This is the footprint that Google covered for the greater Chicago/Milwaukee metroplex, the network of streets that were actually driven and photographed are in blue, and the Wasatch Front is to scale on the left hand side.

At this point almost everyone has seen the famous “world at night” photo, with various cities dotting the map. The problem with this map is that it is in a resolution so small that the viewer can not pick out a city or town, furthermore once one zooms out to a global scale it is easy to lose perspective on what is happening on the ground. You can pick out “your spot” on the globe but you have no perspective on how spread things really are.

Never before had I seen the stark contrast between the land and civilization; grand views obscure towering buildings, interstates, homes, apartments, and every other form of the modern world. The harsh, unnatural, blue allows us to view the spread of man and forces you to think – I can easily imagine a metro area that is 120 miles long by 100 miles wide when I actually look at it in a scale that is believable.

Now remember that this is just one metroplex. Google has yet to get street views of Mexico City, Tokyo, London, Paris, the full Eastern Sea Board, or any of the dozen other megalopolises that dot the world.

Tell me we don’t have an impact on the environment.