following the grid on google earth.

[brantmacga]

just something to do if you need to kill a little time;

i was on google earth and happened upon a giant setup of transmission lines; its easier to find them in a wooded area, but you can follow them all the way to the power plant and see where they go from there.


it was actually kind of interesting.


they get a little harder to follow in the places where there's a lot of open land (agriculture), but you can use street view if available to check in at a highway crossing and make sure you're still on the path. once you get a feel for what its supposed to look like, they're easy to follow.


i wonder though what it costs to maintain those huge swaths of land that have to be kept clear under the lines. i followed a line that went south of the airport in atlanta, and the area it took up was 300' across.

 

[LarryFine]

I like finding shadows of planes.

 

[brantmacga]

I like finding shadows of planes.

yes! another enjoyable thing on google earth!



i've actually found some that are in the air.

 

[macmikeman]

I like checking far away coastlines for surf breaks

 

[LarryFine]

They have a really great pic of my house.

 

[infinity]

For years I had seen these power lines near the Canadian border and often wondered where they went. I was able to track them to a generation plant along the Connecticut river in New Hampshire. Pretty amazing stuff we have here in the third millennium.

 

[ptonsparky]

I used it last summer to find a job sight. The property owner could not tell me a street address but could give driving instructions. Part of which included the information about it being just North of where an old power substation used to be located. I may have missed it on a drive by but the area was pretty obvious from above.

 

[Pierre C Belarge]

I used to maintain power line properties back in the 70's. It was a pain in the neck. The power company rates private (or used to) companies working for them. I only did a very small area of power lines, I cannot imagine what the total cost in this country could be...LOTS :grin:

 

[LarryFine]

That appears t6o be a D.C. line, having only two main conductors.

 

[infinity]

That appears t6o be a D.C. line, having only two main conductors.

Actually I posted that photo in October to find out exactly what it is and it was determined that it was in fact a DC transmission line that run into Canada from the US.

 

[rfwells]

just something to do if you need to kill a little time;

i was on google earth and happened upon a giant setup of transmission lines; its easier to find them in a wooded area, but you can follow them all the way to the power plant and see where they go from there.


it was actually kind of interesting.


they get a little harder to follow in the places where there's a lot of open land (agriculture), but you can use street view if available to check in at a highway crossing and make sure you're still on the path. once you get a feel for what its supposed to look like, they're easy to follow.


i wonder though what it costs to maintain those huge swaths of land that have to be kept clear under the lines. i followed a line that went south of the airport in atlanta, and the area it took up was 300' across.

Take a look at Niagara Falls. Then follow the lower river in the gorge north, until you see the hydro plant on the right (US side). Look at the size of the reservoir. Where's that water come from? Look for the T in the channel, where it divides into two outlets, kind of like a notch. Follow that south, directly down Hyde Park Boulevard, to the upper riverbank. There will be two large shadows of the intake gates. About 40x60' if I remember, when last inspected by manned submarine, they mentioned this on the newscast. Then look back at the plant, to the south, the tower farm. 2.5GW, enough to power the flux capacitor and then some.

 

[Karl H]

I like checking far away coastlines for surf breaks

I've been doing the same thing. I'm looking for an unkown break in
Southern California though. I thought I was the first to discover
"Ghost Tree". Nope, five years too late.

 

[LarryFine]

2.5GW, enough to power the flux capacitor and then some.

Two of them, in fact.

 

[Mr.Sparkle]

I've been doing the same thing. I'm looking for an unkown break in
Southern California though. I thought I was the first to discover
"Ghost Tree". Nope, five years too late.

A few months ago I spent hours looking around the Caribbean.

 

[zog]

I love them, most of my clients are very large industrial plants or the power plants themselves, often tucked away back in the woods somwhere, these lines always lead me right to the plant, if I am headed to a power plant and the lines go one way and my GPS says go the other way, I am following the lines.

 

[Fulthrotl]

just something to do if you need to kill a little time;

i was on google earth and happened upon a giant setup of transmission lines; its easier to find them in a wooded area, but you can follow them all the way to the power plant and see where they go from there.


it was actually kind of interesting.


they get a little harder to follow in the places where there's a lot of open land (agriculture), but you can use street view if available to check in at a highway crossing and make sure you're still on the path. once you get a feel for what its supposed to look like, they're easy to follow.


i wonder though what it costs to maintain those huge swaths of land that have to be kept clear under the lines. i followed a line that went south of the airport in atlanta, and the area it took up was 300' across.

here's a set of coordinates....

31 15'15.53N, 24 15'30.53W

if you zoom out, you can see the roads of atlantis... it's clearest about 350
miles elevation......

there is some speculation as to the accuracy of this point of view...

 

[LarryFine]

I love them, most of my clients are very large industrial plants or the power plants themselves, often tucked away back in the woods somwhere, these lines always lead me right to the plant, if I am headed to a power plant and the lines go one way and my GPS says go the other way, I am following the lines.

Are they marked "line" and "load" and have arrows on them?