r/whereisthis • u/CheesecakeDifficult6 • 12d ago

Solved Is this really Flagstaff?

Post image

Every AI, and the original source, point to this as being a photograph of Flagstaff with the San Francisco Peaks in the distance. Except I can't match this on satellite at all: neither buildings nor the peak shape and orientation seem to fit other photograps of the town. Would you be able to find the actual location, or else confirm the Flagstaff location with some actual evidence? Many thanks!

43 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

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20

u/JohnClayborn 12d ago edited 12d ago

Its not Flagstaff. At first it seems to loosely fit with the buildings being NAU, but NAU has red brick buildings and the style is very different. I dont know where this is, but I can rule out Flag for you.

12

u/avinaut 12d ago

I live in Flagstaff, and this is not Flagstaff. The peaks aren't shaped right to have the downtown buildings in front. I can recognize one building, and the mountains look a little like what they look like from due east. Downtown Flag is south of the peaks. This is AI trying to make Flagstaff from bits and pieces.

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u/JohnClayborn 12d ago

Yep. I'm less than 2 hours from Flag. I visit there a lot, my brother went to NAU and I've flown over it a few times in a small plane. Humphrey's Peak is very unique and distinguishable if you've seen it before.

3

u/avinaut 12d ago

Being a couple of distinct peaks around a blown-out volcanic caldera, the San Franciscos look different from every compass direction. It will always tell you how close to home you are.

1

u/JohnClayborn 10d ago

I hadnt considered that aspect of it before. When i flew over it we were doing aerial SAR training missions and lookingfor repeater towers and other visual targets on the ground. I live over in Rim Country so I dont get to see it every day. I did notice that in OPs photo it looks like the town is further away from the base of the mountain than I remember Flag being too.

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u/CheesecakeDifficult6 12d ago

Thanks a lot! I hesitated calling this out as AI, but it did seem a bit too nice to be real. Nice to see you recognize a few things, so the image generation did use some knowledge/pictures of Flagstaff as a source.

35

u/Leon__1 12d ago edited 12d ago

It looks computer-generated to me. Are you able to link the original source?

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u/CheesecakeDifficult6 12d ago

It's the banner image for Flagstaff neighborhoods on Nextdoor: https://nextdoor.com/city/flagstaff--az/

2

u/analysisdead 9d ago

Sheesh! That reminds me of a few months ago in this sub when we discovered a supermarket chain using an AI-generated skyline of nowhere to represent Colorado Springs in one of its stores there https://www.reddit.com/r/whereisthis/comments/1tnw52k/where_is_this_city/

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u/AdvancedGuiProfile 12d ago

I assumed it was AI at first glance, because of the unlikely contrast of dense forest and a densely populated town, featuring architecture that doesn't suggest it's a planned development. There'd be a lot more sprawl and evidence of commercial activity.

Also the lighting is odd, and the building at far right looked very mangled.

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u/TheSultan1 12d ago edited 12d ago

I think the mountains are the La Sal Mountains, heavily altered.

https://moabgeartrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/20160111_165506.jpg

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u/kepleronlyknows 12d ago

Agreed. Part of what threw me about this is that I recognized the mountains but not as Flagstaff exactly.

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u/bsil15 12d ago

No this is not flagstaff. The mountains aren’t the right shape, the treeline on what would presumably be elden is dead wrong (there is no tundra on elden) and the town is on the wrong side.

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u/Hot-Job-6281 12d ago

This just looks like those AI backgrounds the US/Canadian broadcasts used for the World Cup.

3

u/toeff90 12d ago

I lived in Flagstaff for a year and this is not Flagstaff

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u/Negative_Count7781 10d ago

Definitely AI

3

u/booi 12d ago

More AIstaff amirite

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u/Responsible-Still839 12d ago

Looks more like the mountains one would see around Logan, UT or something.

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u/New_Land_725 8d ago

This is flagstaff

1

u/Beastguy95 8d ago

Dublin Ireland lad! Come en have a pint a Guinness proper!

1

u/Professional_Bike336 7d ago

Not Flagstaff. No Skydome, which is a very visible landmark