New twist for this week; the mystery is to reveal who Michigan State was playing in this game. Hint – “The photo is from 1984”
Another week, another mystery – now with the ability to zoom! (Zoom.It) Read the guidelines below, then comment and be sure to include a link to a corresponding map. Then, this Friday we will reveal this photos location in the comment section of this post! And, enjoy the latest twist, brought to you by Zoom.It.
Another week, another mystery – now with the ability to zoom! (Zoom.It) Read the guidelines below, then comment and be sure to include a link to a corresponding map. Then, this Friday we will reveal this photos location in the comment section of this post!
Another week, another mystery! Here is the entry for this week. Read the guidelines below, then comment and be sure to include a link to a corresponding map. Then, this Friday we will reveal this photos location in the comment section of this post!
Another week, another mystery! Here is the entry for this week. Read the guidelines below, then comment and be sure to include a link to a corresponding map. Then, this Friday we will reveal this photos location in the comment section of this post!
Another week, another mystery! Here is the entry for this week. Read the guidelines below, then comment and be sure to include a link to a corresponding map. Then, this Friday we will reveal this photos location in the comment section of this post!
Today, I’m bringing another tool to you guys that we use when hunting down the location of photos.
This one is awesome! I’m so excited to show you and then enable you to use it.
The biggest part of my job is working with our GIS software that my colleague, Kevin Marsh developed. You can read more about GIS in another post I wrote a while ago here.
As I trace the flight paths from the old flight maps, they are stored on our server, and linked to the corresponding roll. Using GIS software, we can then export the flight paths to a .kml file, and view them in Google Earth.
So how does this help in the photo search? The amazing thing about Google Earth is that it lets you fly anywhere to view detailed satellite imagery, maps, and terrain. As you can see in the photo below, this is much more helpful than the old county maps I showed you in the last post.
Ready for the best part? You can also click the flight path which will then open the roll’s webpage inside of Google Earth. This allows me to search for other images on the roll, helping me narrow down the exact location for the mystery photo.
And today, we’re proud to be able to give you this same ability. You’ll need to download Google Earth, and also our .kml file of all the flight paths we’ve finished. So, lets use this technology together to uncover something historic.
As you well know by now, we could not find last week’s Mystery Monday resulting in Mystery Friday. So, here’s what happened.
Typically I’ll notice an interesting photo and forward it Sam, who then files it away for a future Mystery Monday post. The only concrete information we have on the photo at first is the date it was taken, and the County and State it is located in. Then sometime later in the week, we utilize some tools that we have, and narrow down the photos precise location. So we did that… and failed.
And that’s what these next couple of posts are really about. Giving you the same tools we have to find the location of this mysterious photo. Why do this when we’ve already spent hours looking? Because we don’t know everything. Time and time again you guys amaze us with your vast knowledge of the surrounding terrain, architectural style, and other fantastic observations. And as we always mention in our Mystery Monday posts, it’s estimated that 40% of our photos document places that are no longer standing. So maybe one you lives where this photo is located and remember when it was still standing.
Alright, so here’s what we know about the photo:
The photo was taken in 1964 and is located somewhere in Beaver County, PA.
Thankfully, we also have a flight map that goes along with the film. It looks like this.
Another week, another mystery! Here is the entry for this week. Read the guidelines below, then comment and be sure to include a link to a corresponding map. Then, this Friday we will reveal this photos location in the comment section of this post!
We knew this would happen eventually. Every week we post a Mystery Monday photo and, to this point, we have been able to unlock each mystery. This week is different.
Why would we not be able to solve our own contest? Well, when we post the weekly blog post we know where it falls on our old county map once used by the pilot, we know what county it’s in, but we can’t guarantee we will be able to identify it. In fact, there have been weeks we didn’t know the photo’s location until one of our followers found it.
Perhaps this photo is simply difficult to find because it is no longer standing, and when we try to find it using the satellite view on Google Maps, there isn’t anything that resembles this photo.
Did we make an error in scanning or archiving? While we try our hardest to get every photo right, there are 25 million of them and we are bound to make a mistake. This could be our fault. (For more on how we bring these old rolls of film to your computer screen check out these past posts. - Technology & The Art of G.I.S.
Another week, another mystery! Here is the entry for this week. Read the guidelines below, then comment and be sure to include a link to a corresponding map. Then, this Friday we will reveal this photos location in the comment section of this post!
