Google Earth: Identify the city

[Louis VI the Fat]

I wish for a closeup of this city to get my bearings on religion, traffic, housing etc..

Always happy to oblige:





Actually, I had three pictures ready for hints, at different zoom levels. Two you've seen already, the third one zoomes in very closely. But that last one would give too many hints for this stage of the guessing. I will post it later. For now, the hints are:
the above picture
the city has between 500 000 and 1 000 000 inhabitants
it's not in China

[Sigurd]

I hate to say it... but I am stomped.

I can't seem to identify the cars on the picture nor the shape of their number plates.
The red pickup seems American.
The white next to it seems like a Fiat Uno.
The next white seems to be a pickup of some sort... Yugo?
The beige... is unknown Seat/ Citröen/Asian?
There is another white behind the blue which is rater big.
The blue looks like a Citröen Xsara Picasso.
Two cars enter the picture a red unknown and a black SUV, also unknown.
The silver small car could either be a Peugot 106 or a Fiat Palio...
All cars seem a little off though...

The church, a beautiful cathedral, does not look catholic to me but rather Protestant.
We can barely see some high-rise apartments in the background.
There is also another car parked outside the doorway, it has a strange contraption attached to it.

This is all I got from the picture… which is : the town is western.
In Canada somewhere?
The shape of those numberplates would have helped a lot

[Louis VI the Fat]

Hints:

-They speak a Latin language in this city.
-The city plan is not just geometrical, it is also highly symbolical. You can see this most clearly in the first picture, which shows only the part of the city of the original plan. For example, it is build up of a basic pattern of 6 x 6 groups of 6 x 6 blocks...
(You don't need to guess the meanings of the symbolism, but you could try to guess to which group the architects belonged. )

[KukriKhan]

I shudda known... no blue roofs = not asia, LoL.

So a Masonic layout then. And I never would have imagined that bright blue sky over the first images Louis posted.

Let's see what Mssr. Google has to say about Masonic city layouts.

edit: that red pickup truck with the camper on the rear = the americas. I'm so embarrassed. Latin language, hmm...

[barocca]

La Plata
B.

edit -
the only clue i got was "speak latin" = south america's

as for the rest of the clues, no comprende'
(i deduced plains and approximate latitude from the pic)
(and next time we need to remember to search on freemason as well as masonic)

[Sigurd]

barocca nailed it...

This was a tough one. But I had fun searching and I even involved my wife who had a go at it.
I guess the cathedral is Catholic after all ?

[barocca]

... I even involved my wife..

lmao - me too - my missus is also enjoying these,
she said to say a special thank you to Louis for all the fun clues

B.

[barocca]

<-- that is a clue...

[Duke John]

Briefly scanned China, but could not find this pattern. Must be something special?

About the smilies; a nodding normal smiley and a nodding eastern smiley. East meets west?

It reminds me of communist district layouts...

[Sigurd]

Briefly scanned China, but could not find this pattern. Must be something special?
About the smilies; a nodding normal smiley and a nodding eastern smiley. East meets west?
It reminds me of communist district layouts...

The picture path names the picture 'east pole'... you might be on to something.
I shall have a look when I get home from work.

[Louis VI the Fat]

I tried Vladivostok, but no luck. I couldn't even zoom in to the proper level. My first instinct is Siberia. But the city is on the coast...
China, North Korea maybe?
Also, are we looking at the world's ugliest city?

***

La Plata site with pictures. The public buildings and layout of the city are great, but alas, the city never lived up to it's promise, owing to 1930's modernism and Argentinas slow economical decline. Pity, it held such such promise as a hybrid between old and new world. The story of Argentina in general really.

Here's a great essay. In French though. The second paragraph offers a brief English summary, and there are some good drawings.
I so wish I was a planologist in the nineteenth century! Then I could go to the Americas and play Simcity on a giant scale, designing cities, nay societies, from scratch.

[KukriKhan]

Checked the top 9 Siberian cities without joy. But, I certainly agree, that those 9 have similar street/neighborhood patterns to barocca's selection, so I think we're in the right part of the world.

[barocca]

<-- another clue

- from this city the Dark Lords command

- Descendents of William Wallace live here

B.

(edit - my speeelling)

[Cataphract_Of_The_City]

Also, are we looking at the world's ugliest city?

That would be Athens. :P

[KukriKhan]

<-- another clue

- from this city the Dark Lords command

- Descendents of William Wallace live here

B.

(edit - my speeelling)

grouphug, Dark Lords...
I thought Braveheart died without kids?

[barocca]

in the movie no kids,
in real life several lovers/wives

- the Dark Lords are themselves rebel scum!!!
(no doubt influenced by the aforementioned imaginary relatives
- actually they WERE influenced by the aformentioned imaginary relatives)

- the Dark Lords hold a castle here to this day

B.

[barocca]

the star wars theme has nothing to do with the city
- just having fun making smileys... (borrow a couple/make a couple)
B.

