Where is restrepo on google earth

Both minarets were built by the Ghurid empire , and historians now suspect the Minaret of Jam is the only structure left standing at the location of Firuzkuh, or Turquoise Mountain , the fabled Ghurid summer capital destroyed by the Mongols in and lost to us ever since. In an authoritative report on recent excavations at the Minaret of Jam in search of evidence tying it to Firuzkuh, David Thomas recounts how the wider world rediscovered this architectural gem:. Abdullah Malikyar, the Governor of Herat, and A.

Ali Kohzad published a report on it in Dari. A report in English followed in but the magnificent tower only received world attention in , when Maricq announced the discovery in The Illustrated London News and suggested that its location was ancient Firuzkuh. Nine years later, at the age of 75, Freya Stark set out westward from Kabul to see this minaret for herself.

She and a few other seasoned travelers managed to drive their Land Rover Series IIA straight through this central massif, negotiating mountain passes, fjords and barely-there tracks to reach the minaret, and thereafter Herat. Although there was very little road infrastructure then, the s and 70s provided a rare window of opportunity for unfettered travel in Afghanistan — Herat and Kabul were major destinations along the Hippie trail.

It perhaps helps that she spoke Farsi, of which Afghans speak the Dari dialect. Stewart speaks Dari and is an Afghanistan expert, and yet his quest — to walk from Herat to Kabul via Jam in January , through Taliban-controlled territory a few months after the NATO invasion — is brave bordering on the foolhardy. The landscapes he travels through are those which Stark visited 33 years earlier, but his descriptions above all convey desolation, desperation and a turning inward.

Remarkably, he is often received hospitably on his trek. Stark is generous with the minutiae of her trip. She records dates, places and distances, and offers up detailed descriptions of the landscape. For example:. A higher downland spread just above. A shambling lorry trundled off down an unlikely track, and half a dozen people sitting at leisure to watch it gave a city touch, since agricultural leisure never begins in the morning.

The country to the south descended in slopes of light or shadow towards clefts that led to Ghazni or the Kabul valley far away. We drove on, over a wide and lovely movement of heights, from one corn basin to another, jade-green and translucent in their own depth of shadow, and slung as if suspended between fox-coloured slopes. The dust-road rounded them with edges vague as smoke, transitory and perpetual as the centuries of forgotten hooves that had sodden and bruised it into the background of its hills; and suddenly, without any preparation, we found ourselves on the brow of a precipice that looked down on Helmand [river] escaping from its gorges.

The river and a tributary met there, spitting white water and twisting like snakes surprised, and continued along an easier but still narrow valley journey, where a bridge at the bottom and the opposite zig-zags showed our way. Reading such passages, I began to suspect there might be sufficient information here to reconstruct her trip cartographically, using tools that the inhabitants of could not even imagine: Google Earth and geonames.

It proved possible, but not easy. There were two main challenges:. In the passage above, for example, they are on a track in the southern higher reaches of the Helmand river basin, because in there is no passable road directly beside the river.

Today, there is. Second, there is no common toponomy — Stark transliterates the names she hears in Dari from locals in one way, her maps transliterate them in another, and geonames.

Fortunately, geonames. Sometimes, then, finding a location mentioned in the book took some creative reading of the candidates offered up by the network link as I roamed around the general area Stark would have traveled through. Other techniques came in handy as well. User-generated content was another useful tool for triangulating a location name. For example, on the first night, they camp at the edge of the Helmand river:.

There is no other name nearby remotely like it. The best way to use this tool is to buy the book and keep Google Earth alongside you as you read it.

Doing so adds a whole new dimension to her travelogue. In some parts, there is ambivalence about which specific route she took across a region, so I draw alternate paths.

The route I am least sure about is the one she took on August It begins and ends in the right places, but the path in between that fits with most of the evidence does not pass a certain nearby village she says they drove by.

In any case, the KMZ file comes with the Geonames network link included, so you can easily build your own theories. Any corrections or suggestions are welcome. She also mentions the northern cities of Balkh, Tashkurgan and Kunduz, and a series of passes. Finally, I have also added the locations of the sites whose treasures are in the Afghanistan exhibition currently on show in London.

Tepe Fullol in particular is an obscure, out-of-the-way site. The advice varies by year. In , it was deemed safe to travel from Herat to Jam. In , not so much. Places like Panjau also seem to have changed in character. Perhaps then would be an opportune time to retrace her trip. The research has been done. Included in the entry for Kashgar are some of the photos I took in August blogged here. To get a URL link for a view of a specific location, perform a search for it and click on the resulting link.

One more unusual use of the post-tsunami satellite imagery was by Nikon Rumors , which was able to confirm a lack of damage to one of the main Nikon factories, located in Sendai. No doubt equity analysts the world over are doing the same so as to adjust their portfolios. One thing both sides agree on, however: The way Google Maps currently depicts the maritime border is wrong:. It gives the Netherlands all of the maritime territory in question, including the harbor of Emden, a German town.

The error is only visible in Google Maps. Google Earth sensibly? Emden city council, meanwhile, has been trying to alert Google for the past year, clearly without success. With Google Earth plugin you can see the unique 3D satellite map of Restrepo within you browser.

Want to know more about Restrepo? Dive right in — Google Earth combines detailed satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips. Google Earth enables to tilt and rotate the view to see Restrepo 3D terrain and buildings and much more flying inclusive. Get Google Earth free version now and install it. When completed, simply click the link below.

Explore the Restrepo! Explore the Colombia! Explore the world! If you would like to recommend Restrepo 3D map page to a friend, or if you just want to send yourself a reminder, here is an easy way to do it. Simply fill in the e-mail address and name of the person you wish to tell about Maplandia. The URL of this site will be included automatically. You may also enter an additional message that will be also included in the e-mail.

Toggle navigation Maplandia. Register Login. World places: Search. World regions: Search. View 3D map of Restrepo at Google Earth website ». Search for hotels in.