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Germany from Above Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
3 Episodes 2010 - 2010
Episode 1
Stadt
43 mins
When you look at cites from above, they reveal the secrets of the their construction plants, the inner logic and some of their hidden vital lines. It is a fascinating glimpse that enriches us with new insights of cities such as Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and Dortmund. "Germany From Above" invites the audience to fly over German cities and look at them from a perspective that most of us has never seen before: from above. Look at the roofs of big cities and romantic small towns, marvel at the elaborate animations that give shape and meaning to GPS data and satellite pictures, enjoy the charm of time lapse images and the knowledge of Germany's leading urban researcher, Professor Hartmut Häußermann.
Episode 2
Land
43 mins
Ever since the fall of the Iron Curtain that divided West from East Europe across Germany, Germany has become the biggest transit country in Europe. The German Autobahn are the most trafficked roads and and special aircrafts oversee the planned chaos when holiday starts or car accidents stop the apparently endless flow of traffic on German roads. But no matter how many autobahn dissect the country, the skies offer so many more transit roads. Millions of migrating birds, from the reed sparrows to the wild geese, from the storks to the cranes, fly on their pathways in spring and autumn over the German sky. Some of them spend their summer and start a family in Germany, others are just transiting from Central Africa to Scandinavia or vice versa. "Germany From Above" flies with cranes along part of their migrating route to the South, looks into the nest of storks in the north German village of Bergenhusen and follows them in their summer thermic trips in the Elbe Valley. Elaborate animations based on real GPS data show in satellite pictures the routes followed by migrating birds. However birds have to the share airspace with air traffic. No other airspace is full of invisible flying routes and corridors like the German skies. Animations based on real GPS data show the constant traffic of the biggest air road-network and the starting and landing bustle in the two German biggest airports: Frankfurt and Munich. Even when we fly from Vladivostok to London we fly over Germany. How does the air traffic control centre in Frankfurt monitor the restless air traffic on the upper floor above our heads? And how does Germany look like from the small cockpit of the phantom jet of lieutenant-colonel Jochen Ruff-Stahl, when he starts off the airforce center of Wittmund in East Frisia to train in supersonic speed? Other unsuspected people take advantage from the bird's perspective too. Farmer Clement Sjöberg in Schleswig-Holstein let satellite signals direct his corn harvester and tractors, because the machine can crop the fields with absolute precision. The Elbe Sandstone Mountains are measured with modern laser technology from an aircraft in order to produce 3D models of possibly the most bizarre landscape in Europe. Archaeologist Martin Schaich too measures with high tech lasers the limes, the longest soil monument in Europe, by flying over it on an ultralight aircraft. Besides all the traffic routes across and over Germany, when flying over the country you can also enjoy unexpected surprises: the almost uninhabited landscapes that defy access. In the Alps in Berchtesgaden some remote lodges can get their supply only via helicopter. From the can of beer to the roof gutter: everything has to be transported with an helicopter. In some remote areas on the Central German Uplands, in the Elbe Valley or in the Alps, Germany almost looks like Canada, New Zealand or the tundra. Golden eagles find shelter here. Sky is one of them. Fly with him and look with him over a country that from his perspective appears very mysterious and foreign.
Episode 3
Fluss
43 mins
German waters have always been more than just water. The river Rhine with its castles, the harbour in Hamburg, the river Elbe, the low and high tide at the Wadden Sea, the echo at the lake Königssee or the endless Lake Constance: rivers, seas and lakes make many Germans feel at home. When you look at the them from above, you discover a new world. When National Park-scientist Kai Abt and ranger Karl-Hanz Hilderbrandt register seals from the window of their small aircraft, you could think that you are flying over the South Seas. Yet, in the gleaming sand banks of the turquoise of the Wadden Sea they are not looking for some pirate treasures but for seals. Their population has grown, precisely because they are protected and registered from the air in the National Park Wattenmeer. The oil production on Germany's only offshore platform, Mittelplate, is subjected to strict regulations. GPS data-based animations show how delicate the life of seals is, even in this UNESCO unique landscape. It shows all the movements of five seals and of all ships crossing the North Sea. You get it at a glimpse: despite all protected areas, seals cross the routes of huge vessels, because a seal can swim up to 50 kilometres per day to look for food. At the arrival point of most of the big ships, there starts a new story of this episode: the container port in Hamburg is almost completely automated. 52 cranes, 84 transport vehicles and 12 tractor units are driven by computers and load hundreds of containers. 9 mega container vessels, that can transport up to 10,000 containers, set their anchor in Hamburg every week, plus endless smaller vessels. Goods from everywhere on earth are then loaded on trains and trucks in unique efficiency and make their way to our supermarkets. The stocks are optimised day and night. Yet only from above can you see the stunning beauty of the endless loading activity. On the Autobahn reality strikes back: with the GPS date based animation of the routes of trucks of a middle-size forwarder association it is evident why transport often ends there, where it annoys us most: in traffic jams. Christian Tyrok and Thomas Schechtriem repair high voltage power lines - via helicopter and on an helicopter. This is much quicker than using a crane. Where are the most important power lines in Germany? And who makes sure that we can switch on the TV set or make a coffee or take a hot shower every minute of the day? The last episode of "Germany From Above" deals with rivers and seas both in the real and the metaphorical sense: from the archaeologists that dive in the Constance Lake looking for prehistorical remains, to the river police that monitors from an helicopter the ship traffic on the river Elbe, from the departure of the legendary Queen Mary that excites thousands of people in Hamburg every time, to the monitoring of gas pipelines in the Ruhr Valley.
