A city of lights: Winnipeg from space

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/04/2016 (3650 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Touch or hover mouse over image to zoom in on points of interest. Image courtesy of the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center.

On April 2, International Space Station commander Timothy Kopra tweeted a goodnight greeting to the City of Winnipeg and dubbed the Manitoba capital “one of the friendliest cities ever.”

Some of us may be tempted to debate that description, but it’s way more fun to dissect Kopra’s image of the city at night.

This very recent aerial view gives Winnipeggers a glimpse of recently completed infrastructure, including CentrePort Canada Way, the eastern extension of Chief Peguis Trail and the Waverley West arterial roads. Smaller new streets also tend to appear brighter than old ones due to changes in streetlight technology.

It’s almost as if the Winnipeg Blue Bombers sponsored the image: large surface-parking lots surrounding St. Vital Shopping Centre and the Polo Park big-box retail district show up as blue, while the University of Manitoba’s Fort Garry campus, Richardson International Airport and downtown Winnipeg burn a bright gold.

The bright oval southeast of the city is Manitoba Hydro’s Riel substation. The city’s waterways, meanwhile, are visible only in silhouette. In European cities, development along rivers makes their banks far more easy to see from space.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca