Digital Globe is currently conducting its annual contest to choose the Top Satellite Image of 2013. Voting will close Dec. 16 at midnight PST, so hurry over to their Facebook page, check out the 20 finalists, and cast your vote. You can vote for as many photos as you like. The top five vote-getters will go on to a final round of voting next week.
These are some of the finalists:
NBC reported today that Mount Vesuvius is currently leading the voting, with the Island of Love in second place. Personally, I’m intrigued by the Colorado River. Even when I rotate it 180° as some comments suggest, my brain doesn’t want to accept the river as depressed instead of raised. I keep seeing it as a big green inchworm or snake. I have to stare at a small section of the river until it looks normal, and then gradually take a longer view. At some point, it snaps back into “worm form.” Weird. For your convenience, here it is flipped:
Contest rules and introductory video are posted on Digital Globe.
Postscript: February 6, 2014 — The winner was Mount Vesuvius.
will do )
Thanks for this! The river pix is so 3-D – I like it flipped, too. (It looks very monster snake like the original way)
All amazing. The palace looks like a fancy quilt. Human artist and craftsmen try so hard to duplicate, as technology advances, Nature shows her skill – and that we are weak imitations. Very cool
This morning the bottom photo looks like a proper river in a canyon. I think last night I’d just spent too much time looking at the top image. Yes, nature makes man look pretty puny most of the time.
Oops, spoke too soon. The worm returned.
I’m with you PT. I love em all, but the Colorado River images just blow my mind ( the flipped version does look more “normal” to me though)! 😀
I have similar problems with other satellite imagery, like on Google maps. I know dark areas are shadows, but things often flip around like in these river photos. Valleys become ridges, ridges look like depressions, etc.
LOVE the Colorado river photo. It’s that shadow at the upper layer that throws it all out of whack for me.
Really messes with my eye-brain connections …
No, I find the rotated version fine – which means that it was what was the original. 🙂