Flyover of Brooklyn, via Google Earth

In case anyone has forgotten how awesome Google Earth is, here are a few views we snapped today while zooming over Brooklyn.

The images come from NOAA (the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) satellites and are pieced together by Google software on the fly. (Some smudgy artifacts show up in the screen grabs that don't matter much when you're zooming over the city.)

The amount of data represented here is breathtaking. This was the stuff of science fiction dreams just a few years ago, and now anyone with a normal computer has complete and free access to it.

Click on the photos to see larger images.

Brooklyn Bridge Park

Prospect Park & Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Downtown Brooklyn

Breezy Point, Rockaways

Photos courtesy Google Earth and NOAA

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

EPA Decides to Leave Old Navigational Marker for Sailors in Place, Saving Money and Probably Saving Lives

Photo by Google Maps

The Department of Environmental Protection reversed its plans to destroy a 78-year-old navigational aid between Manhattan Beach and Breezy Point that mariners say makes them safer and shows them the way home, according to Sheepshead Bites.

According to documents released under a Freedom of Information Law request filed by Sheepshead Bites, the DEP decided to leave a wastewater diffuser pipe that locals affectionately refer to as the “roundhouse” after sailors and other mariners strongly objected to its removal.

The agency decided the roundhouse served a crucial purpose for vessels both afloat and under the water. More at Sheepshead Bites.

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.