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UER Forum > Archived Rookie Forum > Tips for finding your own locations (Viewed 751 times)
CAJim 


Location: Orange County, CA
Gender: Male




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Tips for finding your own locations
< on 7/9/2011 7:29 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Being brand new to urban exploring, I've been told that one of the most important aspects of being an explorer is doing your own scouting and research to find new locations. You can't rely on getting all your info from word-of-mouth — sometimes you've got to be the one to find it.

One common tip I've heard is to scan Google maps to find satellite images abandoned-looking sites.

What do you do to discover new locations?
[last edit 7/9/2011 7:30 AM by CAJim - edited 2 times]

Price 


Location: Houston,TX
Gender: Male


Urbex: Keeping record of things most people have forgotten.

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Re: Tips for finding your own locations
<Reply # 1 on 7/9/2011 8:37 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
well youve been here a year so...ill respect that..

google images can work since its 2011 based
bing maps is starting to get some 2011 birdseye but most of it is 2010

lookfor local realestate sites that talk about places/demos/whatnot

drive around

ask

google realted

thats basics i wont go into the details just....cuz...

;)

“It still amazes me how many millions goes to discovering another star in the galaxies when, for all we know, we are still sitting on top of another undiscovered world beneath our feet.”

-Martin Dansky (1952)
etchleon 


Location: toronto today...
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Re: Tips for finding your own locations
<Reply # 2 on 7/9/2011 10:45 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
100% of the time, I've found my locations by going out and looking. At a minimum, to actually explore the location, that will be a required step. Give it a shot.

yokes 


Location: Toronto
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Re: Tips for finding your own locations
<Reply # 3 on 7/9/2011 12:32 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Follow the railroad tracks

"Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water and stupid men." - Richard Nickel
PhotoSeeker 


Location: Sudbury
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Re: Tips for finding your own locations
<Reply # 4 on 7/9/2011 1:21 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by yokes
Follow the railroad tracks


+1

Also, just random driving / walking / looking.

Google can be a nice overview, but you'll still end up missing things, or seeing things that look like targets that are either occupied or now gone.

Nothing beats the Mk 1 Eyeball.

Lots of Urban Exploration goodness at https://urbexobsession.com
WrecklessAbandon 


Location: NY
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Re: Tips for finding your own locations
<Reply # 5 on 7/9/2011 2:05 PM >
Posted on Forum:
 
Yep, drive around. I have a big ass truck and gas here is still around $3.75/gallon, but every time I get a chance I grab a cup of coffee, crank up the tunes and take roads I've never driven before. And whenever I have to go somewhere away from home I make sure I get there one way and take a different way back.

Yep, there's a watermark. Get over it.
\/adder 


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Re: Tips for finding your own locations
<Reply # 6 on 7/9/2011 6:40 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
UE Tutorials, Lessons, and Useful Info > How to: find damn near anything

http://www.uer.ca/...d=1&threadid=83183

"No risk, no reward, no fun."
"Go all the way or walk away"
escensi omnis...
micro 


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Re: Tips for finding your own locations
<Reply # 7 on 7/9/2011 7:11 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by yokes
Follow the railroad tracks creeks.


Fixed.

CAJim 


Location: Orange County, CA
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Re: Tips for finding your own locations
<Reply # 8 on 7/9/2011 10:23 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by TheVicariousVadder
UE Tutorials, Lessons, and Useful Info > How to: find damn near anything

http://www.uer.ca/...d=1&threadid=83183


Yeah, I tried looking for some kinda thread like that before making this one, but it must've eluded me. Thanks for the link.

canobiecrazy 


Location: Lynn, MA
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Re: Tips for finding your own locations
<Reply # 9 on 7/9/2011 11:11 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Looking on Flickr really helped. I found about 6 sites. 2 of them are torn down, but that still leaves 4.

Rinzler 


Location: New Jersey


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Re: Tips for finding your own locations
<Reply # 10 on 7/10/2011 12:44 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Just come on UER and ask for locations

geoff5093 


Location: New Hampshire
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Re: Tips for finding your own locations
<Reply # 11 on 7/10/2011 3:52 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
While using satellite views does come in handy (and it proved to work for me in one case), it's just not practical to scout out huge areas looking for potential sites. In order to get a good idea whether or not something is abandoned, you really need to either use Bing's Birds Eye view, or Street View. If you are zoomed out too far you will miss things.

