The Google Earth Guide to GTPlanet

Beautiful Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.



Cowichan Lake in Cowichan Valley, a few hours away from the provincial capital of Victoria.



Where my house should be. Hard to tell.




Now living on another island... Japan



In one of the largest (or is it most populous) cities on earth, Tokyo.


Incidentally, almost all the land area you see here was burned to the ground from the Allied fire-bombings that took place during the spring of 1945, including over 100,000 people killed on the night of March 10 alone.

My mansion! That's what an apartment is called over here; a mansion.

 
How can I bore thee? Let me count the ways. . .

So I was born in . . . .

All right, shorter version.


My dad worked for a military contractor, so we moved like military. I was in the 9th grade before I went to the same school two years in a row. First image is all the places in the US I've lived, and then one in Germany.




This is Lawton, OK, where I was born (during Eisenhower's presidency.) Like Daan's home, it doesn't rate high-res imagery, although the hills northwest of town apparently do. In the upper right (the runway and west) is Ft. Sill, Which began as one of the frontier outposts in Indian country, and was Geronimo's prison for some time. It has developed into THE artillery base for the US Army. If you're in artillery, you go through Ft. Sill sometime early in your career. In the upper left is the start of the Wichita Mountains and the Wichita National Wildlife Refuge, where bison and longhorn cattle roam free. My cousin and I were out there one afternoon on a ride, and the picnic area we chose for our lunch break was unavailable. The buffalo had taken it over for their afternoon siesta. The other pic is said buffalo and one of the "mountains" in the background. It's a vidcap, so not a great pic.



We went to Huntsville and Redstone Arsenal when I was 5, I have no idea where we lived in Huntsville, but here it is, with "real" cities located so you can place it.



It was back to Lawton briefly, about a year. We went back to our same house, which Dad apparently rented out while we were in Huntsville. I went to 1st grade there at Andrew Jackson school. Then we went overseas, lived in a town called Wurselen, near Aachen. Charlamagne territory. I liked our house there, the first 2-story I'd ever lived in. It had stained glass windows in the door and along the stairs, and a room upstairs that was destoyed in WWII and never rebuilt, just the wall and roof rebuilt. The room was open to the attic space. The house had a coal-fired boiler in the basement, with radiators in all the rooms, which I found distinctly primitive. We were there not quite 3 years, and I was home-schooled during that time with material from the Calvert School in Baltimore. Cool stuff, had a lousy teacher. In all my school years, Calvert's 3rd grade was my ONLY formal exposure to Greek and Roman mythology!

While we lived in Europe, we travelled extensively, and I've been to Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Denmark, Belgium, Holland, and Sweden. I was horrified that my parents brought my sisters in with us to view Michelangelo's statue of David. I mean, there he was, all naked and everything! Statues of women, well, that was different. I was the oldest, after all, and plenty mature enough (at 8 and 9) to handle it. We also had a weekly trip to Bonn (then the capital of West Germany) to get the mail and go to the PX.



On returning the "the states," a term I'd never encountered until we left them, mom and us kids came back about 6 months before Dad. We went to live with her mother in Norman, Oklahoma, home of the Sooners of the University of Oklahoma. I started 4th grade at Cleveland Elementary, where my greatest accomplishment was probably getting through my times tables. (1 times 1 is 1, 1 times 2 is 2 . . . How can human teachers stay sane through listening to that?) In the SE quadrant of the picture is the OU campus.

Mom's dad had a dry cleaning business, and he sold Electrolux vacuum cleaners door to door. He was truly one of those guys that dumped dirt on your floor when you open the door, and then showed you how good the machine was by cleaning it right up! Somehow we ended up with one that we had for quite a while.



When Dad came back, we moved to Baltimore for Dad to spend some time at his company's home office. I finished 4th grade and went to 5th at Scotts Branch school in Rockdale, and this was my first experience of riding a bus to school. I nearly lost an eye riding a sled down our street, which was a downhill cul-de-sac, perfect when it iced over in winter. I turned the sled into our yard to avoid crashing into the woods at the bottom of the hill, and those little white wire arches Mom put around her flower beds were invisible in the snow. I hit one and it dragged across my face, producing gallons of blood! Those woods are along Scotts Branch creek, which we were not allowed to play in, but did anyway.

We were in Baltimore during the race riots of 1968. That was pretty scary. It wasn't around our neighborhood specifically, but stuff we saw on TV from downtown and from other cities was not pleasant.

Speaking of TV, this was the first house we lived in where we had color TV!



