22·182760°, 55·134184° Rub’ al Khali, or The Empty Quarter, is the largest sand desert in the world. It covers 650,000 square kilometers (251,000 square miles), and includes parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates. In the center of the desert there are a number of raised, hardened formations that were once the sites of shallow lakes, thousands of years ago. For a sense of scale, this Overview shows approximately 350 square kilometers (135 square miles) in Saudi Arabia, near the border with Oman. #

25.119724°, 55.126751° The Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is an artificial island that was created with 4.3 billion cubic yards (3.3 billion cubic meters) of sand and 7 million tons of rock. It is estimated that the island is now home to approximately 26,000 people. #

52.724169°, 5.641978° Farms in the province of Flevoland, Netherlands, specialize in the growth of flower bulbs. Flevoland was created by the Zuiderzee Works—a coordinated reconstruction of dams and dikes, land reclamation, and water drainage. The reclaimed land now covers 375 square miles (970 square kilometers), making Flevoland the largest artificial island in the world. #

1.237656°, 103.806422° Cargo ships and tankers—some weighing up to 300,000 tons—wait outside the entry to the Port of Singapore. The facility is the world’s second-busiest port in terms of total tonnage, shipping a fifth of the world’s cargo containers and half of the world’s annual supply of crude oil. #

48·865797°, 2·330882° The street plan and distinctive appearance of central Paris, France, is largely due to the vast public works program commissioned by Emperor Napoleon III and directed by Georges-Eugène Haussmann, between 1853 and 1870. Haussmann’s renovation of Paris included the demolition of crowded and unhealthy medieval neighborhoods, and the building of broad, diagonal avenues, parks, squares, sewers, fountains, and aqueducts. #

–33.029093°, –71.646348° Valparaíso, Chile, is built upon dozens of steep hillsides overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Known as “The Jewel of the Pacific,” the city is the sixth largest in the country and is home to approximately 285,000 residents. #

50.911368°, 6.547357° Bucket-wheel excavators run on tracks at the Tagebau Hambach open-pit mine in Etzweiler, Germany. These massive vehicles—considered to be the largest land machines in the world at 315 feet (96 meters) tall and 730 feet (223 meters) long—continuously scoop materials from the surface in order to extract lignite. Lignite, often referred to as “brown coal,” is a soft, combustible sedimentary rock that is formed from naturally compressed peat and is used as a fuel for steam-electric power generation. #

37·818672°, –122·478708° The Golden Gate Bridge is a 2·7-kilometer-long (1·7-mile) suspension bridge in San Francisco, California, that spans the Golden Gate Strait–the channel between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The bridge’s signature color, known as "international orange," was selected to complement its natural surroundings and enhance its visibility in fog. #

24.857405°, 104.353534° Canola flower fields cover the mountainous landscape of Luoping County, China. The crop is grown for the production of oil, which is extracted by slightly heating and then crushing the flower seeds. Canola oil is primarily used as a source of biodiesel. #

–23.362130°, 119.669422° The Mount Whaleback Iron Ore Mine is located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Ninety-eight percent of mined iron ore is used to make steel, and it is thus a major component in the construction of buildings, automobiles, and appliances such as refrigerators. #

–50·536843°, –73·195237° The Perito Moreno Glacier is located in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. The 250-square-kilometer (97-square-mile) ice formation stretches for 30 kilometers (19 miles) in length. Approximately 6 square kilometers (2·3 square miles) are shown in this photo above. The entire frozen field of ice represents the world’s third largest reserve of fresh water. #

51.320417°, 4.327546° The Port of Antwerp in Belgium is the second largest port in Europe, behind the Port of Rotterdam. Over the course of a year, the port handles more than 71,000 vessels and 314 million tons of cargo. That weight is roughly equal to 68 percent of the mass of all living humans on the planet. #

55.690455°, 12.668373° Middelgrunden is an offshore wind farm located 2.2 miles (3.5 kilometers) from Copenhagen, Denmark, in the Øresund—the strait that forms the border of Denmark and Sweden. The farm’s 20 turbines deliver approximately 4 percent of the power for Copenhagen. When wind blows against the blades of a wind turbine, they slowly rotate. The blades are connected to a drive shaft on the top of the turbine that turns a generator, thereby generating electricity that is carried through underground cables to each site’s substation. The turbines operate independently of one another, and each has an internal computer that constantly calculates wind speed and direction. The top of the turbine and its blades can rotate a full 360 degrees, and change the pitch of the blades to always face into the wind and optimize positioning for energy creation. #

26.386332°, –80.179917° Residential development is seen in Boca Raton, Florida. Because many cities in the state contain master-planned communities, often built on top of waterways in the latter half of the 20th century, there are a number of intricate designs that are visible from this perspective. Boca Raton is home to roughly 91,000 residents. #

41.437932°, –112.668929° The Spiral Jetty is an earthwork sculpture by Robert Smithson, consisting of a 1,500‑foot-long (460-meter), 15-foot-wide (4.6-meter) counterclockwise coil jutting from the northeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Smithson reportedly chose this site because of the vibrant colors of the water (salt‑tolerant bacteria and algae thrive here in water with 27 percent salinity) and its similarity to the Earth’s ancient seas. #

52·599113°, 5·741851° IJsseloog is an artificial island used as a depository to store polluted silt in the middle of the IJssel River in Flevoland, Netherlands. Silt is granular material, smaller than sand but larger than clay, and may occur as soil or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. IJsseloog can hold 20 million cubic metres (706 million cubic feet) of silt. #

–22.288964°, –68.896753° Chuquicamata is the largest open‑pit copper mine in the world. Located in the Antofagasta Region of Chile, the 2,790-foot-deep (850-meter) site has enabled the extraction of more than 29 million tons of copper. The major applications of copper are in electrical wires (approximately 60 percent of total use), roofing and plumbing (approximately 20 percent), and industrial machinery (approximately 15 percent). Copper is also combined with other elements to make alloys (approximately 5 percent) such as brass and bronze. #

26.408924°, 119.741132° Seafood farms cover the surface of Luoyuan Bay in the Fujian province of China. Underneath the water is a vast network of lines, cages, and nets for the growth of various seafood species, including crabs, lobsters, scallops, and carp. For a sense of scale, this Overview shows approximately 2.3 square miles (6 square kilometers). #

40.445902°, 90.833588° The Lop Nur Potash Ponds are located in the Taklimakan Desert of China. The area is a dismal location for agricultural activity, yet the sandy landscape is rich with potash—a form of potassium salt that is a major nutrient for plant growth and a key ingredient in fertilizers. The salts are pumped to the surface from underground brines and dried in massive solar ponds that stretch across the landscape for more than 13 miles (21 kilometers). The bright colors that are seen in this Overview occur because the water is dyed blue, as darker water absorbs more sunlight and heat, thereby reducing the amount of time it takes for the water to evaporate and the potash to crystallize. #

41·393648°, 2·160437° The Eixample District in Barcelona, Spain is characterised by its strict grid pattern and apartments with communal courtyards. This thoughtful and visionary design was the work of Ildefons Cerdà (1815–1876). His plan features broad streets that widen at octagonal intersections to create greater visibility with increased sunlight, better ventilation, and more space for short-term parking. #