In honor of the new Harry Potter book coming out this weekend, as well as the latest Harry Potter movie in theaters, here are four great bird’s eye views of Harry Potter movie set locations:

Two Night Buses from Prisoner of Azkaban.

The Walkway set used in Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix.

Hagrid’s Hut, with the Pumpkin Patch to the side.
The North View is the only one without scaffolding.

Harry’s Muggle Home

Contributed by Megan Lucas.

3.5 million people a year visit the observation wheel known as the London Eye. Also known as the Millennium Wheel, the structure stands 135 metres (443 feet) high on the western end of Jubilee Gardens, on the South Bank of the River Thames in London, England, between Westminster and Hungerford Bridges. [wikipedia link]

Contributed by Steve.

Here’s a great peek into Buckingham Palace, the royal residence of the British monarch in London. In the image below you can see the front gate where the changing of the guard takes place. [wikipedia link]

Contributed by Will Willard.

The palatial Sagaponack, New York home of Ira Rennert - Humvee and Renco Group tycoon, philantropist and supposed recluse. Located on 63 acres the home has 29 bedrooms, and 39 bathrooms. [wikipedia link]

You really need to click on the image below to get an idea of how expansive this property is.

Contributed by Will Willard.

Here’s a very interesting moment caught in time - a house fire in Richardson, Texas. By clicking around the different directional views you can see not only the different stages of the fire, but also what the home looked like before this terrible event occured.

Before the fire

Stages of Fire

After the fire

Contributed by Andy VanGuilder.

A little context first as to why this bird’s eye view of an old plane is so interesting:

• A cult commune of 7,000 build an amazing infrastructure in rural Oregon on part of a 64,000 acre parcel of land
• A fleet of 90 Rolls Royces and several jets
• Attempt to take over neighboring city Antelope, OR
• Bussing in hundreds of homeless people to help sway an election
• Poisoning 750 people in a neighboring city
• Assassination plots
• Uzis
• The leader attempting to flee the country (maybe even in this very plane)

The plane you see here was that of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh - the head of the cult described above. It was purchased by Ed Guidicelli of Sheffield, Ohio who wants to turn it into a Bed & Breakfast and as a result is facing some zoning problems with the city. [Boing Boing & AP articles]

Jason, one of the two people who run Bird’s Eye Tourist, spent some time at the ranch in 2000 - a year after it was purchased by Young Life. He saw firsthand the expanse of what had been built and how Young Life transformed the existing infrastructure and numerous buildings into something much more postive.

Youtube movie about the rise and fall of the cult - 8min.

Via Boing Boing and courtesy of Steve Lombardi.

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Wow! This is one of the best shots we’ve ever shown of an aircraft in flight. See past planes in flight here.

Contributed by AirPierre.

Now that it is officially baseball season, and there’s new Bird’s Eye coverage of Chicago, it’s a perfect time to post the historic Wrigley Field ballpark in Chicago, Illinois. Wrigley field has been the home of the Cubs (who have been in the news recently as the team is up for sale) since 1916 and even the NFL team Chicago Bears played here up until 1970. You can see how the surrounding buildings have built their own bleachers on the rooftops to view the games.

For great historical photos, and all you’d ever want to know about Wrigley Field, jump on over to wikipedia.

Via Virtual Earth Blog.

1 Infinite Loop - the address of Apple’s corporate headquarters in Cupertino, California. MacBooks, iPods, iTunes… what great stuff. Thanks Apple!

Contributed by John Foot.