Seattle was the third city in North America to offer a wheel of this design, following the Niagara SkyWheel at Clifton Hill, Niagara Falls, Canada, which is also 175 feet (53 m) tall, and the larger Myrtle Beach SkyWheel in South Carolina, which is 187 feet (57 m) tall. The Seattle wheel is the only one of the three to be built over water. From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Great_Wheel

Elliott Bay is a part of the Central Basin region of Puget Sound in the U.S. state of Washington that extends southeastward between West Point in the north and Alki Point in the south. Seattle was founded on this body of water in the 1850s and has since grown to encompass it completely. The waterway it provides to the Pacific Ocean has served as a key element of the city´s economy, enabling the Port of Seattle to become one of the busiest ports in the United States. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Bay