http://cellar.org/pictures/contest.jpg

What are we looking at?

and

How did I get the image?

The picture likely came either from terraserver or some other source of USGS DOQQs. It is NOT (as my first thought went) Washington D.C near the reflecting pool -- the body of water is much too large. Possibly it is a berth for a ship; this is the Philadelphia Navy Yard maybe?

Can't quite make out the picture, but I would think that you got it from this addy:

http://www.globexplorer.com/gexservlets/gexhtml

I love Globexplorer...I was actually able to make people out on a picture of my apt. complex once...

ding ding ding ding ding It's Terraserver.

Would it help if I said there were three hotels in that picture?

Not really. However, given that it's terraserver, technical reasons make it unlikely to be Philadelphia. Similar reasons argue against New York and to a lesser extent Chicago. Of course, figuring out where it ain't doesn't tell me where it is.

Would it help if I said that the black object in the lower left is a hotel?

Not really, but I finally pinned down the technical factors -- basically, the inclination of the street grid w.r.t the orthographic projection, which varies from east to west.
It's Las Vegas, NV. The major road is Las Vegas Ave (a.k.a The Strip). The cross street would appear to be Tropicana, with the MGM Grand Las Vegas on the right of the Strip and the (current) site of the New York, New York on the left of the Strip. That was NOT the New York, New York at the time of the photo, however -- it hadn't even broken ground yet. IMO that's not a building but a body of water; it even shows reflections.

Wow. WOW. Great work. (The orthographic projection varies?)

The intersection of Las Vegas Blvd and Tropicana is one block north. It's just above the upper margin. The crossing street you see is just access to the casinos.

It is pre-NY-NY, but the hotels in this picture are all still there. The upper left is Excalibur. Excalibur was built to try to get in family visitors, and it looks like something from D and D. The hotel on the upper right is Tropicana, and the hotel in the lower left IS a hotel; it's the Luxor.

MGM and NYNY are one notch north. But you're also right about the timing. The terraserver images are 1992, which is a century in Las Vegas years.

I thought the Luxor would give it away quickly. It's a pyramid. That's why it shows a reflection, but you'll notice it also has four triangles with slightly different reflections, and four "edges". At the point of the pyramid is a light beacon. In front, which here is the right-hand side of the pyramid, is a Sphinx welcoming you to the building. You can see the arms stretching out to the right.

Pretty amazing work there, I don't even understand what you did to get the result!

A pyramid; aha, yes, that does explain things, including the reflections and the lack of shadow you'd expect from a rectangular building. I thought the triangular shape of the reflection was just an artifact. I've never been to Las Vegas.

As for how I figured it out: Go onto terraserver, and take a look at Philadelphia. Note that the north-south streets slant to the right. Look at SF, and the north-south streets slant to the left, even more than they do in the picture you have. Chicago has them almost straight up and down. I suspected this had something to do with the map projection rather than having something to do with the way the streets actually run. So this indicated the city probably was west of Chicago but east of SF.

Well Done!

Damn...that WAS good.

When you are able to look at things from a higher level (e.g. looking out an airplane or looking at these pictures), you can really appreciate how things came to be. I've always wondered how the older cities have grown from these villages into large cities. Or the stories I used to hear from Grandmother..."I remember when there was a lake there, about 50 years ago..."

Sorry, but this sorta stuff is just fascinating to me.

Actually, we've been to Las Vegas twice and stayed at Excalibur and then Luxor, and visited the MGM Grand.

Nice places. Don't stay at the Luxor unless you like to walk. The Distance from room-elevator-exit can be 300 yards.