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Guatemala City Sinkhole Location Found in Google Earth

February 24, 2007

Guatemala City Giant sinkhole  in Google EarthA giant sinkhole (over 300 feet deep) swallowed homes and killed at least two teenagers early Friday. The disaster has been reported in the news (see MSNBC story) and apparently was caused by a clogged sewer main. There were recently rains in the area, and residents in the area had been feeling tremors for weeks. The city had even planned investigations, but it was too late.
There were no details on the location in the news reports so far, but I noticed some aerial photos of the area. I went to see if I could find the location in Google Earth’s satellite photos. I was surprised, after only a few minutes of searching, to happen upon the actual location ! Fortunately, the street configuration is pretty unique which helped me in the search. If you look at the terrain by tilting your view (use the middle mouse button or shift-down-arrow) you can see the location is at least 200 feet above a creek/river area running north-south just to the east.
[UPDATE 1930: GEC administrator ‘Ink Polaroid’ posted a special image overlay of the aerial photo to demonstrate how it matches the satellite photo in GE. As you zoom and tilt it fades in/out to show how it matches. Read his post for more details.

About Frank Taylor

Frank Taylor started the Google Earth Blog in July, 2005 shortly after Google Earth was first released. He has worked with 3D computer graphics and VR for many years and was very impressed with this exciting product. Frank completed a 5.5 year circumnavigation of the earth by sailboat in June 2015 which you can read about at Tahina Expedition, and is a licensed pilot, backpacker, diver, and photographer.

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Comments

  1. Snark says

    February 24, 2007 at 5:05 pm

    Well spotted.
    I wonder how long it will take for the satellite imagery to be changed frequently enough in Google Earth that we can see the actual hole.

  2. galen says

    June 1, 2010 at 12:08 pm

    The world trade centers were updated the same day.

  3. Lowell Leaman says

    June 1, 2010 at 6:18 pm

    found the 2010 sinkhole at:
    Lat 14°39’7.5″N, Long 90°30’21″W

  4. nothing says

    April 16, 2015 at 6:32 pm

    Guess what he is right click on the top it looks like a clock with an arrow above it click on that and go back to 2007 YOU CAN SEE THE SINKHOLE 😀



PLEASE NOTE: Google Earth Blog is no longer writing regular posts. As a result, we are not accepting new comments or questions about Google Earth. If you have a question, use the official Google Earth and Maps Forums or the Google Earth Community Forums.

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