In summer of 1969 the big news came that Dad's company was sending him to FLORIDA!!!! How cool is that, we're gonna move to FLORIDA!!!! He went down sometime in March, and came back to get us after we finished the school year. I was 12, and helped him load the truck with stuff like the refrigerator, washer, etc. When a few years passed and I saw my brother at 12, I thought to myself, "No way should a kid like that be moving refrigerators!" I was crushed completely when Dad said I couldn't bring my sled! I'd only just gotten it the previous Christmas, a big 3-kid toboggan with wooden runners, steerable and everything, and I had to GIVE IT AWAY to some punk neighbor kid (who up until that moment was my best friend ever, even though his name escapes me now. See how much trauma?)

Anyway, we've been in Panama City ever since. My Dad spent the rest of his career on 6-month contracts, never knowing from one to the next if we were going to have to pack up again, but he retired still here, and here we've stayed.

I went to 6th grade here at Drummond Park Elementary. It's now called Lucille Moore, as the local school board has become enamored with naming schools after themselves. I always thought naming a school was a memorial tribute kind of thing, but no, they build 'em and name 'em just so they can scrape their name in concrete somewhere. Anyway, I moved to junior high for 7th grade, which they now call middle school and start in the 6th grade. (Is there some reason here kids come out of our schools a bit confused?) While at Mowat Junior High I was transferred mid-year to Jinks Junior High when the zones were re-drawn to comply with federal racial integration guidelines. I was there for the entire years of 8th and 9th grades, which, as I said, was the first time I did two full years at the same school. Then on to Bay County High School, of which I was a member of the last graduating class. The school still exists, they just dropped the word "County" from its name, seeing as how there were 3 high schools in Bay County now. So here's Panama City, with houses and schools laid out.



I went to college at Auburn University, but never finished. My folks got divorced, neither admitted to having enough money to fund me (definitely true for Mom, probably true for Dad) and I was not motivated enough to work my way through school, so when the student loan ran out, I went to work for a "major retailer." While at Auburn I lived in 3 or 4 apartments, and a couple of dorms.



My "career" with the retailer took a favorable turn when they opened a new store in my very own home town, so I moved back home to work in the new store. When I figured out that retail sucks and discovered I had a talent for them new-fangled personal computer dealies, I got a job at a local computer store, which tried (and failed) to ride the wave of "revolutionary home computing," and they fired me for pirating games. I sold stereos for a couple of months and then I moved up to a real business computer center, and have been there building and fixing servers and networks over 21 years now.
 
Wow, fascinating stuff 👍 You've certainly been around the place, Walter!

Speedy and Allianz, I hope you don't mind but I took the liberty of fixing your links and replacing them with thumbnails. I love the 'Godzilla', Speedy! :lol: Is that to scale?? :nervous:

Gallery and Index updated
 
Touring Australia



Way back in 1995, when I was 20, I went to Australia for 6 months to go backpacking. I started off in Sydney and worked there for a few months, before moving on to Melbourne (for a bit more work). From there, I headed back to Sydney and bought a Greyhound ticket which would take me to all the other places marked on the picture above. I made it as far as Adelaide before the money (and my energy) ran out, so in May 1996 I headed back for two more weeks in Sydney, before heading home...

Sydney



Lived and worked in several places in Sydney (left), including an infamous job as a door-to-door salesman. Very long hours, and no money, but I met the guys I would later go travelling with. Spent my 21st Birthday here! Had some interesting evenings in Darlinghurst and Randwick (middle), including accidentally getting a cab home with a hooker... (don't ask!) My gf bought me a ticket to see Australia v West Indies at the SCG (right), the only time I ever saw a cricket match in the flesh.

Melbourne


Stayed quite far out of town in Melbourne at first (far left) and had a job working for a catering firm who did sports events. Worked at Calder Raceway (middle left) as an ice-cream salesman. My boss was a 15 year old kid! On discovering how little I had sold, he asked "Are you shouting 'Ice Creams! Ice Creams! ?" to which I replied, "No, I've been shouting 'Leprosy! Leprosy!' " I also worked the bar at Calder and also at Flemington Racecourse (middle right), which was much more fun! Was in Melbourne the same time as the first ever Melbourne GP in 1996 (far right), and could hear it clearly from my hostel nearby... Also had a brief spell as a labourer during the Moomba festival.

Life's a Beach...



