Guess The City (Aerial)

Inspired by this thread, Guess the City

Guess the city based on an aerial/satellite view.

http://i.imgur.com/D0RBQt4.jpg

Bing maps is really good for this since you can turn off the labels.

Feel like it needs to be a university town, since that doesn't look big enough to be an NFL football stadium.

def feels like a college town, or maybe a city where the big university campus essentially is downtown. very lush and green, muddy water. feels southern perhaps.

baseball diamond too but also doesn't look big enough for the pros.

pittsburgh?

too small i guess. i know little rock has several bridges but not that many?

you'd need more rivers for pittsburg. little rock is a good guess I think.

it is not little rock. hmm.

Iowa City

Not every post I make is about Little Rock!

We have six bridges downtown, btw.

indianapolis!

Fort Wayne?

i'm gonna assume this is the kind of thing where i post another if i figure it out

#2:
http://i.imgur.com/Ey2eCTc.jpg?1

great thread idea.

#2 has a lotta waterfall and canal stuff right downtown, but i don't think that's how niagara looks?

#1 is interesting for how geometrically planned the downtown/campus part looks. note the very legible old vestigial diagonal boulevards running right out of the middle. makes me think it's washington DC just outside the 'obvious' parts.

oic ciderpress got it

#2 Spokane

Yep

yay ciderpress. See? It does have an NFL team!

I missed Spokane. You're up, OS.

Is this a thread for American cities or anywhere? I'm a UKer but don't want to ruin the party with a curveball like Bradford or somewhere.

I'm down with worldwide, though if there's going to be real toughies in the mix I think it's okay to have more than just one going at a time. Might try and gather a few myself...

yeah worldwide is good, go for it

worldwide

I will never get any non-obvious ones or places I haven't lived but will love following along with this.

Cool tho I'm in work all night so if someone wants to jump the queue then go ahead.

i will jump in this queue

http://i.imgur.com/TgC5BCg.jpg

i'm starting with the UK for this one based on the haphazard road layout and football stadium

barnsley?

let me know how wrong i am at least

my first guess was sheffield which doesn't seem to be correct

i don't know mid-size UK cities very well at all, which is what this appears to be to me

Barnsley isnt a bad guess

Stockport?

Not so good...missing the viaduct!

hah yeah, was looking at the position of the stadium relative to the train line...

I had a look on google maps and found it p quick but I will hold off if anyone wants to guess. stockport much less green, and has a giant blue glass pyramid ofc

i found it as well, not so quick though, went through like 30 other towns first

Just out of work - 3. Halifax?

The West Yorkshire one obv.

Reckon that's right, that football stadium in the south east is the shay

That's definitely it.

I'll post one when I figure out how to use bing maps to get an aerial pic on my phone.

3 is Halifax, well done!

Hats off to anyone who gets these, this is insanely hard. Reckon I could get London or New York if anyone fancies doing those.

Here's one until or something gets something loaded up:

http://i.imgur.com/0zkoH9r.jpg

Looks kind of Californian.

i'm sticking on that big open landscape in the middle. can't read it. cemetery? farms? big axial baroque garden?

I guessed cemetery.

Hint: It's located in the UTC +2.

Johannesburg?

Damn it, just abt to say Johannesburg. Think that's right.

has anyone guessed #1 yet?

the op is Indianapolis

This one is easy to GIS for source, but amazing:

http://img.scoop.it/O_2tEC6XOoSSy9Kv0f6Zc4XXXL4j3HpexhjNOf_P3YmryPKwJ94QGRtDb3Sbc6KY

Cairo?

Saer nailed it.

Is that a cemetery in the Jo-burg?

Look more closely in another tab. Each of those is a city block.

New Delhi?

I did look full size, Cairo seemed like a really big city in a dry climate that may have relativly low-tech development.

x-post, OK maybe India too.

The "carpet" quality makes me think Tokyo, the extremely gridding not so much. It's not Curitiba. Hrm. New Delhi outside of the center is actually pretty close in 'look' but I'm stumped. Man, that scale is wild. Feeling really dumb that I don't know what this is.

