OpenStreetMap
Nice one: http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=30.038313&lon=101.487419&zoom=19
looked and zoomed a bit on Bing Maps (http://binged.it/YolbfN) - and - it must be Letters
after that in google maps https://maps.google.de/?ll=30.037912,101.487676&spn=0.001997,0.002411&t=h&z=19
wth? there is some houslike colored thing in the south of that and the same letters again a little bit smaller.
Talked a little bit in IRC and rasher means: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tibetan_script.svg
Someone wants to translate (if its correct)?
Discussion
Comment from _sev on 28 November 2012 at 08:04
I could decipher only first two letters, “mother”.
http://ia700407.us.archive.org/24/items/Tibetan-english-tibetanDictionary/July102007TibetanEnglishDictionaryPdf.pdf
Comment from _sev on 28 November 2012 at 08:04
Note, that the inscription is upside-down.
Comment from Minh Nguyen on 28 November 2012 at 08:14
Here’s a partial transcription of the message. No idea what it means.
Comment from z-dude on 28 November 2012 at 08:22
A lot of people put symbols on the side of mountains in chalk or white rocks. England does it, and Japan has a bunch of these around Kyoto. Kyoto http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=35.066487&lon=135.73441&zoom=18&layers=M
Comment from z-dude on 28 November 2012 at 08:23
Here’s the ‘person’ icon in Kyoto Japan. http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=35.043226&lon=135.731235&zoom=18&layers=M
Comment from EdLoach on 28 November 2012 at 08:32
See Tibetan (Uchen) here: http://www.visiblemantra.org/avalokitesvara.html - I think it is nearly identical, though your image has an extra character at the end.
Comment from Diomas on 28 November 2012 at 08:42
the sign says: ZOOM OUT OF HERE, CURIOUS MAPPERS! :)
Comment from z-dude on 28 November 2012 at 08:54
xinduqiao is a prison factory, you can see several walled off areas in town.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prisons_in_Sichuan
It’s probably a message for the town or the prisoners.
“0 days since last lost time accident”
Looking up Ganzi Prison reveals some scary stuff.
Comment from z-dude on 28 November 2012 at 09:01
ok.. now without joking, It may be the Tibetan Sky Burial Ground. http://sctrip.souxw.com/kktours_ta/raiders/show_2718.html
Comment from Minh Nguyen on 28 November 2012 at 09:03
taginfo lists a few aerial messages tagged with type=sign and type=message relations. Does anyone have a preference?
Comment from z-dude on 28 November 2012 at 10:23
Wikipedia lists these as Geoglyphs and “hill figures’. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoglyph http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill_figure
Some nazca lines are tagged as attractions, and they render in pink on the standard map. http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=-14.69675&lon=-75.12671&zoom=17&layers=M Some are tagged as archeological sites.
Long man of Wilmington, is tagged as an attraction. node. http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/node/24963101
The Uffington horse is tagged as an attraction way. http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/way/116991392
Cern Abbas giant is a multipolygon. http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/relation/2261150
Osmington white horse. http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/node/597988318
My opinion, is that tagging as an attraction way or multipolygon looks nicer.
The Kanji symbols on the mountains around Kyoto still have yet to be mapped.
Comment from MKnight on 28 November 2012 at 17:27
Thx for the comments here have got a Picture of the same message on another Hill in my inbox: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/45262776 but the satellite-photos for that location are not good enough
got a Mail from http://www.thlib.org/ with the Content: This is the mantra of Avalokiteshvara (Tibetan: spyan ras gzigs), the bodhisattva of compassion: om mani padme hum hri
Mike
Comment from MKnight on 28 November 2012 at 17:30
Oh, here is the letter in sharpen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:OM_MANI_PADME_HUM_HRI.svg