Google Earth joins search for Fossett

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 10 Sep 2007 at 11:23

Google Earth users are being urged to help find missing adventurer, Steve Fossett.

Fossett's aircraft disappeared in the Nevada desert last week. Rescuers have been unable to locate his missing plane, so people are now being urged to scan the area using the latest satellite photography in Google Earth.

Amazon's Mechanical Turk website is providing the KML file that contains the latest digital photography, and hosting a report form for searchers who think they may have found a potential crash site.

"The task is to flag any satellite images which contain foreign objects that may resemble Steve's airplane or parts of a plane," the site states. "Steve's plane will show up as a regular object with sharp edges, white or nearly white, about 21 pixels long and 30 pixels in wingspan."

The website also provides sample images of what Fossett's plane may look like from the satellite photography.

It's not the first time Google Earth has been used to try and track down missing people. A similar project was established to try and find computer scientist Jim Gray, who went missing at sea earlier this year.

Click here to join the search.