Here’s a slide show compiled from shots from a left side window (6A) of a United 737 flying from Dulles to Logan. Featured are Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Jersey’s refinery districts, New York and BostonProvidence. Even from half a dozen miles up and more than that away, you can see the bright lights of Yankee Stadium and Camden Yards, where the Yankees and Orioles were playing that evening. Also the Verazano-Narrows and George Washington bridges, along with many others draped across the black waters below.
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Doc–
Very cool! As with any sublime work of art, I’m amazed I’ve never seen anything like this before. (Of course I’ve seen night skylines, of course, but the series aspect was neat, and the lights on at Yankee Stadium and Camden Yards are unique.) And I can’t even find it now. I was trying to verify the skyline that you say is Boston– it doesn’t quite look like it, and Boston’s coastline/skyline is as distinct as New York’s (all those peninsulas).
As always, I can’t help but look at the information architecture considerations of this (as I’m unable to summon an actual pilot this moment).
One, we’re seeing the limits of Flickr’s context-free folksonomy. Suppose you (and others) were to tag your photos like this: location=Boston; subject=skyline; timeofday=night; vantage=airplane. That way, it would be very easy to search for other night skylines from the vantage of an airplane to find the location.
Two, as I suggested in November, more digital devices ought have built-in geotagging. Then, I had been focusing on phones and emergencies, but obviously this could be in cameras as well.
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Thanks, Jon.
As always, some great ideas from you there. Especially geotagging emergency data.
Perhaps it’s not too odd that, as I get older, everything about the Networked World, so far, seems very early to me. Even relatively (and yet only apparently) mature technologies such as those in digital cameras seem primitive, because they lack proper connections to the Net, and to other devices.
Worse, we’re still silo’d with those technologies. I would like to be able to add bluetooth to my Canon 30d SLR, and to my GPS, so the latter could add geo data to every shot. Instead even the USB capabilities of both devices are too silo’d and dumb to allow that.
Meanwhile, though, you’ve got me thinking. More soon. 🙂
Oh, by the way, you’re right that the last shot in the series isn’t Boston. It’s Providence. I don’t usually miss those, but I did this time. Thanks for catching the error.
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Awesome photoset, Doc! Definitely one of my favorites from your mile-high photo collections.
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Doc
On Networked world and expecting better connectivityAs long time reader (not enough in past decade or so) of “sci-fi” I find myself not amazed by devices but more of “it’s about time”, or “so? we’ve been waiting for …”
Ciao
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It’s a shame that we waste so much energy radiating light out into space, but it’s pretty.
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It’s a privilege to live in an age when we can afford high-altitude aviation as well, all but unaware of its consequences.
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consequences? Your link is 404.
Glad to be of help!
As for all the light leaking out into space (or at least the atmosphere), you think that’s bad, how about the folks who *live* next to the Yankee Stadium lights!
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I could see the Empire State Building on your Manhattan pictures!
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