Author: Andrew

Hints, as received from players:

1. From Jeather:
A North American version

2. From Robin:
Seems appropriate

3. From Phil Ower:
Would have been a good place to watch Lawrence Of Arabia

4. From krenek:
This work of art is located near (less than 10 km) the capital city of a country of approximately 40’000 km2.

5. From ashwini agrawal:
An ancient br..ge

6. From Gillian B:
Every night,
As the sun goes down,
Lots of feet
Come paddling around.

7. From rob de wolff:
Looks different from winter 1520

8. From Glenmorren
From Stalingrad, take Line 7

9. From Lighthouse:
The image shows a mental activity during sleep of a green jumping insect and a special way of locomotion.

10. From RicardPG:
It has more than a thousand years, but less than a century from its relocation.

11. From donaaronio:
Don’t let the name fool you. You won’t find this place in Mexico.

12. From Garfield:
It is NOT the one in Scotland

13. From hhgygy:
This UNESCO WHC site did ok from the 12th century until 1905, had a hard time from then until 1991, and is slowly being revitalized now.

Don’t forget to submit comments prior to May 19 at 2130 UTC to get 2 points for your correct responses.

Then you can submit another comment or comments with the remaining locations before the contest ends May 26 at 2100 UTC.

In no particular order… here are your contest #500 images. Paul and I are not to be blamed for difficult ones!

We will extend this contest to two weeks – one week without hints with hints released next Friday at 2130 UTC.

Please submit your answers using number or name below to identify the image. If you submitted a location, we will assume you know where it is and award 2 points automatically.

1. From Jeather:

2. From Robin:

3. From Phil Ower:

4. From krenek:

5. From ashwini agrawal:

6. From Gillian B:

7. From rob de wolff:

8. From Glenmorren:

9. From Lighthouse:

10. From RicardPG:

11. From donaaronio:

12. From Garfield:

13. From hhgygy:

Contest #499 was designed to be fun in advance of number 500.

From Atlas Obscura:
Breaking up the flat agricultural areas of Argentina’s Pampas is a guitar formed entirely out of trees. Stretching for 2/3 of a mile, the multi-colored instrument was created by one Argentine farmer to memorialize his wife who tragically died at the age of 25.
After flying over fields in the Pampas that resembled a milk pail, Pedro Ureta’s wife Graciela suggested they embed a design into their own fields. Ureta never really had time to think about turning his field into a giant work of art, and told her they would put the project off until they both had more time. In 1977, Graciela unexpectedly died from a brain aneurysm, and her dream was lost forever.

Crushed by the loss of his love, a few years later Ureta began working on designing a guitar in his field that could be seen from above by airplane. He settled on the design because his late wife loved the instrument and he wanted to memorialize her on his land.

Working tirelessly to plant and cultivate the trees, Ureta created a perfect guitar shape, complete with a star-shaped hole in the middle. Using mostly cypress trees to form the outline, Ureta used blue eucalyptus trees to accent the strings on the neck of the guitar. Easily visible from airplanes, the guitar brings joy to many who fly over the Pampas.

Ureta himself is afraid of flying and has only seen the guitar he created to remember his companion, Graciela, in photos.

Found, with a bit of music on the side:

• hhgygy
• Glenmorren
• Eloy Cano
• Ben S
• Lighthouse
• Phil Ower
• marisa boraas
• donaaronio
• Jeather
• Ashwini Agrawal
• rob de wolff
• JF
• Garfield
• Jesus Rodriguez
• Lelie
• Chris Nason
• David Kozina
• Robin
• Mehmet DURMUS
• RicardPG

After the hint:

• Gillian B
• Cid Williams

There is a story of a premature death and the guitar has more than 7000 trees but the designer has never seen it from the air.

Where On Google Earth started in February 2008, and has been providing players around the world with challenging puzzles on a (now) weekly basis.

Contest 500 is one away now, and would like to celebrate this with a different kind of contest – where you get to choose one location each to challenge the rest of the players.

Submit a location (name/lat/lon/scale if important) and a helpful hint. We will number and post all images for everyone to solve. We reserve the right to not use locations that do not meet our standards. We will reveal all hints at the usual date and time (0001 UTC on Wednesday).

Everyone should get at least 2 points, but can someone find them all?

Andrew/Paul

The Porcelain Palace in Chongqing, China is the largest toilet complex in the world with more than 1000 toilets and urinals.

It’s located at the Foreigners Street amusement park!

This was not an easy contest and the number of correct responses proved that.

Found without waiting in line too long:

• Eloy Cano

• hhgygy
• rob de wolff

Updated to 2017 imagery:

During my reading about walls being constructed for various reasons, I came across mention of the Moroccan Wall of Western Sahara – the longest in the world at around 2700 km. It is also one of the most heavily mined parts of the world. It is also known as “The Berm” because of the construction.

It separates the Moroccan occupied, and controlled, areas (Southern Provinces) and the Polisario-controlled areas (Free Zone, nominally Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic) that lies along its eastern and southern border.

A map showing the extent of the wall

And an image of the wall itself

This contest proved to be a tricky one, as it was in two parts: what was it, and where was this particular location.

The few who found it, despite its size:

• Garfield
• hhgygy
• Lighthouse
• Phil Ower

After the hint:

• Glenmorren
• donaaronio