What's weird is how even it is - maybe because we're zoomed out so far but it's hard to read major/minor streets, or even a long/short kind of rhythm like Manhattan or Mexico City have in their grids. It's weird to see something that screams "20th century planning" but not "and also they were obsessed with traffic circulation" which would lead you to arterials or at least some primary collector roads or something.

It's New Delhi. I first saw the image in a coffee-table book about overpopulation.

I tried searching that area of New Delhi on google maps, but couldn't find the right airport.

http://i.imgur.com/ObVh1HV.jpg

worth viewing bigger

I was in the Shay Stadium a couple of weeks ago and I still had no idea that one up thread was Halifax. These are difficult.

That one looks a lot like Naples but isn't. I think I've covered most of the world's coastlines that look like that. Driving me a little nuts.

i know where is it

I just followed the little ferry lines all over the mediterranean and couldn't find a port that looked like that.
the railroads and lack of baseball diamonds around the sports complex in the southeast make me think it's not North America, the outdoor pools make me think it has to be somewhere warm.

palermo?

it is on the mediterranean, not palermo. if your resolution is high enough you might be able to make out a wall around the old part of the city. you can't really tell but it's on quite a slope down to the sea.

kinda tucked away in a gulf rather than on coast proper

Thessalonika?

yes!

excellent city btw, I commend it to you all

Loving the game. Now if someone could just show me how to upload an image without downloading an app to my phone I could contribute one of my own.

I shouldve blurted it out but go ahead

You should have, but go ahead anyway, I'm a few down as it is.

this is big for you zoom in

http://i.imgur.com/mUuoACJ.jpg

All of Northern Italy looks like that...

parma?

can't find it in parma but damn it looks so similar!

not italy

I just followed the little ferry lines all over the mediterranean and couldn't find a port that looked like that.

I did that exact same thing this afternoon.

that frank gehry looking thing on the northeast campus should be a clue

LEON

Spain

I was thinking northern spain/basque country but I never would've thought of leon for whatever reason, but it makes sense because it's not quite green enough to be Asturias or Galicia (in my not particularly informed opinion)

musac in the top left nice one tombot

http://i.imgur.com/6p9HyBH.png

tokyo?

Close, but not Tokyo.

Actually that one makes me realize some of Bing's satellite shots seem like they might be hella old

Less old, than taken on a day when the wind blew from China.

Uhhh... Busan?

osaka has a dozen rivers that all run in the right direction to be that one but i couldn't find it

Less old, than taken on a day when the wind blew from China.

southeast corner not finished

as this hasn't been solved is a clue in order?

also I hope these are all aligned northwards otherwise this is just ridiculous

haha that's what i was worried about when i guessed palermo up top

taipei?

yep it is, found it on googlemaps

#9
http://i.imgur.com/128vusk.jpg

An oval dirt racetrack in the middle of a city?

Not helpful: http://speedwaysonline.com/tracks/category/oval-tracks/?nsd_surface=dirt

Singapore I think?

Almost thought it was Cincinnati, if Cincinnati's population was about 100 times more dense.

They're dense anyway for putting chocolate and cinnamon on their chili, but I meant the other kind of dense.

not singapore (or cincinnati)

i do like cinnamon in chili though

singamoncinnati

the tight grid plus oval racetrack is making me think Autódromo but arrrgh which one?

oval track could be for horses

Wait, of course you put cinnamon in chill? Chocolate, though, don't know about that.

I don't think it's for horses as there doesn't appear to be any stabling facilities xp.

Also thinking that's a big river, has to be south america or Asia but I'm struggling.

Buenos Aires has a tight grid and at least three big dirt ovals but is still not the answer. arrrrrrrgh

ROSARIO ARGENTINA

and Aimless was right it is a Hipódromo not an Autódromo

#10:

http://i.imgur.com/bPKdlOI.png

Gothenburg!

son of a bitch

ROSARIO ARGENTINA

― El Tomboto

Oh shit I've been there! Still didn't recognise it.

