Here's a neat little trick for identifying the location of satellite imagery using Google Image Search.
Storified by Andy Carvin ·
Fri, Apr 11 2014 06:58:36
On April 9th I saw a tweet from WSJ reporter Jon Ostrower asking for help identifying an airport from a photo taken overhead:
A Challenge: What airport is this? Seriously, I don't know. I'm asking you. http://t.co/b9Eimk7aXQ
— Jon Ostrower ·
Wed, Apr 09 2014 14:07:42
The photo in question showed an airport map that appeared to be pasted to a wall:
The Mystery Airport ·
Jon Ostrower
I didn't recognize the airport, but I wondered if Google Image Search would. First, I cropped Jon's photo so I could eliminate the wall surrounding the map.
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I then went to Google Image Search:
Google Images
Google Images. The most comprehensive image search on the web.
There, I clicked the camera icon in the search field:
Imgur
Then, I selected the "Upload an image" tab, clicked the Browse button, and selected the airport photo I cropped.
Imgur
The search results identified the airport immediately: Madrid Barajas Airport.
Imgur
To confirm this, I went to Google Maps and searched for the airport.
Imgur
I then clicked the "earth" option at the bottom left corner of the map so I could see a satellite view of the terrain:
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Madrid's airport looked like a good match, but I had to rotate Jon's mystery airport photo to be sure:
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