space.
Kazakhstan Pentagram
This mysterious pentagram is located in a remote part of Kazakhstan.
For years it’s been linked with occult movements.
However, it's now thought the pentagram is the outline of a park made in the form of a star.
The ‘boneyard’
This image shows the place where planes go to die. The aircraft 'boneyard’ is located in Tucson, Arizona.
It’s the largest aeroplane graveyard in the world.
Vulcan’s Throne
This image shows an odd assembly of polka-dots near the cinder cone volcano in Arizona known as Vulcan’s Throne.
It’s thought the pattern could be due to the movements of red harvester ants.
Gobi Desert
Deep in China’s Gobi Desert is a bizarre array seemingly random zigzagging white lines.
It most likely a Yagi antenna array, which is used for weather tracking and atmospheric research.
Sudanese ‘lips’
Located on a hill formation located in Gharb, Darfur, in Sudan is what looks like luscious lips.
It could be just formed from the contrast between different colours of sand.
‘Phantom island’
This mysterious “phantom island” off the coast of Australia lives as a ghost on Google Maps.
Historically, the island was believed to be 24 kilometres long and five kilometres wide — hard to miss, basically.
But you won’t find it in Google Maps today. Instead you’ll see a faint outline of what looks like a long, thin island — but with no landmass in sight.
Blood-red lake
A lake situated just outside of Sadr City in Iraq inexplicably turned blood red.
There has been continued speculation as to the cause of the mysterious phenomenon but so far there’s been no official explanation.
Canadian ‘face’
In the Canadian Badlands there’s a geographical feature that looks a lot like a face.
The image shows the feature appears to have a nose, chin and lips.
Atacama Giant
In the Atacama Desert, Chile, there’s a anthropomorphic figure etched into the ground.
The geoglyph has a length of 119m and is dated between 900 and 1450AD.
Romanian ‘UFO’
In a heavily forested area of Romania is a saucer-shaped object that at first sight appears to be a “UFO”.
But on closer inspection it’s actually a really cool water tower.
Kazakhstan symbol
This geoglyph is one of many in Kazakhstan, the earliest of which is thought to be about 2800 years old.
It’s thought they were built at the beginning of Kazakhstan’s Iron Age.
Azraq Oasis Wheels
The so-called Azraq Oasis Wheels are objects that stretch from Syria to Saudi Arabia.
It’s thought they date from 2000 years ago and are built from stone.
Island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island
Taal Lake is a freshwater caldera lake in the Philippines.
It is located within the island of Luzon, on Volcano Island, which has Crater Lake, that contains its own small island called Vulcan Point.
‘Alien structures’
This melange of objects has been described as “alien structures” and certainly looks odd as seen on Google Maps. But there’s a mundane explanation.
It’s actually an oilfield in Rio Negro, Argentina.
Creepy scarecrows
This image shows 1000 scarecrows in a field in Finland.
The artwork is called “The Silent People” and was made by artist Reijo Kela.
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