No, those aren’t giant ants swarming around the Washington Monument all the way up to the U.S. Capitol Building. This is the first satellite image of the inauguration taken at 11:19 AM EST today by the GeoEye-1 satellite. This is the same satellite that supplies Google with images for Google Maps and Google Earth, so we may see this image show up there one day as well.
All those clumps of people in between the Washington Monument and the Capitol are clustered around Jumbotron screens. The image was taken from 423 miles in space and shows objects as small as a half-meter. Click on the image for a larger view. (I had to compress all the images to put them online). That doesn’t look like two million people. Does it? TechCrunch T-shirt to the first reader to accurately count all the ants.
Below are two cropped images showing more detail:
The Washington monument got a big set of hairy balls
bwahahahaha. brilliant observation. perv. And you were FIRST!
I’m betting each of those bow-shaped front edges are one of the big projected screens, and people positioned themselves to see them.
Neat.
It is very strange ant looking crowd. I wander why the crowd is not distribute evenly. Every body crowded one section in one circle.
Jumbotrons
It’s a conspiracy I’ll tell ya…
I’m guessing this was early in the day. During the actual event and speech it seemed packed edge to edge.
I was there working, and I completely agree that this must have been much earlier than 11:19. The shadow from the monument is very long, plus there were WAY more people there by that time.
It looks more like a distribution of ants around spilled food than anything else. Shame there wasn’t anyone nearby with a large magnifying glass.
Next time Obama gets inaugurated I am going to write something on my head!
When estimating the crowd, remember that around 250,000 tickets were distributed. All 250,000 of those people are in that bottom picture right by the Capitol, and in front of the roadway.
And keep in mind that many of those with tickets did NOT get it so the crowd in front is NOT 250,000 people.
Quite a difference from 2001 when we had the largest protest in history, and someone actually threw an egg at the limo.
)
Well, that truly is a humongous number. Even I had not even imagined the inauguration ceremony would that… big. O_o;;
What do you know, it looks like ants, swarming to get foods. Whew…
I would think some of us feel like ants hungering for the sweet nectar of hope and intelligence in our new administration. This truly was a wonderful day!
I counted them using Google’s new PeepleCounter, and there are exactly 1,008,332 people visible in these images. I’ll take an XL t-shirt. Thanks.
Where are all the white folks?
chuckle!
Isnt that something . it really puts it into perspective of how big this was
http://www.Trigeia.com
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Personally, I’m underwhelmed at the turnout
based on these photos that were taken about 40 minutes before the “oaf”….as enunciated by Diane Fienstein.
you seem to be pretty underwhelming, too!
I was there too. I can confirm that that these are
accurate pictures. Lots of people crowded around
the jumbo-trons. Lots of open space otherwise.
Big crowed but I doubt it was of historic size.
1,731,914 people.
Tshirt me!
I counted 1,731,898…
I’ll take the t-shirt…
Really Cool. Thanks for sharing
Personally Im appalled at the amt of $$$ spent on this.. Considering that our nation is in serious financial trouble at this day and point of time. I understand he is making History, and that I do not take from him. however…don’t ya think it is just a little over board considering what state we are in currently????financially??? Just venting…
Drop in the bucket compared to the history-making iraq war or soon-to-be $1 TRILLION bailout, 9/11, etc. You seem like a total hater.
And keep in mind that with exception of security, the cost being thrown around about this inauguration was WITH security (where previous numbers for comparison are conveniently quoted WITHOUT security). In fact this wasn’t that much more expensive (if at all) and with the exception of the necessary security – came from private donors.
yeah…but instead of just a bunch of words, and some dude playing a clarinet…why not take the oath in the Oval Office and sit right down and get to work? How much would security cost then? But that’s not an option for a celeb-icon like Hussein Obama. Get use to it though, the Dems are nothing but smoke and mirrors. They control the masses like herds of sheep. If it weren’t so sad it would be funny.
The impact will ripple through generations though, and that simple, resounding, motivating quality makes ordinary people achieve amazing things. A price cant be placed on how important that particular occasion was.
1) the main cost for the inauguration is borne privately, not by federal taxpayers.
2) it seems very probable that the largest share of that money returns to the local economy, does it not? all the goods and preparations required gave a lot of working people a great deal to do.
Where do you think that PRIVATE money went to? Back into the economy you mental midget.
Hey numbskulls,
Do you have numbers to back up your claim, dimwit??!?
We were just south of the Monument after the “purple gate fiasco” ensured we didn’t get our Capitol West lawn positions. I guess that puts on one of the Monuments hairy balls.
Seems smaller then they had expected thats for sure
Didn’t anyone work today?
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I actually think CNN had this photograph commissioned by the satellite. CNN was boasting about how they ordered this be taken and how it was exclusive to the network.
CNN didn’t comission this – the PR flacks at GeoEye paid dearly for the right to provide it…
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Wow, this is very cool. I am guessing the crowds are for the video monitors.
