Initially called EarthViewer 3D, Google Earth has caught some pretty fascinating sights since its launch (as Google Earth) in 2005.
Thursday we told you about the "fake island" known as Sandy Island that showed up on Google Earth, and now we've discovered an even more fascinating list of the "strangest" sights on the navigation tool that can also lead to some pretty interesting images.
LiveScience published an article compiling a list of these strangest sights on Google Earth, and here are our five favorites:
Five: Largest word?
Futaisi Island, located in the Persian Gulf and owned by billionaire Sheikh Hamad bin Hamdan al Nahyan, boasts what might be the world's largest word carved across it. The "HAMAD" carving is two miles long, half a mile tall and visible from space.
Four: Herd of elephants ... from above!
For those who may never get a chance to see a herd of wild elephants in real life, you can check out an astounding image of a group of the animals running together from far Earth in a satellite photo that shows us a rather crowded section of Chad.
Three: Ever heard of mapvertising?
No, that's not a particularly coincidental natural image you'll see at 37.646163° N, 115.750819° W just off Extraterrestrial Highway in Nevada if you're fooling around on Google Earth. It's actually something known as "mapvertising," and being that so many people are using Google Earth these days, large companies like KFC are starting to place these kinds of "landmarks" (such as a 87,500-square-foot logo) in order to catch your eye, even when you're just checking out the beautiful landscape. Two words: "uh" and "oh."
Two: Plane "boneyard"
Where do old planes go to die? You can check out where we dump many of our planes no longer in service at 32 08'59.96" N, 110 50'09.03"W in Tuscon, Ariz. to find out. The image looks almost like something out of a comic book or graphic novel (or perhaps one of Jean-Michel Basquiat's later paintings). It's quite beautiful, actually, considering what's actually there.
One: Big ol' hairy lips
This one needs to be seen to be believed. When you have some time on Google Earth, go to 12°22'13.32"N, 23°19'20.18"E in Sudan's Gharb, Darfur. Kisses!
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