Casino it's been an hour where is your entry

oh shit forgot that rule sorry! we're running out the door for friendsgiving but I SHALL RETURN

Wow, that is not the Gothenburg I know. Quite funny when you see a picture of a city, and you realize you think you know it but you've only been in one corner of it. But that corner (south and south-west) I know quite well.

I think I can see my cousins apartment!

fuck y'all, i'm too drunk. if someone else wants to grab the baton, please be my guest!

You should rotate these to throw off ppl's sense of cardinal direction

they're difficult enough the right way up tbh

yeah I don't know how people even manage to guess

NEED PUZZLE

also I have thought about the "rotate / skew" option - like when I was failing miserably at finding thessaloniki - and it would just be cruel

I had a hunch Göteborg would be easy for some people but I went with it anyway because frankly solving these is way more fun than watching people guess

http://i.imgur.com/7qL7cml.jpg

OK while looking, I google mapped "Mountain Home AFB" and wow that looks like somebody was playing Go with farms and then dropped an airfield in the middle of the board

Golf course in northeast says USA but keep reading.

Circular bunker (?) arrangements argue for a military airfield but I just looked at basically every USAF base I can think of and didn't see one that looked exactly like that. On the other hand lack of a half-dozen big gray cargo jets just thinkin baout things argues against. Also, no golf ball antennae or fighters.

Also, looking more closely at the upper right, there's these big green ovals that look frighteningly like cricket fields, and I don't see any baseball diamonds. Shit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_Air_Force_bases

there are too many of these.

i'm starting my search in australia for this one, already found some similar looking things

wherever it is I'm going to drill down about those bunker arrangements
good job, plains

It's Darwin

http://i.imgur.com/5tVKf4b.jpg

Very US college town...

Ann Arbor!

I'm not crazy! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAAF_Base_Darwin

13.

http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq313/doctorcasino/guessaerial_zpskajwyfie.png

Netherlands?

Not Netherlands.

That interchange looks a lot like it could be one of these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-_and_left-hand_traffic#Changing_sides_at_borders

The river, the road, and the red roofs all make me think of Italy?

very straight canals and flat land makes me think belgium but I haven't found it

it's Aveiro in Portugal. (found by googling "circlar pedestrian bridge"!)

Indeed! The salt marsh landscape does give it a Low Country look from above, though.

http://i.imgur.com/QEEVSvh.jpg

idk this isn't my game but i would've thought you'd want a bar on this of minimum size or distinction that that little town in portugal doesn't meet

England?

not England

It has to be Europe. France?

I'm playing Guess The Country btw.

not France

I've just been googling English cathedrals with little success, so glad to see that that was a total waste of time.

(found by googling "circlar pedestrian bridge"!)

Ha, I was googling "roundabout bridge".

sorry, I guess I thought Aveiro was a bigger deal! it's a significant university town and moderate tourist attraction, i dunno man.

Big enough to have a pedestrian roundabout bridge, I ain't knockin' ya, C.

Current one is such a wonky patchwork of elements. Having a hard time picturing any of these spaces relating to any of the others. That's not so unusual but it sort of is in towns with what look like old-timey cathedrals and squares, and that huge, oddly-shaped green that nothing else seems to really take seriously.

I'm most intrigued by the nonagonal UFO landing pad in the northwest

Lot of cities in the UK, I'll give you all that.

That looks like (half) a rugby pitch three quarters to the right at the top. Is it somewhere in the British Isles that isn't England?

yes indeed it is british isles

Armagh!

It is, I just found it as well!

I have nothing so go ahead and post one if you have

well done! is there any chance we could restrict this to actual cities? finding provincial towns is fiendishly difficult. armagh has less than 15k ppl, there are bigger villages !

Armagh is an actual city.

I'd finished doing cities in Wales and was just moving round the ones in NI (I knew it wasn't in Scotland)

I just went by the list of Irish cathedrals on wikipedia

xps the trick is finding somewhere difficult but not TOO difficult and I guess being solved in 24 hours with a couple of nudges feels about right?

man not only does it have city status but there are three smaller cities in the uk. carry on then

imo sticking to 100,000+ population is best unless it has some unique identifying characteristic

RIP St Davids

Armagh!

