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4th of july

US flags for the 4th of July

July 3, 2017

Tomorrow, the 4th of July, is Independence Day in the United States. So, we thought we would try and find some examples of large US flags visible in Google Earth. It turned out to be remarkably difficult, given that Americans love their flag and display it as often as possible.

The best examples of flags designed for viewing from above are on commercial buildings:


Legendary Marine, Destin, Florida.


Lamons Gasket Company, Houston, Texas.

Laredo National Bank in Laredo, Texas is said to have the tallest flag pole in the US at 308 feet and flying a 100 x 50 foot flag. Unfortunately, the flag itself can only be seen in older imagery, which isn’t very good resolution.


Laredo National Bank, Laredo, Texas.

The largest flag ever made is The Superflag at 255 x 505 feet. It was created by Thomas “Ski” Demski in 1992. He passed away in 2002 but you can still rent The Superflag and smaller versions from the company he created. We were unable to find the flag in Google Earth imagery, but did find his home named ‘the Pole’ where he originally flew it.


‘The Pole’, Long Beach, California. We believe the three dots of colour on the neighbors roofs are imagery artifacts.

For the above locations, some other flags and locations of famous or record-setting flags, patriotic messages and more, download this KML file.

Filed Under: Site News Tagged With: 4th of july, flag

Happy 4th of July!

July 4, 2014

Today in the US it is Independence Day, often referred to as simply the 4th of July. Banks are closed, BBQs are being heated up, and fireworks will fill the sky for most of us today.

Speaking of firewoks, here’s a neat post I found from Rick Klau a few years ago, when he used Google Earth to determine if he’d be able to view a local fireworks display from the comfort of his home.

He determined that fireworks typically reach a height of 300m, so he drew a polygon to that height, then used Google Earth’s terrain feature to see if the polygon was visible from his house. It was, and they enjoyed a great show that evening!

fireworks.jpg
If you’re looking for more fireworks, check out the thousands of geotagged photos on Panorama tagged with the words “fireworks“. If you take any yourself, be sure to upload them on Panoramio for everyone else to enjoy.

fireworks-panoramio.jpg
For those of you running (or watching) the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta today, our post from a few years ago shows you a lot of neat ways to view the course. The easiest is to simply load up this KML file and explore it for yourself.

Peachtree Road Race
Whatever you do today, have a great time and please stay safe!

Filed Under: Sightseeing Tagged With: 4th of july, independence day, peachtree road race



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