[Duke John]

Grouphug = mixed nationalities
Dark holds hold a castle here to this day = Judging from the relatively modern look of the town I think castle means a government building.
From this city the dark lords command = either a capital city or a city which acts as a base for the government.
Darklords are rebelscum = an oppressed state? By China or Russia most likely.

[barocca]

DJ has some right and some wrong

B.

EDIT that pic is a clue

[barocca]

lets review the clues and add a clue (that i consider a giveaway)

<-- that is a clue... - a clue to the country

<-- another clue - a clue to the country (and the city)

- from this city the Dark Lords command - a clue to the city

- Descendents of William Wallace live here - a clue to the country and city

- the Dark Lords are themselves rebel scum!!! - a clue to the city

(no doubt influenced by the aforementioned imaginary relatives
- actually they WERE influenced by the aformentioned imaginary relatives) - a clue to the country and city

- the Dark Lords hold a castle here to this day - a clue to the city

- <-- this is their castle - a clue to the city

- the country where this city is don't like annexures, they will instead burn down the house. - a clue to the country

B.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Hamilton. In Ontario, Canada.

[KukriKhan]

Hamilton. In Ontario, Canada.

Yeah I see it (from 29,000 feet up), though my vid card make the image a lot brighter than that shown above.

I can't wait for the big reveal of how the clues relate to Hamilton.

Bravo, Louis! What was your method?

[Louis VI the Fat]

I slowly started to think we were looking at a North american city. What I thought looked like a Siberian city could also be a suburbian landscape. And then there was that mixed Scottish / Asian hint...
I tried Seattle, Vancouver, even Washington. (Dark Lords and all that...)
Oh, and Glasgow and Aberdeen in Scotland too.
Well at least I guessed the latitude and the cold climate somewhat right.

I suspected the dark lords may have refered to freemasons, but a quick google search led me nowhere. The last clue was the one I needed: 'the country where this city is don't like annexures, they will instead burn down the house'. Now it sounded like it was in Canada: a reference to the burning of the (white) house in 1812. Even so it was a lucky shot. I actually tried Toronto, and luckily a little to the south I glimsped a harbour that looked just like the one in the picture: Hamilton's.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Especially for Barocca - I know how much he loves geometrical cityscapes:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Thought I'd try a different approach for a change.
All four pictures are from the same city.

Good luck!

[The Receptionist]

reading about Hamilton on wiki,
and following some links gave me this about Barocca's clues

<-- that is a clue... - a clue to the country.

Canadians are universally recognised as friendly and agreeable

<-- another clue - a clue to the country (and the city).

Canadians again - and Hamilton has a large number of expat communities

- from this city the Dark Lords command - a clue to the city.

The National Office of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of Canada is here

- Descendents of William Wallace live here - a clue to the country and city.

Scots

- the Dark Lords are themselves rebel scum!!! - a clue to the city.

Canadian Scot Freemasons split from the English in 1855

(no doubt influenced by the aforementioned imaginary relatives
- actually they WERE influenced by the aformentioned imaginary relatives) - a clue to the country and city .

it is the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of Canada - Scots are always troublesome

- the Dark Lords hold a castle here to this day - a clue to the city.

The Grand Rite of The National Office of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of Canada

- <-- this is their castle - a clue to the city.

The Grand Rite of The National Office of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of Canada

- the country where this city is don't like annexures, they will instead burn down the house. - a clue to the country.

Burning the White House

[barocca]

well done Louis,
and nice pics too


I am seeing a semi-arid zone (not many trees),
(a bit drier than around here - which is pretty dry right now...)
densely populated - not many trees in the yards,
in fact not much in the way of open space in those grid blocks...
(some trees in the main streets??)

the octagon looks to be in the "better" part of town

somewhere in India??

[Louis VI the Fat]

Hints:

-For La Pata, there was a clear reason why I focused on the city lay out, it is that city's claim to fame. This is not true for the current city - the pictures I posted is just me being playful.
-Well there is one more additional reason: the current city is rather big, and lacks a clear shape. It is just a big blob, so I focused in on some details.
-Here is picture five, another neighbourhood:

[barocca]

rather big officially or rather big perceptually?
is it made up of half a dozen cities all tied together (like mine - brisbane/logan/ipswich/redcliffe/pine river)??
or is it one single city?

[barocca]

for some reason i keep coming back to kolkata - even though i cant see these neighbourhoods.

tell you one thing the grass sure looks aussie to me,
this had better not be somewhere like melbourne, cause that a whole other country down there,
not even sure they speak english...
(dated a melbourne girl one time and i'm STILL not sure they speak english...)

[barocca]

say Louis these clues are nowhere near as interesting as your last lot,
36 hours and no-one is guessing 'cause no-one has any idea.

a big amorphous blob of a city with a few neat geometric features for which the city is Not famous leaves us absolutely lost.


may we please have a couple of clues to sink our teeth into

B's missus and B.