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Category Archives: Islands

Google Takes You to the Galapagos Islands

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Karin Tuxen-Bettman collects photos of a Galapagos giant tortoise crawling along the path in Galapaguera, a tortoise breeding center managed by the Galapagos National Park Service.

In case you never take that Galapagos Islands vacation, Google has you covered. The search giant sent a team out to the remote archipelago for 10 days to photograph the rich ecosystem and share the images on Google Maps.

"Explorers and scientists alike have long studied and marveled at these islandsmade famous by Charles Darwin," wrote Raleigh Seamster, project lead for Google Maps.

Google partnered with the Charles Darwin Foundation and the Galapagos National Parks Directorate to collect panoramic images of the islands at 10 locations with its Street View Trekker (which appears to be a look like a backpack with a raised soccer ball on it -- which is the camera). While Google released some images today, the majority will be available later this year.

Google also mapped some of the ocean around the islands with Catlin Seaview Survey for a "comprehensive" look at the ecosystem and help create a "scientific baseline" to monitor it for future changes.

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Google Takes You to the Galapagos Islands

Google to add Galapagos Islands to Street View

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Few have explored the remote volcanic islands of the Galapagos archipelago, an otherworldly landscape inhabited by the world's largest tortoises and other fantastical creatures that inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

Soon it will take only the click of a mouse or finger swipe on a tablet to explore some of the Galapagos Islands' most remote areas, surrounding waters and unique creatures.

Mountain View, Calif.,-based Google sent hikers to the Galapagos with Street View gear called "trekkers," 42-pound computer backpacks with large, soccer ball-like cameras mounted on a tower.

Each orb has 15 cameras inside it that have captured panoramic views of some of the most inaccessible places on the Galapagos. Crews from The Catlin Seaview Survey worked with Google to capture 360-degree views of selected underwater areas too.

"We spent 10 days there hiking over trails ... and even down the crater of an active volcano," Raleigh Seamster, the project's leader for Google Maps said. "And these are islands, so half of the life there is under the water surface. So (we brought) Street View underwater to swim with sea lions, sharks and other marine animals."

Google is processing the footage and is trying to stitch it together. It hopes to post it to Street View later this year.

The cameras captured the nesting sites of blue-footed boobies, the red-throated "magnificent frigatebirds," swimming hammerhead sharks and, of course, the island's giant tortoises.

Scientists working with Google are exploring the footage for other species and hope to update the pictures regularly throughout the years as they study the effects of invasive species, tourism and climate change on the island's ecosystems.

"We hope that children in classrooms around the world will be trying to discover what they can see in the images, even tiny creatures like insects," said Daniel Orellana, a scientist with the Charles Darwin Foundation.

"We can use this as an education experience for children, and there is a huge opportunity for rare discoveries."

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Google to add Galapagos Islands to Street View

Blue Islands ATR-42 at Dundee operating the weekly Jersey flight on May 18th 2013 – Video

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Blue Islands ATR-42 at Dundee operating the weekly Jersey flight on May 18th 2013
Blue Islands ATR-42 G-ISLF lands at Dundee as SI801 from Jersey in a gusting 25-32 knot crosswind before departing back to the Channel Islands just after mid...

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Blue Islands ATR-42 at Dundee operating the weekly Jersey flight on May 18th 2013 - Video

Japan Chair Platform: The Senkaku Islands and International Law

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Key Concepts

Territorial issues always stimulate strong sentiments of nationalism in all the parties concerned. However, what is needed most is to have a calm and reasoned debate over these issues. Clashing nationalisms will be detrimental to any attempt to solve the problems.

From such a perspective, it is important to distinguish between conflicts and disputes: A conflict is a de facto situation of differences between states while a dispute, particularly a legal dispute, is a de jure notion based on the relevant substantive and procedural rules of international law. What should be avoided is exacerbating a conflict by coercive measures. It is necessary to make every effort to transform a conflict into a dispute, which is particularly the responsibility for a country seeking to change a status quo. What is important is to control those disputes through peaceful settlement, preferably through judicial settlement by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Another key concept which is important in territorial disputes is a critical date which the Court normally determines in settling territorial disputes. The Court will admit only relevant facts established prior to the critical date as evidence and no evidence is admissible with regard to the facts occurring after that date. It is therefore meaningless to try to build up whatever facts and actions after the critical date. This is one of the important merits of the judicial settlement of disputes for reducing tension between the parties.

Japans Position

Japans position on the Senkaku Islands is clear. Japan took measures to incorporate the islands in January 1895 after having carefully surveyed and determined that the islands had been terra nullius (no mans land). Ever since, the Senkaku Islands have been under the Japanese administration except for 27 years between 1945 and 1972 when the islands as part of Okinawa were under the US administration but returned to Japan along with Okinawa in 1972. Thus, the islands have been under the effective and peaceful administration of Japan for more than a century. It is clear that the Senkaku Islands are an inherent part of Japan, as evidenced by both historical facts and international law, and therefore there is no dispute about the sovereign title of the islands.

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Japan Chair Platform: The Senkaku Islands and International Law

Getting to the San Juan Islands car-free

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Hop on the shuttle bus, which meets the ferries, to get around San Juan Island or Orcas. (Photo courtesy of San Juan Islands Visitor Bureau.)

If youve taken a car to the San Juan Islands in summer, youve probably sat and fumed in the long ferry line, especially on weekends.

Here are some ways to avoid the crush by going to, and getting around, the bucolic Washington islands car-free for the summer season. (Or for those who need or want to take their cars, vehicle reservations may be on the way, possibly starting in the fall/winter of 2014.)

Take the island bus. Walk on the ferry from Anacortes to San Juan Island or Orcas Island, and walk off onto a shuttle bus, called the Scenic Byway Explorer that meets ferries at the terminals on both islands. The bus shuttles to popular spots on both islands with a hop-on, hop-off service. There are three routes on San Juan Island and one on Orcas Island. Fares range from $5 for a single bus ride to $15 for a day pass, and a 2-for-1 special is available under certain conditions. The shuttle began running in mid-May for the summer season on San Juan Island; it begins on Orcas on June 21 and runs daily into September on both islands; see San Juan Transit for more info. Taxis also are available and some hotels/resorts may do ferry pick-ups.

(Wondering about the San Juan Islands Scenic Byway after which the shuttle bus is named? Its a state-designated sightseeing route.)

A ferry at Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. (Alan Berner photo / The Seattle Times.)

Bike: Park your car and take your bike on the ferry (or rent a bike on the islands). Biking is fun on the San Juans; its not too hilly and the distances are not daunting.

Parking, ferry rates: For ferry ratesand where to park in Anacortes, click here.

Take the Clipper

ClipperVacationshas ferry service from downtown Seattle to Friday Harbor on passenger-only catamarans, with daily service in the summer season (from mid-May to Sept. 8).

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Getting to the San Juan Islands car-free

Tenerife Canary islands Spain airport Condor ryanair aircraft fri 29 mar 2013 George Godley 00275 – Video

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Tenerife Canary islands Spain airport Condor ryanair aircraft fri 29 mar 2013 George Godley 00275
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Tenerife Canary islands Spain airport Condor ryanair aircraft fri 29 mar 2013 George Godley 00275 - Video


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