The next three months I spent travelling with the guys I met in Sydney, and to this day, I can safely say this was the most bizarre three months of my life. After a swift and rather unpleasant stop-over in Surfers Paradise (far left) we started off in Brisbane, and had a sedate couple of days there which included a trip to a fake beach (middle left), before heading off on the Greyhound onto the backpacking trail. An unplanned stop saw us sleep rough in the posh beach resort of Noosa Heads, followed by an accidental trip to a gay nudist beach (middle right) :ill:

One of the highlights of the whole trip was a 3-day excursion to the Whitsunday islands on the Great Barrier Reef (far right). Aboard a boat once occupied by Rod Stewart and Gerhard Berger (not at the same time, I hope!), I was befriended by a great German guy and shared my earliest ever beer - 8.00 am! Nearby Airlie Beach was awash with pretty women, and even I was practically beating them off with a stick! :P

Anyway, too many memories, not enough time :crazy: Here's a brief summary of a few other 'memorable' moments from my Australian days... :scared:

  • Being decked by my girlfriend's cousin in Liverpool, Sydney (for refusing to get into his car after he had drunk a skinful of booze)
  • Being offered (and turning down) some 'Italian Pasta' by a charming Swiss girl in her car (which had a mattress in the back) :embarrassed:
  • Chatting to a naked woman on a beach in Byron Bay, trying to 'act natural' (I had been reading the book 'Trainspotting!')
  • Meeting a serious drug dealer in Bundaberg, and being propositioned by a 14-yr old (bizarre place, left the very next day :ill: )
  • Being forced to wear a girl's blouse in order to get into a casino in Cairns
  • Sharing a room with a man who threatened to smother a German backpacker by farting on his face through a pillow while he was sleeping (Adelaide)
 
Even though I wasn't travelling with her, I did have a girlfriend at the time and hence pasta of any description was pretty much off the menu...
 
Okay, So this is the little tiny village where i live.
It's surrounded completely by fields making my village a very peaceful and highly desirable place to live!



Next is a little close up of my house.
It looks quite small from this map which upsets me., because it's not! Haha. My house is very nice, in a friendly, family oriented road.



This final picture is of my secondary school.
I've been going there for 5 years. I've left there now and only have to go back for 4 days - total of 9 hours - for 4 exams. I've had good and bad memories here. But it's time to move on.



The school is spread over two site, Waynflete and St. Johns. Waynflete is the year 7 - 11 with a few sixth form classes up there, with St Johns being mainly the sixth form site with a few 7 - 11 classes down there - Games, Music, Geography, R.E, Sociology.

And thats a little bit about where i am most of my time - minus Bee's house.

(Thumbnails are clickable)
 
I've been saying I'll get around to posting here, but I'll do it sooner rather than later.

This first shot is my house, I've lived here for 19 years, since I was 2. I plan on moving out and getting a place closer to school next year. You'll notice that my house comes right before the line of hi res/and low res.


Here's a zoomed out shot of where I live. As you can see, I am just barely out of the suburban hell to the south of me, it continues pretty much all the way to the city anywhere south of where I live. The giant neighborhood closest to me to the south was all farmland 10 years ago.



Here's where I go to school, The University of Pittsburgh.



Here's my awesome commute from home to the city every day


 
Do we have any more members from places outside of US/UK who'd like to add to the thread? It would be nice to see some entries from Asia, Middle East, Africa and maybe some more from across Europe...

(Remember, this can include members from the US/UK who have had some sort of travelling/life experience in areas other than their home country...) 💡
 
Not much to say, really.


I live in Portchester, Fareham, Hampshire, which is literally 2 miles from the outskirts of Portsmouth. In the first image is of Fareham, and on the bottom right, the green blob is my house. The second image is of Portsmouth, the green blob on the top left shows where I live:



Close up of my house. Again, green blob shows which one:



My College. One zoomed right out, and zoomed in:



My old school:



I was born in Ascot (I think the image is right...). I cannot the name of the hospital though...:




I would show my old house too, but it's just a mass of blur.
 
Nice thread, I'll come back to it when I have more time to read it and post some pics of my town.
 
G.T
Not much to say, really.


I live in Portchester, Fareham, Hampshire, which is literally 2 miles from the outskirts of Portsmouth. In the first image is of Fareham, and on the bottom right, the green blob is my house. The second image is of Portsmouth, the green blob on the top left shows where I live:
*Snip*


Close up of my house. Again, green blob shows which one:
*snip*


My College. One zoomed right out, and zoomed in:
*snip*


My old school:
*snip*


I was born in Ascot (I think the image is right...). I cannot the name of the hospital though...:
*snip*



I would show my old house too, but it's just a mass of blur.
Oh memories....
"How to steal James' PSP! Part 1"
 

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:)
 
I liked that picture of the Red Rocks concert venue in Colorado... 👍 I've only been to the US once and it was to Aspen (well, Snowmass Village to be precise) for a conference a few years back... very nice part of the world, but something tells me Aspen is not exactly representative of your typical US town/city...

I'm not sure why people are drawn to Aspen, Its just a regular mountain town. For some reason Hollywood has latched on to it and made it more of something then it should have ever been.

Here is my College edition of Google earth.


Arizona


Phoenix


My first apartment away from home at the ripe old age of 18.


And then the Second.


My fine College that doesn't even offer the program that I took anymore.