I thought this was an expression of desperation at first.

"I can't find this stupid city. Armagh!"

alisa, you got anything?

Here's an unofficial one until we get a new city up. Trick to this one is that it's been flipped sideways.

http://i.imgur.com/bAyWlia.jpg

Very strong Latin American vibe....

Yup. Buenos Aires.

Sorry, don't have anything for now. Will try and find something and put it up later.

Meanwhile here's one that might be too small for a city but there's something identifiable

http://i.imgur.com/Yzzu7kX.jpg

Saint martin de Re. Cool looking place. I'll try to work out how to post a map from my phone. This may take a while...

I'd be happy for someone else to post the next one, I won't be back at a PC until Friday.

Really cool aerial, that last one.

http://i.imgur.com/GTDNQxH.jpg

Barcelona in a heartbeat.

I had a hunch it would be too easy

For better or worse. The Cerda plan which gives it that very distinctive grid of chamfered-edge blocks also makes the entire 19th century expansion of the city just brutally monotonous when you're anywhere between the big diagonals. The chamfered corners also make it a real pain to get around on foot: every street you're crossing is basically twice as wide as it needs to be, so you burn a lot of potential walking time waiting for lights. A shame the chamfer couldn't have been saved for 'special' intersections, or the grid more frequently offset with some other rhythm or open spaces (e.g. Savannah).

IIRC, Sagrada Familia was meant to be within an even bigger park - or rather, a total of six green blocks, making a Latin Cross. Obviously that was way too much real estate, but it's alarming to consider that it might not actually feel all that different, except of course for being able to get a real frontal approach on the thing.

I looked at doing a v similar shot of Barcelona earlier but figured too obvious. Still looks excellent from the air though.

they look like chromosomes.

18.

http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq313/doctorcasino/guessaerial2_zpscxwof8fh.png

Ground zero. Hiroshima.

Yup, well done.

Another easy one:

http://i.imgur.com/HeHtcfX.jpg

Singapore

Marina Bay Sands is hard to miss.

http://i.imgur.com/6sN06NV.jpg

view image it's big

very middle european? prague/ljubliana etc are similar

not Prague I don't think, but maybe Brno?

totally Brno! Nice.

👍

a lovely city, I would recommend a visit to the Brno Dragon should anyone pay a vist

http://www.brno.me/photos/sights/city-portal-dragon.jpg

working on my selection...

relatively easy I should think

http://i.imgur.com/HhrAC8l.png

We got stuck in traffic and so had to cut out our visit to Brno proper - but Mies's Villa Tugendhat is a must-see for the architectural sort.

xpost Lyon!

hah yes much too easy!

jersey manhattan brooklyn i seeit!

22.

http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq313/doctorcasino/guessaerial3_zpsljya2wte.jpg

Bangalore!

BTW, the hint I needed was the blue roofs on the newer buildings. That mosque looking building in the NW led me on a long detour.

http://i.imgur.com/WDPOVL8.jpg

Hint: No longer a problem.

Konigsberg then.

Formerly. Remarkable how decimated it was by the last days of WWII and 45 years of Soviet rule.

Oops, Kaliningrad for the official point, my bad.

Can't supply my own right now...

Love this thread, is it okay to jump in? this could be super easy mind...

http://i68.tinypic.com/4jszyu.png

That has to be be the Netherlands - not sure where though. Want to say Utrecht but it doesn't quite fit.

Leiden

http://oi68.tinypic.com/2w2hbty.jpg

Ordos Ghost City!!

http://i.imgur.com/mRND0gu.png

Chiang Mai!

You guys are good.

I was certain Bangalore was in Mexico somewhere.

XXXXXP Leiden it is!

http://oi63.tinypic.com/15d5kid.jpg

Kalgoorlie, WA!

(Western Australia, not Washington State.)

yup!

http://i.imgur.com/WTYXs2D.jpg

Helluva place for a train station.

I love holes and I love Australia. What can I say.

