Untitled - Major Project Final Final

Google Earth [Un]noticed
The abstract, the overlooked, the unnoticed:
Appropriated material from virtual travelling
through Google Earth.

Google Earth [Un]noticed
By Ellie Pearson

I have always been interested in Google Earth
and the way in which it works, collecting
primarily satellite images to create it’s noticeable
3-dimensional representation of the world.
Google Earth has been around for about 19
years, its primary role has been to guide people
around the world from a computer screen instead
of a book. The platform has been available to
use for most of my life; I became aware of it at
a young age. However, like many people I only
used it to search for my home and always liked
it when I could see a trace of myself left behind
through the decorations in the window or the

car on the driveway. I use Google Earth now to
travel further than just my home but the whole
world; I am a modern day digital flaneur, a
person wandering, travelling the streets in search
of the abstract, the overlooked, the unnoticed.
People travel capturing images to upload, these
images are a personal memory; a way to preserve
moments, holidays and time spent traveling.
Using the action of a flaneur has allowed me to
capture the images that will follow. This series
aims to use Google Earth’s platform as a tool; a
way to explore the world from the comfort of my
own home when isolated to one location. Being
isolated at home, using the internet as a way of
travelling by exploring Google Earth has enabled
me to start noticing more than just the places but
the frame around the intended view; searching
for the abstract of the 360-degree view; the
unintentional juxtaposition between the location
and the photographer. I am drawn to the person
taking the image, the photographer, sometimes
there is no trace of anybody other times a foot,
an arm, a shadow. To me this is much more
intriguing than the intended scene as it holds

more meaning; it is a trace of what was, the
person in a moment of time.
The findings of Google Earth will be displayed and
explored within the named chapters; Shadows,
Feet and, Shapes. All are traces left behind by the
photographer or during the uploading process to
Google Earth. The found images presented have
become a juxtaposition between an overlooked
detail appropriated from the original image and
the additional phone information captured from
a screenshot. This now becomes a new original
frame to the image; leaving the trace of a new
photographer.

Flâneur
[fla-ner] French
Noun.
A person who roams around,
deliberately aimless, just observing
life.

The Trace is the appearance of
nearness, however far removed
the thing that left it behind may
be. The Aura is the appearance of
a distance, however close the thing
that calls it forth. In the Trace, we
gain possession of the thing; in the
Aura, it takes possession of us.
-Walter Benjamin-

SHADOWS

FEET

SHAPES

SHADOWS
Junyin Chen - “(29°08’00”N 90°42’36”E)”
Miguel Angel Velasquez - “(47°54’39”S
65°43’19”W)”
Pablo Lara - “(33°17’47”S 71°39’11”W)”
Sebastian Ruggeri - “(40°27’11”N 3°41’16”W)”
Benjamin Brahm - “(50°06’58”N 8°42’21”E)”
FEET
Steven Clough - “(53°19’01”N 4°40’22”W)”
Omid Habibi - “(34°27’10”N 62°33’39”E)”
Dg Gz - “(19°26’09”N 99°08’38”W)”
Christopher John - “(10°35’13”N 61°07’58”W)”
- “(39°57’32”N 116°19’08”E)”

SHAPES
Fred Murphy - “(67°49’21”N 115°05’23”W)”
Jiří Hamáček - “(49°06’14”N 13°20’49”E)”
Stewart Innes - “(57°40’21”N 3°17’42”W)”
Peiyou Song - “(35°39’05”N 118°24’50”W)”
Ante Pejić - “(43°26’54”N 17°12’32”E)”

Instagram - @googleearthunnoticed