The underlying principle in science is to form a model and then test for confirmation or error. Clearly these dedicated professionals were testing in the name of science in case other forces were involved! In fact, I should do my part and run some tests of my own. I might also test some principles regarding gravity while I'm at it....
Would you really want to? I would imagine that every single person working there is having every aspect of their life watched by a whole range of governments/agencies. Great place if you have no love of personal privacy!
To some degree, they do. Airport locations have clear requirements and flight paths avoid population centres when possible due to noise pollution. Mountain ranges or areas with known volatile weather patterns also dictate some flight paths. This is mainly for smaller aircraft rather than the truly high-flying international flights.
...that it will largely give an indication of geographical features as they are the main dictators of where cities, roads, railways, power lines, pipelines, cable Internet, airlines, and shipping lanes can go.