The city of San Cristóbal, located in Alto Paraná, has been selected as one of the seven most stunning landscapes in the world to be featured in the Windows Spotlight collection, the Windows 10 and 11 feature that displays breathtaking photographs on the lock screen of millions of users worldwide.
This recognition results from a collaboration between teams from Bing, Windows Spotlight, and Microsoft Planetary Computer, an innovative open-access environmental data repository.
Guillermo Morales, Principal Engineering Manager at Microsoft Space, led the initiative. He and his team selected satellite images captured by the European Space Agency’s Copernicus program.
San Cristobal now seen in homes and offices worldwide
The image of San Cristóbal stands out alongside landscapes from Venezuela, France, Australia, Bangladesh, Greece, and New Zealand. All these photographs come from Sentinel-2 satellite data, showcasing the planet’s natural beauty with stunning quality.
Morales, a photography enthusiast, explained in a LinkedIn post that the idea emerged when he noticed the quality of the images in Windows Spotlight. “I thought, ‘At Planetary Computer, we have images as good as this, and we could share them with the world through Windows Spotlight!'” he commented.
The challenge for the team was selecting from thousands of spectacular images. Ultimately, San Cristóbal earned its place as one of the breathtaking views now captivating Windows users worldwide.
San Cristóbal: Natural wealth and agricultural development
San Cristóbal is a district in the department of Alto Paraná, located approximately 117 kilometers from Ciudad del Este and about 337 kilometers from Asunción. The city is accessible via National Route No. 6, named after Dr. Juan León Mallorquín.
The local economy is primarily driven by agriculture, with extensive crop fields contributing to the country’s productive sector. Additionally, livestock farming is another key economic activity that complements life in the region. The Ypetí River, which flows through much of the district, is one of the area’s main watercourses, offering a natural landscape now recognised internationally.
