China (Yushu, Qinghai) Earthquake Imagery #geoeye #googlemaps

On Tuesday April 13th, a powerful 7.1 earthquake hit Qinghai province in China. The earthquake caused extensive damage and almost 1700+ lives were lost. The scale of the damage can be seen with these images from the region. Here's a image from GeoEye showing the destruction. Click on the image for a larger high resolution view of the destruction.



Image grab from Google Maps prior to the earthquake



(Note: Download this KML for a view in Google Earth of before and after earthquake imagery from Yushu, China - via Google LatLong Blog)

Google Maps and India's Arunachal Pradesh #googlemaps

I always thought and still do that Arunachal Pradesh is part of India. So is it or is it not? Take a look at Google Maps (Indian Version, Chinese Version and Global Version). (via)

Google Maps: Indian Version: (shows Arunachal Pradesh as part of India)



Google Maps: Chinese Version (To heck with you India!!)



Google Maps: Global Version (I don't know whose side I am on)

Google's 2008 Beijing Olympics Torch Relay Map

The amazing folks from Google Maps Team have created a great Google Maps Mashup which maps out the 130 Day journey of Olympic Torch from Greece to Beijing, China. Check it out here. (via Google LatLong)

Then there is this little fellow (yours truly) who also created a similar mashup (back in May, 2007)

Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay

The Olympic Torch started its 130 Day International Journey yesterday from Beijing, China. Check out the journey of Olympic Torch from Beijing China on Google Maps. Watch the locations pop up on Google Maps every 5 seconds or you can disable/pause the Auto Play feature and click through the locations.

Google Maps Sights - Alluvial Fan in China

Quote from Wikipedia (Today's Featured Picture):

A vast alluvial fan (Google Maps View) blossoms across the desolate landscape between the Kunlun and Altun mountain ranges that form the southern border of the Taklamakan Desert in China's Xinjiang Province. The left side of this satellite image is the active part of the fan, and appears blue from water currently flowing in the many small streams.