The Online Geography Game
I knew this would be a hard one. In fact, I was surprised that anyone got it correct at all.
The image is of the Nan Modal ruins in Pohnpei, Micronesia. They are some of the least well known ancient ruins on Earth, which really should be better known. Not to mention that Micronesia is really in the middle of nowhere.
I’d be interested to know how people figured it out. The three members of the varsity squad are:
I hope everyone enjoyed the late Christmas give I gave them. The answer for Contest #15 is of course the Taj Mahal. I was thinking of tossing out the Great Pyramids, but even I have some standards. Remember, however, there must be balance in the world. With the easy, must come the hard.
Members of the pee wee team who got a participation ribbon for this one:
Image by http://www.flickr.com/photos/betta_design/
Image from Chirstopher Chan
I’m surprised that anyone got this correct, but I shouldn’t have underestimated the people on this site. The location is in the panhandle of Texas, in particular, in the middle of Collingsworth County. I figured this would be more difficult because there are so many circle, irrigation fields in the world. I kept the river in the upper right part of the photo to give a clue.
The regulars got it correct:
I’d put up a sexy photo of North Texas, but such a photo doesn’t exist.
I was surprised at how easy this one was. i thought it would be bit more difficult because the two iconic things in the skyline were hard to see. The answer is Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In the photo you can see the two famous beaches of Ipanema (made famous by the song “The Girl From Ipanema”) and Copacabana (kinda of sort of made popular by Barry Manalow). The two prominent skyline features are Sugar Loaf and the statue of Christ the Redeemer. Christ the Redeemer was chosen by the New Seven Wonders group as one of the New Seven Wonders of the world, and probably the least deserving in my mind. I think you at least have to be around for a century before you can get that sort of status.
Getting this one correct were:
Image by http://flickr.com/photos/spamboy/
Image by http://flickr.com/photos/marceloandrade1980/
Name at least one of the noteworthy things in the photo, not just where the noteworthy things are located.
The answer for contest #12 is Lord Howe Island. It is a the property of Australia and located in the Pacific, 490 miles NE of Sydney. It is home to the world’s southern most tropical coral reef system and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Winners of contest #12 were:
Image from LordHoweIsland.info
Image by Eoin Murphy
Note: The compass is in the upper left because of the length of the photo. I oriented Google Earth so East was up, then rotated the screen shot 90 degrees in photo shop so north would again appear up.