The girlfriend, first wife and now ex wife's house that many a day jumping off the roof in to the pool were had. (and finding food)


The place that I jumped off a sixty foot cliff and hit the bottom of the lake. No suprise here when I tell you that I pulled all the tendons on the insides of my knees with that stunt. I'd did get a few other jumps off before that bad one.


The middle of nowhere is the location that I overheated my girlfriends engine and left us stranded for 5 hours in 115 degree temps. The first person to finally stop to help had their air conditioner on so high that the kids had blankets over there legs to keep them warm! GRRRRR!


And lastly is ASU. While I didn't officially attend this school I did visit often to hunt down the ever elusive female species. I think the abundant sun of the desert makes things grow bigger and better here if you know what I mean. The standard of women at this university is hands down the best in the world. IMO
 
Great stuff, Brian! I guess that's what makes these views so much more interesting is the little snippets of personal history that are attached to them! I can tell you that you'd never catch me jumping off a 60ft cliff, that's for sure! :nervous:

Nice to see your whereabouts too, James... do Blur really live in your old house? Cooool :cool:👍

:lol: @ D-N, looks suspiciously familiar... you're not yellow by any chance?

Keep 'em coming 👍

(Gallery updated, post #2)
 
Great stuff, Brian! I guess that's what makes these views so much more interesting is the little snippets of personal history that are attached to them! I can tell you that you'd never catch me jumping off a 60ft cliff, that's for sure! :nervous:

Thanks. Life is a story that we all have to tell. Now with the awsomeness of Google we have pictures to bring our stories to life.

As I get a chance I'll mix in some of the other great places that i have traveled to during my life time.


edit: "lake of pain" :lol: :lol: :lol: I had to wear these two stiff leg braces that would not let my knees bend. Every time I walked in to class my mates would make this robot noise because I looked like the terminator.
 
edit: "lake of pain" :lol: :lol: :lol: I had to wear these two stiff leg braces that would not let my knees bend. Every time I walked in to class my mates would make this robot noise because I looked like the terminator.
Sorry man, couldn't resist it! For a future update I might have to include my Glasgow past, which also involved tearing tendons after a jump (but not from a cliff - only a Volkswagen Golf :ill: ) 👍
 
I love this idea!

Ok, so a little bit about where I'm from and where I am now.

Himarton, Wiltshire, SW England
This is where I was brought up, where my family live and I think always will. It’s a small village about ninety miles west of London. My county, Wiltshire, has a lot of sites of historical importance including Stonehenge, Avebury and also the first recorded crop circles and Castle Combe racing circuit. It’s a mostly rural area with a population density of 178 people per km² - a little bit different to where I live now... 44,000 people per km²!

Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, Peoples Republic of China
Welcome to Kowloon, Hong Kong. After visiting for a month in 1996 I fell in love with the city and I’ve lived and worked here for almost seven years since 2000. Hong Kong is a ‘Special Administrative Region’ of China, which means it maintains it’s own legal system, common laws, immigration policy etc.

Where I’m from and where I live now - The total area of land in each picture is approximately 25 miles square. As you can see my surroundings changed considerably when I moved to Hong Kong!



Fortunately I now live in a more peaceful part of the city, having my fill of non stop inner city living for the last 5 years. My home is circled in red, bearing in mind this is only a 4 mile, 10 minute minibus ride from the centre of the city in the last photo. I can swim in clean sea at the end of my road and all I can hear at night are crickets and cicadas. Hong Kong truly is a city of contrasts!

 
Wow, not only is Hong Kong a city of contrasts but your old and new homes are quite a contrast too!
 
I was born in Flanders, New Jersey. My former birthplace appears to be just across the street from a half-mile oval track, interestingly.

townflanders.jpg


My old Corolla is somewhere in the lot on the top-right. It's quite an impressive facility, so the 3D view really gives you a better look.

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Kathy and I were married here (one of about 300 places I've named):

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The Everglades are the only real natural areas, other than beaches, in the area in which I live. This gives you a good idea about how vast it is, although it stretches out much, much further than this.

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Sugar cane is grown in tremendous quantities about a hour away from me:

sugarcane.jpg


Oranges, and other citrus fruits are another hour away (roads are more fun, too):

citrusgroves.jpg


Finally, if you haven't been listening, about 90 minutes away to the south of me, there's some people who might be interested. A satellite array is nearby, and the US Naval reserve is quite interested, especially if you have any information about Fidel Castro's health and his regime:

thebigear.jpg
 
Fascinating pics, Pupik... very interesting landscapes in your neck of the woods, and a hearty congratulations on getting a new job so quickly too 👍

@ Sakiale, would be very interesting to see a bit of New York City, you could even use the new streel-level photos on Google Maps as well, since much of NYC is covered by that now I believe.. 💡
 

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