I was there. All, and I mean all, of the empty areas were filled up by the time of Obama’s address.
yes, look at picture #16:
http://www.pixc...tion-2009/45799
The satellite photo can be a little deceiving from 400 miles up, but a pic from the Washington Monument (400 feet) is a little more detailed…
Check it out photo #16: http://www.pixc...tion-2009/45799
GO OBAMA GO!
This may sound a little crazy, but does anyone know if this satellite is in a higher orbit than the ISS?
What is that in the lower left corner… is it an installation on the ground? Because it looks a lot like this: http://en.wikip...ia.org/wiki/Iss
Never mind. I just looked on Google Earth… the “thing” in question is a dock on the water.
Amazing how resolution can make a difference.
Very interesting news, because emotion and happiness
Hmmmmmm. Counting should be pretty straightforward . . . October 4, 1997 there was an event at the Washington Mall estimated at 800,000 people. Comparing the aerial photos of that day to the pictures above means that the counters today or that day were waaaaaaaaaaaaaay off.
If today had 1.8 million, that day had 15 million. Both great days, but I wish reporting would be facts and figures rather than numbers with an agenda.
Very interesting news, because emotion and happiness…
Did you see the Google trends results for “Inauguration?” ….. off the flippin chart… the whole world was obsessed with Obama today… http://www.Goth...mTechMinute.com
Looks like this pictures has been taken before or after the inauguration. During the inauguration you could see the part in front of the water at the capitol was packed, in this pictures it only show a few (well, still a lot of people).
I really hope Obama is gonna do well as president. I’m from the Netherlands, but because my country follows almost every step USA takes you can basicly say that the US pres. has as much to say as our own PM. Also loved the things he said about technology and that he is also using the interwebz to connect to the people.
Looked like there were more people there on tv..hmm..
http://www.dvdripz.net
It was a historic day indeed with the inauguration of Barack Obama and now Obama will have to sit down and to tackle the problems facing the United States of America. The economy, oil, jobs and two wars will all be Obama’s focal points during his historic first 90 days in office. The changing of the guard will hopefully equal a end to the crisis.
We look like ANTS from the sky.
ANTS do work together and support the same goal.
Waa, it’s amazing. No presendent could be like this, as like he is the president of the world. Happy inauguration!!
How about a satellite image showing all of the trash that was left behind. I walked from Union Station to the Mall today and there’s trash everywhere.
It’s disrespectful and piggish how people just dropped their refuse right on the ground. There’s just no excuse.
Write a letter to the President…
Def some great shots from a different perspective!
Lemmings.
Wow. That’s pretty amazing
I have been wondering if copies of this will be for sale any time soon.
Considering there are 3,097,600 yards in a square mile. We can safely assume at least 1,000,000 people where there.
A more startling piece of info I heard on the radio yesterday…
1 Porta-Potty for every 400 people.
Yikes.
Amazing how one man has inspired so many people, I was in awe when I saw him talking and they showed the camera from behind him and you could see how many people he was talking in front of.
twitter.com/dankalmar
Can we just use cellphone data?
Until Jan 20, 2013:
http://www.trip...s-to-Visit.aspx
Can you see the words on top of the Washington Monument??
i love you and foolowerz
Sorry, but I’ve lived in DC for 18 years and know exactly where I was at 11:20 am yesterday – packed tight, no way you could see the ground under our feet. This image is either not from yesterday or much much earlier in the day. There is no way, given the crowd’s size at that time, that this photo was taken when they’re saying it was.
Hm. Washington Post has the same picture (including the area stretching back to the Lincoln) listed as 11:19am. I’m willing to believe the emptier areas on the NE Monument grounds, ’cause I was (quite thankfully) in one of them*. Crossing South to North by the Monument over the Mound got kinda scary. That was an insane press of people. What does give me pause is that from where I was watching the entire Western edge of the Mall (along 14th St) was packed, and I don’t see that reflected as well as I’d have thought.
http://specials...e/?hpid=topnews
*was marvelous. Could see and hear and get great shots of the crowd.
Thing is, there were more jumbotrons behind the Monument and even over toward the Lincoln Memorial. There’s a whole lot of people (around 5 city blocks worth) not shown in the picture you’ve posted. Here’s the full picture, in the Washington Post:
http://specials...e/?hpid=topnews
I did some math and it showed that there’re about 1782513 people. How did I count this? Check at http://bragosze...d-and-some-math
The site is in Polish, but this one post is in English, so don’t worry
Do I get t-shirt? M size, please
Clearly you have no idea what you’re talking about, take it from someone who was there himself (me).
This picture was taken at 11:19 EST. At that time people were still flowing in rapidly, filling up the entire circle shown around the washington monument, and believe me I was one of those people, located 20 ft behind the monument and 200 feet to the left. This picture does not do the crowd justice. It also doesn’t account for all the people sprawled as far as the lincoln monument, which were many.
Get your facts straight Jack!
lemme count. arh i cant! haha. its brilliant. I wonder if i can open an ice cream stand there. i could be rich.