Nearly 2,000 canoes and kayaks floating on Fourth Lake in the Adirondacks, with all of the individual boaters holding hands in an effort to break the World's Largest Raft record - Nancie Battaglia, Sports Illustrated/Getty Images (image rotated 90 degrees to fit here)

Nearly 2,000 canoes and kayaks floating on Fourth Lake in the Adirondacks, with all of the individual boaters holding hands in an effort to break the World's Largest Raft record - Nancie Battaglia, Sports Illustrated/Getty Images (image rotated 90 degrees to fit here)

National Geographic has posted this year's "Visions of Earth" photo series, a sort of best-of-the-best of what our planet has to offer in terms of visual beauty, both natural and man-made. For some reason I find the top-down photographs the most compelling, as they literally broaden—or is that heighten—your perspective, showing you things you'd recognize from the ground but would have no opportunity to see from above. (Or in the case of the moth scales, at such magnification.)

While there's nothing specifically industrial-design-related here, anyone interested in the visual arts is bound to find dozens of inspiring images; NatGeo has made not only this year's pick available for free viewing, but has also posted their archives stretching back to 2006.

The Space Shuttle being "delivered" from California to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida - Carla Thomas, NASA/Reuters

The Space Shuttle being "delivered" from California to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida - Carla Thomas, NASA/Reuters

View from the Burj Khalifa - Samar Jodha

View from the Burj Khalifa - Samar Jodha

A crop circle, origin unknown, located in Switzerland - Sandro Campardo, EPA/Corbis

The scales on the wings of a sunset moth, shot with a microscope - Charles Krebs

An art project that placed blown-up photographs of women's eyes atop a train passing through a Nairobi slum - JR/Agence Vu/Aurora Photos

An art project that placed blown-up photographs of women's eyes atop a train passing through a Nairobi slum - JR/Agence Vu/Aurora Photos

The "Boneyard" of Arizona's Davis Monthan Air Force Base, where some 4,000 decomissioned aircraft sit idle - Satellite image by Geoeye

The "Boneyard" of Arizona's Davis Monthan Air Force Base, where some 4,000 decomissioned aircraft sit idle - Satellite image by Geoeye

Check 'em all out here.