One regular dose of Earth from above
New Overviews are posted regularly on Instagram — follow @dailyoverview to see them as soon as they go up.
51.954171°,1.310158° - Vantor
The Port of Felixstowe is the busiest port in the United Kingdom, handling approximately 48% of the country’s containerized trade. The facility is able to accommodate ships that extend more than 1,312 feet (400 m) and have a cargo carrying capacity that is greater than half the volume of the Empire State Building.
29.035000°,-13.633000° - NASA
The landscape of Lanzarote, one of the Spanish-owned Canary Islands, has been shaped by hundreds of years of volcanic activity. Located about 78 miles (125 km) off the north coast of Africa, the island contains numerous volcanic “tuff cones,” the largest of which — Caldera Blanca — measures 3,760 feet (1,140 m) across and 1,500 feet (450 m) tall. Lanzarote’s unique terrain and desert-like climate has been used to train astronauts and test Mars rovers.
4.862191°,31.579705° - Vantor
Juba is the capital and most populous city of South Sudan, with an estimated population of about 525,000. It became the world’s newest capital city in July 2011, when South Sudan declared its independence from the Republic of the Sudan. Juba has more than doubled in size since 2005, when a peace agreement ended the Second Sudanese Civil War, but its infrastructure is still being repaired from damages it suffered during the conflict.
-25.695306°,-54.436735° - Vantor
Iguazu Falls, the largest waterfall system in the world, is located on the border of Argentina and Brazil. Approximately half of the Iguazu River flows into a long and narrow chasm called the Devil's Throat — the u-shaped falls seen here — that is roughly 269 feet (82 m) high. The total number of waterfalls at Iguazu fluctuates between 150 and 300, depending on the water level.
26.604391°,-81.000000° - Vantor
Because many cities in the state of Florida contain master-planned communities, often built on top of waterways in the latter half of the twentieth century, a number of intricate designs are visible from the Overview perspective. Here is one particular development in Cape Coral, a city with a population of nearly 190,000 people. Cape Coral is the largest city between Tampa and Miami and has more than 400 miles (640 km) of navigable waterways.
-50.216667°,-72.416667° - Vantor
Lago Argentino is the largest freshwater lake in Argentina, with a surface area of 546 square miles (1,415 square km). Located in the Patagonia region on Argentina’s southern tip, it is fed by glacial meltwater from several nearby rivers. Due to its position within Los Glaciares National Park, the lake is also a popular tourism and fishing site.
33.521239°,36.286614° - Vantor
Damascus is the capital and most populous city in Syria, with more than 1.7 million residents. It is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities, with its earliest settlement dating back to approximately 6300 BC. Damascus is a major cultural hub in the Arab world; however, in September 2019 — eight years into the Syrian Civil War — it was named the world’s least livable city by the Economist Intelligence Unit.
32.580123°,116.589000° - Vantor
Solar panels sitting atop a man-made lake in Huainan, China, make up the world’s largest floating solar farm. Sungrow Huainan Solar Farm is capable of producing enough electricity to power 15,000 homes and floats above an area formerly used for coal mining.
36.909495°,15.134978° - Vantor
Avola is a city located in the province of Syracuse, Sicily. After Avola was destroyed by an earthquake in 1693, the city was reconstructed in a new location using a geometric, hexagonal plan created by the friar architect Angelo Italia.
68.966667°,33.083333° - Vantor
Murmansk is a city located in the extreme northwest of Russia. With a population of nearly 300,000, it is the largest establishment north of the Arctic Circle. The record low temperature here is a blistering -39.4 degrees celsius (-38.9 degrees fahrenheit).
39.933622°,119.683840° - Vantor
This Overview shows the coal terminal at the Port of Qinhuangdao - the largest coal shipping facility in China. From here, approximately 210 million metric tons of coal are primarily transported to coal-burning power plants in the major cities in southern China each year. This figure is believed to account for approximately half of the country’s annual consumption.
14.240259°,40.298674° - Vantor
The Danakil Depression is located in the Afar Region of Ethiopia. It lies on the junction of three tectonic plates and is the hottest region on Earth in terms of year-round temperatures. The Dallol crater, seen here, was formed by the intrusion of basaltic magma into salt deposits and subsequent hydrothermal activity. Any microorganisms living here would be categorized as 'extremophilic microbes' and are of major interest to the scientists studying the area to better understand how life might occur on other planets.
40.845000°,14.258333° - Vantor
Naples is the third largest city in Italy with roughly one million residents. The metropolis is one of the oldest continuously inhabited areas in Europe, with Bronze Age settlements established here in the second millennium BC. The historic city center, with its tightly gridded streets and numerous cathedrals, is captured in this Overview.
54.534167°,18.573056° - Vantor
Gdynia is a seaport city in northwestern Poland, located on Gdańsk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea. Founded in 1926, the port predates the city, which for centuries was a small farming and fishing village but now has a population of nearly 250,000. The port of Gdynia is a regular stopover for luxurious passenger ships and handled more than 23 million tons of cargo in 2018.
52.646667°,4.808889° - Vantor
Heerhugowaard is a city built on reclaimed land in the West-Frisia region of the Netherlands. It lies almost 10 feet (3 m) below sea level and is home to roughly 55,000 people. This particular district of Heerhugowaard is called Stad van de Zon (City of the Sun), because its 1,500 homes are directed toward the sun to harness solar power.
11.195560°,119.407500° - Kaspars Upmanis
Boats are moored on a cove in El Nido, Philippines. El Nido is located in the province of Palawan, about 260 miles (420 km) southwest of Manila. It is known for its white-sand beaches, coral reefs, and limestone cliffs. In fact, it was ranked #5 on Conde Nast Traveler’s list of “The 24 Best Island Beaches in the World.”
33.728611°,-118.240333° - Nearmap
Long-haul trucks wait in line to exit the Port of Los Angeles in California. It is estimated that there are 3.5 million truck drivers in the United States and they drive nearly 140 billion miles on American highways every year. In total, 433 billion miles are covered annually by the entire population.
18.040823°,-63.109948° - Vantor
Princess Juliana International Airport is the main airport on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin. The airport is well-known for the approach to Runway 10, seen at the bottom of this Overview. Here, arriving aircraft must have a 3° glide slope, flying at a shockingly low altitude over people relaxing on Maho Beach to land safely.
52.471692°,13.328281° - Vantor
Friedenau is a neighborhood in the southwestern suburbs of Berlin, Germany. The streets and squares of Friedenau are laid out in a geometric urban design known as a Carstenn Figure. This type of plan is characterized by a circular road that is divided by central avenue.
46.999512°,-2.282612° - Vantor
Salt pans are visible on Île de Noirmoutier, an island off the western coast of France. Here, more than 800 tonnes of salt are extracted annually through evaporation. Sea water is channeled into the basins via canals, which pass through reservoirs that get progressively shallower. Over time, evaporation causes the salt to crystallize and it is then carefully extracted from the pans.