Google have closed Panoramio, Picassa Web, Google Plus and old Google Earth Community, with the result several images went missing and many links went dead. I have corrected all the dead links and have replaced missing pictures with new pictures.
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Magical Floating Water Taps are Public Art/Fountains which appear to be hanging freely in the air, have no apparent plumbing, yet deliver a constant stream of water. Such giant taps have been installed in several locations around the World.
It is not known who was the designer of such taps and which one of these was originally created. However one of my readers (Charles Lord) has informed me that;
these are based on a ca 1960 in-home decoration but I don't know who the original artist was. ...... You can see one in the Jack Lemmon movie "The Apartment" (1960)
Based on Charles' comments I searched on WWW and found that desk top models for home decoration/amusement purpose are readily available in the market and similar magical taps have also been installed indoors in lobbies of hotels and other
buildings.
In this collection I am including only the large ones which are permanent and have been generally installed outdoors. With my own research on the Internet, feedback from my readers and help from my friends of Google Earth Community Form, I have found following magical taps so far. (Listed in Random order);
- Aqualand, Puerto de Santa María, Spain
- Pintasilgos Park, Olivenza, Spain
- Santa Galdana, Menorca, Spain
- Ieper (Ypres), Belgium
- Aqualand, Costa Adeje, Tenerife, Canary Islands
- Swiss Science Center, Technorama Park, Winterthur, Switzerland
- Visitor Centre, Doornpanne, Koksijde, Belgium
- Law Garden Cross Road, Ahmedabad, India
- The Illusion Farm (Farma Iluzji) Amusement Park, Mo?ciska, Gmina Trojanów, Poland
- A Maze 'N Things, Cowes, Victoria, Australia
- Xel-há Park, Solidaridad, Mexico
- Cafe Penguin, Lazarevskoye, Sochi, Russia
- Särkänniemi Adventure Park, Tampere, Finland
- Dubai Miracle Garden, Dubai
- Kosyno Thermal Resort, Ukraine, Kosyno, Berehovo district, Ukraine (Added June 1, 2020)
- North Bengal Science Centre (NBSC), Matigara, Siliguri, India (Added March 28, 2021)
- Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Blackpool, England (Probably temporary. It is no longer available and couldn't be found in Google Maps.)
- Hampton Court Palace Flower Show - 2010, London
- Rock county fairground Janesville, WI, USA
- Aquafest, Grand Bend, ON, USA
Aqualand, Puerto de Santa María, Spain
Image from Wikimedia Commons is by emijrp
View location in Google Maps and Street View
Pintasilgos Park, Olivenza, Spain
Image from Flickr is by Jesu d´Alange
View location in Google Maps and Street View (Visible in March 2009 Street View imagery).
Santa Galdana, Menorca, Spain
Image from Flickr is by mira66
View location in Google Maps and Street View
Ieper (Ypres), Belgium
Image from Google Maps is by JeanMarc Gfp
View location in Google Maps and Street View
Aqualand, Costa Adeje, Tenerife, Canary Islands
View location in Google Maps and Street View (April 2009 imagery)
Swiss Science Center, Technorama Park, Winterthur, Switzerland
Image from Flickr is by Bill Liao
View location in Google Maps
Visitor Centre, Doornpanne, Koksijde, Belgium
Image from Google Maps is by Mégane Olinger
View location in Google Maps and Street View
Law Garden Cross Road, Ahmadabad, India
Image from Google Maps is by Nikhil Wanpal
View location in Google Maps
The Illusion Farm (Farma Iluzji) Amusement Park, Mościska, Gmina Trojanów, Poland
Image from Google Maps is by Malgorzata Z
View location in Google Maps Photosphere
A Maze 'N Things, Cowes, Victoria, Australia
Image from Google Maps is by Rosalia Mawinata
A remarkable feature of this magical floating water tap is that the building beneath the tap is part of the theme. Water can be clearly seen pouring out of the drain and windows. A closer look shows flooded building with chairs afloat. (Click on the image for larger view.)
View location in Google Maps and Street ViewXel-há Park, Solidaridad, Mexico
Image Source: Tripadvisor.com.tr
A fine view can be seen in this Flickr image.
View location in Google Maps and Street View
Cafe Penguin, Lazarevskoye, Sochi, Russia
Image from Google Maps is by Марина Кудрявцева
View location in Google Maps Photoshphere
Särkänniemi Adventure Park, Tampere, Finland
Image from defunct Panoramio (now available at web.archive.org) is by Gunta Brencēna
View location in Google Maps (location based on above Panoramio image)
Dubai Miracle Garden, Dubai
Image from Flickr is by kaniths
View location in Google Maps
Kosyno Thermal Resort, Kosyno, Berehovo district, Ukraine
Image from Google Maps is by Marta uhász
View location in Google Photosphere
Installed at NBSC on 22nd March 2021 on the occasion of World Water Day and it highlights the importance of freshwater conservation.
More info: facebook.com/nbscsiliguri
View location in Google Maps
Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Blackpool, England
It is no longer available (Source). I also couldn't find its location in Google Maps. It was probably a temporary installation.
Image from Flickr is by John Dalkin
Hampton Court Palace, London
Installed temporarily during 2010 Flower Show as a part of "A Matter of
Urgency" campaign to create awareness of the over-40 age group who have overactive bladder but are embarrassed to talk to their doctor about the problem. (Source)
Image from Flickr is by tiny_packages
Main Beach, Grand Bend, ON, Canada
Installed temporarily during Aquafest - 2010
Image source: Aquafest 2010 Photo Gallery
Another fine image can be seen in Flickr.
Rock county fairground Janesville, WI, USA
Installed temporarily.
Image from Flickr is by Todd Klassy
Try to guess how these magical floating water taps work else click here to see the explanation.
Credits:
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I had seen one such floating water tap in a post titled "Water Power" made by Late 'Danescombe' in now defunct Google Earth Community (GEC) and curiosity led me to find some taps. Danes (Dave in real life), was a master gamer, moderator and friend of the entire Google Earth Community. RIP Danes.
Unfortunately for reasons best known to powers-that-be at Google, the GEC has been closed and not only the great posts by Danes, thousands of posts, by hundreds of members of the Community, on multifarious subjects, have been permanently lost. A treasure trove lost forever. -
Chris Davis and Dave Spracklen who informed me about the Floating Water tap at Aqualand, Costa Adeje, Tenerife, Canary Islands.
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Noisette, Google Earth expert, Moderator of New Google Earth Community Forum, for helping me find Danes post and also for informing me about Hampton Court Floating Water tap.
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Krenek, Trusted Member, New Google Earth Community Forum, for locating the Floating Water tap at Winterthur, Switzerland and also informing me plus finding the location of the magical tap at Kosyno Thermal Resort, Kosyno. Krenek also informed me about the newly installed magical tap at the North Bengal Science Centre (NBSC), Matigara, Siliguri, India.
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Bridgeplayer, Trusted Member, New Google Earth Community Forum, deserves special mention and thanks. He not only informed me about the Magical Taps at Koksijde, Belgium; Ahmedabad, India; Cowes, Australia; Xel-há, Mexico; Sochi, Russia and Tampere, Finland, but also took pains to find the locations and search for relevant photographs for use in this post.
Note: Images of some of these Magical Taps have been posted on several blogs. However this post is different from others as I have tried to pin-point the actual location and placemark it.
WOW, amazing blog. Interesting to see water pouring out of the flooded building.
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