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Take a virtual field trip with Google Earth! Google Earth is a free, online application that uses satellite imagery to allow the user to zoom across the globe in a realistic, virtual environment. Downloading Google Earth is free at http://www.earth.google.com. An overview manual is available by clicking here... Google Earth Overview (342.0K)
To continue: - Make sure you have the Google Earth software installed and running. - Copy the following latitude and longitude and paste into the "Fly to" field under the Search tab. - Hit "Enter" for Google Earth to take you to the specified coordinates, then come back here and read the following overview.
Latitude/Longitude: 31.7712, 121.427
Shanghai spent U.S. $1.2 billion to build a super-fast maglev (magnetic levitation) train from the city center to the international airport on the coast near Chuansha. The train has a maximum speed in normal operation of 431 km/h (268 mph), but, because it has only 30 km (19 mi) of track, it rarely reaches that speed.
A new, sustainable city is being built on Chongming Dao (Island) in the Yangtze River just east of Shanghai. According to city officials, Chongming Dongtan will be completely self-supporting in energy, water, and waste disposal and largely self-supporting in food supplies. If plans for renewable energy come to fruition, it will also be carbon-neutral. Planners also hope to protect and even expand forest area and unique wetlands that now exist on the island. However, the island, which only appeared in 1947, has a maximum elevation of 4 m and much of its area could be lost to rising sea levels and erosion as future sediment deposits are halted by the Three Gorges Dam. Dongtan is expected to house 50,000 residents by 2010. Interestingly, Chongming is a major relocation center for people displaced by the Three Gorges Dam.
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