Here's an aeiral:

http://i.imgur.com/sf2M3eD.jpg

But I thought the Bird's Eye looked cooler:

http://i.imgur.com/AYJOqqB.jpg

BTW, the hint I needed was the blue roofs on the newer buildings. That mosque looking building in the NW led me on a long detour.

Nice work. (In fact, it's a wholesale market, most famous for flowers.)

Brasilia!

Some incomprehensible shit going on in there.

ledge with the edge.

http://i.imgur.com/8sxzu0S.jpg

south africa?

It looks like it could be part of São Paulo

Hint: it's a capital
Potentially misleading hint: those are paddy fields.

I google capital city paddy fields and now I know

Technically that's Ambohimanarina with a bit of Tsarasaotra. It's a remarkable place for rice paddies (elevation 4,300 ft).

I'll give ya that.

http://i.imgur.com/CJdKt4O.jpg

malé!

wow, great one.

yeah, awesome choice Sanpaku

31, by my count:

https://i.imgur.com/FTblpnB.jpg

Kanagawa.

er, kanazawa!

that was fast! I knew I shouldn't have put kenrokuen right in the middle.

I was wondering when someone was going to go Maldives, so mad I was having dinner for that one

as a gestalt we seem to be getting scary good at this, btw

Haha, I recognized Kanazawa for SANAA's 21st Century Museum, much-discussed in architecture-school-land, and IMO not as good as their one in Toledo. But very distinctive from above, with the rectangles-in-circle design.

er, kanazawa!

Oops sorry.

http://i.imgur.com/7HUsctY.png

potosi bolivia

can't believe I finally got one haaa

wow

my dad is Chilean and lived for a long spell of his childhood in northern chile, ive never been there but have seen tons of pictures, documentaries etc. and the first thing I thought when I saw that picture was that it was in that part of the world, quite possibly Calama, the town near Chuquicamata, but that if it wasn't it was def in northern Chile, Peru, or Bolivia.

and after Calama Potosi was the only mining town I could think of by name

well it's your turn next don't forget

BTW Santiago was wonderful & I hope to return - first trip ever to South America, would recommend

I will do one but likely not til tomorrow. if anyone is wanting to do one in the interim they should go ahead

yeah, Santiago is p great.

xp Potosi. Arguably the richest city in the world from 1575 to 1825. Having read Las Venas Abiertas de América Latina in translation, its also the site of atrocity on the grandest scale, too.

http://i.imgur.com/V7hX7iO.jpg

...

Concepción, CL

sadly - and I mean this NEVER works - "search google for this image" turns up a map to 5K and 10K run routes through downtown

http://i.imgur.com/oLsHyZt.png

I tested this one - my cheatin' ways are insufficient to solve it although I doubt it will last more than an hour, regardless

Louisville, Kentucky!

http://oi67.tinypic.com/291g5tj.jpg

ah scratch that one it's reverse image searchable

http://oi66.tinypic.com/qn36o9.jpg

Khartoum, Sudan.

http://i.imgur.com/ht3tccr.jpg

Shit. Reverse image searchable. Hold on.

It is possible to cheat. Don't.

http://i.imgur.com/5Q41Etr.jpg

Seoul - such a distinct variety of massive housing block arrangements

The one above is La Plata, Argentina, for reference.

Eventually we need to make a poll of these btw

What's the poll options cap? 30-something?

http://oi64.tinypic.com/21e2nms.jpg

Revive!

