Monday, May 26, 2008

Metro Dumaguete hi-res satellite imagery

Google has finally updated their satellite imagery for Google Maps and Google Earth to include high resolution images of my own Dumaguete City and the surrounding areas. This long awaited update comes three years after the satellite view was added to Google Maps. Well it doesn't sound so long now, but it felt like forever.

Also included in the block of hi-res are Sibulan, Bacong, and Valencia-- the other towns of "Metro Dumaguete".

Dumaguete City:

Sibulan to the north:

Bacong to the south:

Valencia in the mountains to the west. My house is in here somewhere!

It's a wonderful thing to finally see so many places I've seen before... except this time from SPACE!

Unfortunately much of what I see here just reinforces my theory that the only decently planned urban areas in the Philippines were the parts developed by the Spanish, the Americans, or the Ayalas. More on that some other time.

2 comments:

  1. Well, true enough for the Americans and the Ayalas (who ARE of Spanish lineage) but I probably won't agree with Spanish "urban planning", considering that the traffic inefficient radial layouts of poblacions came from them.

    Also note that there was practically no urban planning for the rest of the country's cities and the roads were dictated by previously beaten dirt paths and pilapil (farm lot division) layouts, with little or no provisions for sidewalks. :(

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  2. The Spanish layout isn't perfect, but the grid layout they gave us shows that some actual thought and effort went into it, and it forms the basis for pretty much every town and city in the country today. Could have turned out ok if the Filipino government expanded with it, or developed good plans around it.

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