Google Earth captures Sydney ferry crash?
Angus Kidman20 March 2008, 10:37 AM
If you believe Google Earth, Sydney Harbour is filled with sunken ferries and just-about-to-happen naval disasters. But is that really a submerged boat?
Searching through Google Earth for unexpected images is a popular tactic, especially if the picture which you locate happens to feature a topless sunbather who didn't realise they were being caught on satellite. Sadly, we don't have one of those to add to the list, but we do think there's something amiss in Google Earth's imagery of Sydney.
Google's most recent images of Circular Quay appear to have been taken when a major cruise liner, quite possibly the QEII, was in town, an event that normally attracts massive crowds. Yet apparently none of them noticed what Google's satellite apparently did: a boat which appeared to have crashed full-speed ahead into another boat. Despite the two boats merging into each other, neither appears to have sunk.
Dodgem ferries: though not quite enough dodging is going on if you believe this photo.
This might seem like some sort of nautical miracle, given that the normal response when boats collide is sinking, life jackets and pages of tabloid coverage. But just a short scroll away, we've managed to find evidence of another apparent disaster: a half-sunken ferry (look just next to the compass):
Sunk: just the tip of the boat remains above water... (remember, the camera never lies... or does it?)
Clearly, there's something fishy about these pictures, and Google's mapping technology is all at sea. (Boom-tish!)
OK, we realise that all this is probably due to the overlaying of multiple images taken at different times via an automated process. But surely for such a visible landmark they could have done a better stitching the pictures together, even if it meant some manual intervention?
Thanks to APC reader David Sawtell for pointing this out!