01. Indianapolis * pplains > ciderpress
02. Spokane * ciderpress > or something
03. Halifax * saer > or something
04. Johannesburg pplains > saer
05. New Delhi * Sanpaku > El Tomboto
06. Thessalonika * ogmor > or something
07. León * conrad > El Tomboto
08. Taipei * El Tomboto > ciderpress
09. Rosario * ciderpress > El Tomboto
10. Gothenburg * El Tomboto > Doctor Casino
11. Darwin * pplains > AlanSmithee
12. Ann Arbor * AlanSmithee > Doctor Casino
13. Aveiro * Doctor Casino > thomasintrouble
14. Armagh * thomasintrouble > Dinsdale
15. Buenos Aires pplains > Dinsdale
16. Saint Martin de Re * Dinsdale > thomasintrouble
17. Barcelona * Dinsdale > Doctor Casino
18. Hiroshima * Doctor Casino > Sanpaku
19. Singapore * Sanpaku > Treeship
20. Brno * conrad > Neil S
21. Lyon * Neil S > Doctor Casino
22. Bangalore * Doctor Casino > Sanpaku
23. Königsberg/Kaliningrad * Sanpaku > ledge
24. Leiden * Maresnest > I DIED
25. Ordos/Kangbashi * I DIED > El Tomboto
26. Chiang Mai * El Tomboto > I DIED
27. kalgoorlie * I DIED > pplains
28. Brasilia * pplains > ledge
29. Antananarivo (Ambohimanarina / Tsarasaotra) * ledge > Sanpaku
30. Malé * Sanpaku > franklin
31. Kanazawa * franklin > Doctor Casino
32. Potosí * El Tomboto > jim in glasgow
33. Concepción * jim in glasgow > El Tomboto
34. Louisville * El Tomboto > I DIED
35. (unsolved) I DIED >
36. khartoum * I DIED > Sanpaku
37. La Plata * Sanpaku > El Tomboto
38. Seoul * Sanpaku > I DIED
39. (unsolved) * I DIED >

and... 40.

http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq313/doctorcasino/guessaerial4_zpsju0yhiku.png

St. Augustine!

Ding ding ding! I screengrabbed that one back when we first started and forgot to post it. I just love the juxtaposition of elements.

I basically got that by googling "old fort"

41

https://i.imgur.com/W8et2YN.png

fuck. i know i know this.

uggggh what is that?

You know this.

Just give it some time, it’ll come to you

i give up

damn that looks so guessable too!

You know this Doc.

After four years, I guess I can reveal the answer. If you want.

Nah this must end with one of us getting it

looks like coastal US/canada to me? i think i wasted a bunch of time looking for it 4 years ago on those grounds

would prefer to leave it hanging with no hints though than be told the answer

looks like coastal US/canada to me? i think i wasted a bunch of time looking for it 4 years ago on those grounds

Haha yea, I keep thinking Annapolis, Portsmouth NH, or around the Chesapeake area but no dice so far!

There's kind of a naval academy feel about it!

It is Portsmouth!

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in top right!

Fuck I went birdwatching there once and thought one of the inlets looked familiar

hah of course it'd be somewhere i've been multiple times

Ohhhhh you mean the American one, here I was trying to pick out HMS Victory lol

wtg cherry blossom!!!!

much easier one

http://www.aerialarchives.com/stock/img/AHLV3084.jpg

I went on a boat tour of Portsmouth Harbour years ago. The only other people on the boat were my parents and about 20 German tourists who for some reason were all wearing light blue t-shirts with 'SHIT HAPPENS' printed on them. It was surreal.

I saw it was Portsmouth but I cheated.

Last one is Newport Beach, CA!

^^^^

much easier one

Interesting, I found that much harder than Portsmouth! I wasn't even really thinking of California (and I don't know Newport Beach at all)

Interesting looking one!

https://i.postimg.cc/gkS2yv40/Screenshot-2020-03-05-at-17-05-58.png

No takers?

done a bit of coastline-scrolling but nothing's coming together yet.

klaipeda, lithuania. the euro buildings and barrier islands had me scanning through the coasts of the north and baltic seas for a while.

Yes! I thought this would have been an easier one than it proved to be, with such a distinctive coastline!

nice work!

https://i.postimg.cc/FmfCVy4C/Screenshot-2020-03-13-at-09-05-35.png

quarantine edition

https://i.postimg.cc/FmfCVy4C/Screenshot-2020-03-13-at-09-05-35.png

Nantes!

(Didn't know it by sight - it just felt extremely French and I did a short cruise down the Loire. Second city I checked!)

Result!

I recognised it straight away as somewhere I had visited but got misled by the caption so was looking at cities on the Arno!