Seen From the Air

On a flight from Boston to Newark the other day, I noticed some things that you can see from the air.  Since I was following the rules, my phone was switched off and I couldn't get photos, but I found some of them on Apple Maps:

Strip mines, their contours flattened by elevation, but still obvious in their outlines.

Golf courses, fields, obvious even in the monochrome brown of winter, highways.

The husks of ships, rusting in the waters around Staten Island.

Parking lots. In the middle of a day on Monday, empty parking lots.  Who builds parking lots that sit unused?  What are they for?  How many parking spaces are there in the US for every car?  How much excess parking capacity have we created so that people can move between home, work, school, leisure, always anticipating an empty spot?