June 30, 2003 — 12 PM

Cities from Space

I don’t know about you, but I never tire of the apparently endless collection of satellite photography available on the Internet. Over at Montreal City weblog, there was a link to this photo of Montreal from above, which comes from NASA’s city collection.

Naturally I had to find my city of birth, in a photo that shows off what’s around the city more than the city itself. I thought I knew the landscape pretty well, but it’s a surprise to me that so much of the populated area (the physical limits of which are dictated by the surrounding mountains and water) is actually in Washington State. You can actually see the border between Canada and the U.S. that divides the landscape: start at the little square peninsula at the right-middle edge, and draw an approximately 45° diagonal up and left. Everything above and to the right is in the U.S., including, bizarrely, most of that little peninsula — Point Roberts, a community that one cannot reach by land without passing through Canada. It would appear that the growth of Vancouver has essentially spawned an “international” suburb.

NASA’s collection is nothing if not eclectic. Where else can you compare Wichita, KS and Mosul, Iraq? A shot of Volgograd, Russia is like abstract expressionism. We are really blessed with the ability to examine our own patterns of settlement and adaptation.

Previously: Sesame Street Fever

Subsequently: 365 Sounds

June 2003
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