Research and talking with others are two great ways, someone may mention in passing about a cool old building they saw, then you can drive by and scout it out for yourself.

KingJalopy 


Location: Tulsa, OK
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Re: Tips for finding your own locations
<Reply # 12 on 7/10/2011 5:07 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by Played
Just come on UER and ask for locations


This. That's what the "resource" is in UER.

Drains, drains, drains, drains, drains.
Steed 


Location: Edmonton/Seoul
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Re: Tips for finding your own locations
<Reply # 13 on 7/10/2011 10:23 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
I think if you have locations to share, others will be more willing to give you their own tips.

Almost all of my locations have come from either riding around on my scooter or searching online for keywords. When I went to Hawaii last year, Flickr was extremely useful. Most of the pictures I found were distant exteriors, and most of the people were of the non-explorey sort, and had no concept of secrecy.

WEKurtz 


Location: Western MA
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Re: Tips for finding your own locations
<Reply # 14 on 7/10/2011 12:07 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
#15 Ask everyone you know (and trust) to keep an eye out for possible sites for you.

Lomax 


Location: Denver
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Re: Tips for finding your own locations
<Reply # 15 on 7/10/2011 3:50 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by WrecklessAbandon
Yep, drive around. I have a big ass truck and gas here is still around $3.75/gallon, but every time I get a chance I grab a cup of coffee, crank up the tunes and take roads I've never driven before. And whenever I have to go somewhere away from home I make sure I get there one way and take a different way back.


Hell yeah* it's all about taking those different routes



rollin on dubs of love
barefootpoetry 


Location: PA
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Re: Tips for finding your own locations
<Reply # 16 on 7/12/2011 1:32 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Google Maps doesn't work for scouting, at least not for me. Most of the maps of around here are out of date, and a clearly abandoned house that I drove past two days ago will show up as pristine and inhabited on Google. Also, you can't always get street view, for some reason, so you can't really tell what that building is when you're looking at it from the sky.

I just take random back roads whenever I can. I found a kickass 1930s house just by following my nose, so to speak, down a bunch of random turns on my way back home one evening. I've found a lot of other locations this way as well. In rural Appalachia, you're almost guaranteed to eventually come across an abandonment if you keep on driving.

She who hesitates, sees bulldozers.
empire of dirt 


Location: Phoenix
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Re: Tips for finding your own locations
<Reply # 17 on 7/12/2011 8:22 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
how about using OHV trail guides? i know its not really finding on your own, but alot of the trails, atleast here in AZ, roll past some type of abandoned structure or vehicle. we have so many mining towns and claims, there are empty buildings everywhere.
heres a guide book i use for wheeling my truck
http://www.amazon....gion/dp/1934838020

i have found that if you find one building that is next to the trail, you will find more lurking in the bushes.

be a number, not a human
SinCalRyder 


Location: Bakersfield CA
Gender: Male


Less worrying, more exploring!

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Re: Tips for finding your own locations
<Reply # 18 on 7/12/2011 8:38 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Might as well chime in as someone who is fairly new here, thought we had nothing near by, and now have several nice places explored and a giant list to go now.

RESEARCH!

That pretty much sums it up. I can spend hours upon hours researching places. Just be prepared to either take lots of notes or have a desk top full of links.

example...

Trying to find info on an abandoned hospital kinda near here.... next thing you know I link to a site that has a list of abandoned hospitals. so I click it and check on of them out that has a link to click for more info on it. Well that link has more info, but also has a whole nother data base with info on some of the same hospitals and some new ones. So before you know it, your research on one place has now turned up dozens of possibilities. This make its hard to stay focus as well though lol

"Dream as if you'll live forever, Live as if you'll die today"
http://CurtisNoblePhotography.Com
SinCalRyder 


Location: Bakersfield CA
Gender: Male


Less worrying, more exploring!

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Re: Tips for finding your own locations
<Reply # 19 on 7/12/2011 8:40 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Oh yeah and one more thing.... the research part helps to not only learn the history of a place, but sets the tone for a whole back story to it when you explore. Going in there knowing the history can sometimes be an experience all itself. Especially when you find cool stuff left behind and it make you think about what all went on or has happened at that place.

Okay im done =)

"Dream as if you'll live forever, Live as if you'll die today"
http://CurtisNoblePhotography.Com
UER Forum > Archived Rookie Forum > Tips for finding your own locations (Viewed 751 times)



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