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Two platforms which really are on the opposite side of the planet. | |
I think that everyone wonders who is on the opposite side of the world sometimes.
With this idea you can see, with a programme like skype, the person who is exactly on the other side of the world.
Free Map Tools
http://www.freemapt...de-of-the-earth.htm
[Dub, Sep 03 2009]
Not directly opposite but...
http://www.foxnews....2933,357307,00.html
London to New York "Telectroscope" [theleopard, Sep 03 2009]
90 Mile Straight
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1565182
[UnaBubba, Sep 04 2009]
The Nullarbor (No Tree) Plain
http://www.abc.net..../r184897_687254.jpg
B-E-A-utiful! [UnaBubba, Sep 04 2009]
International Long Distance Rates for iPhone users
http://www.wireless...tance/in-the-us.jsp
[21 Quest, Sep 05 2009]
IPhone GPS forum
http://cellphonefor...r-2-0-1-update.html
[bigsleep, Sep 06 2009]
VHA Competition Winner
http://pingwen.word...iphone-app-is-born/
This idea was recently entered into a competition with VHA here in Australia [phrosyn, Nov 10 2009]
Plain old map, with this new twist.
http://wendycarlos.com/maps.html#nadirs
I recalled of this neat printable map, for those gadget-phobics. [selenio, Nov 10 2009]
[link]
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It would be a groovy iphone app. |
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I think I've seen a Google Earth / Maps application which tries to do something a little similar, and locate *what* is on the other side.
<strike>I'll have to look later</strike> [Linky] |
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whoever they are, they're likely to be damp. |
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And if there's nobody on the other side of the world? Or it's a
developing nation where nobody has cellphones or computers? |
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with the lumpish shape of the world //exactly on the other side of the world// might be ambiguous, so better have a chatroom ready |
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This would only work in the North Atlantic Archipelago when a ship was passing directly beneath you. Most of the planet's surface is water - i think it works with Western Australia and bits of California though.
(There you go, [po].)
Does anyone happen to know if there's an easy way of finding the antipodes on Google Earth?
Actually, i seem to have got that wrong with WA and CA. |
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// an easy way of finding the antipodes // |
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Follow the sound of breaking glass and chundering .... |
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Why not follow the light from the glowing women instead? |
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I'm with [po]. Being near NYC, the only one I can talk to I think are fishermen WAY off Australia. |
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There are very few places which aren't water on the other side. This would only be useful in very limited locations - Indonesia and Ecuador/Colombia, Vietnam and Peru, China/Mongolia and Chile/Argentina, Hawaii and Botswana, Phillipines and interior Brazil. Fiji and Mali. North Island New Zealand and Spain. |
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Easter Island and the Pakistan/India border is an interesting one. |
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It works for New Zealand and Spain, and Peru and Cambodia, along with a few Pacific Islands and a handful of "The Stans"... Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc. |
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Funny, the Pacific Islands and any *istan seem to be opposites in other ways, too. |
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Makes me think of the Mururoa mosque. |
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I think this is a great idea. + I guess I would be
interested in knowing who or *what* is on the
opposite. (Perhaps a starfish, 5000 leagues below the
sea?) |
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Bermuda should hit Western Australia [nineteenthly]. |
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It's amazing how few places there are that work, really. |
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That's interesting, Bermuda is about 20 miles or so off the coast of Perth. |
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The largest populated areas I could find that are reasonably close (within ~100 miles) are Shanghai and Buenos Aires. |
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Hey look, McDonald Island is the exact opposite of
Shellbrook, Saskatchewan. And Glacier National Park
is almost opposite "French Southern and Antarctic
Lands." That's almost mildly interesting! |
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I could imagine a tourist-based art exhibit set up east
of Glacier National Park linked to a high-quality
controllable webcam on the FSAL. I wonder if
anyone lives there. (googles) Not really, but it looks
nice. |
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Thanks, [theleopard]. I mistakenly thought it would just be swapping west and east longitude, but it seems not, hence my earlier wibble.
Considering that more than two thirds of the surface is covered with water, and quite a bit more is empty of humans for other reasons, i suppose that gives most points a roughly two out of three chance of not being paired with anything, except that the latitudes which are more heavily populated might be in similar places. A lot of NZ is opposite Iberia though. |
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Wait a sec... is the idea for a phone app, or a platform set up at
a gathering place with cameras mounted that show what the
cameras on the opposite platform see? Would this be done for
every major city, or just a select few? It's an ineresting thought
experiment, but clearly wouldn't be very ineresting for a lot of
people. I'd be pissed if I downloaded an app like this and it
turned out nobody on the other side had both a cellphone
*and* this same app. Now there *is* a neat app, that currently
exists, that allows users to view live feed from traffic cams in
many major cities throughout the world. It's kinda neat. It's
called World Traffic Cams. |
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21, that is really not the case. The idea is not an iphone app. |
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We have established that the probability of being in a country with on opposite (developed) country is slim, then we will need two devices which support our programme and then we need the public demand. |
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What we could do is have //two platforms which really are on the opposite side of the planet//, a sort-of tourist set up- as mentioned by [Worldgineer]. |
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I think that the best use of the idea is for it to be integrated into skype-like programmes. You could have a contact ,''Marshan'', who will only be green when a device is in a, say, 20m^2 area on the other side. ''Marshan'' can be an optional contact on all skype-like programmes. |
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I guess that's where I'm confused, Dan. How does a VoIP program like Skype apply to this scenario? I do think this could work, in a neat way that hasn't yet been mentioned yet, however. I have a neat smartphone app called Reality Browser 2.1, posted by a developed called Layar. What it does is activate the smartphone's camera, and superimposes icons over the camera's live view. The icons indicate locations of various establishments, such as restaurants, that are in the direction you're pointing the camera, along with a distance indicator under each icon. Using the same kind of system, one could have an icon superimposed over the camera view for each user of this application. Not sure if it could work at such a vast distance, but it'd be worth checking out, I think. |
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+1 for the food for thought |
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Not if it becomes a trend. Just imagine the "recent" page then: |
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o--o o---o o---------o o----o ... |
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(considers idea for idea title Tetris) |
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Tried and failed. Went to New Zealand, thinking I could get to the point. As it turned out I stood on the shore looking out at sea wishing I was many miles out to be at the exact opposite point of the Netherlands. Thought about hiring a ship but it was too expensive and too much trouble. Oh well. |
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If it were to be to scale, shouldn't the title be more like this? |
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0----------------------------0 |
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(A lot longer than that, actually, but words of more than 30 characters aren't allowed in annotations.) |
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Where are these places that haven't developed? |
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/Where are these places that haven't developed?/\ |
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In the minds of the developers. |
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Ian, the one which has been pointed out is Botswana and Hawaii. You can see on [Dub]'s link a few more examples of technologically advanced countries overlapping countries without many pc's ect. are- Malaysia and Ecuador, New Zealand and Morocco and you may have a problem at the poles. Fortunately, Africa is on its own. |
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It's hard to explain just how isolated the exact antipode of Bermuda is, without resorting to what sounds like nonsense. |
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The nearest habitation is at Caiguna, about 100km ENE, or Balladonia, 100km WSW. If you were to walk due west from the spot for 5km, then follow a rudimentary road south for about 20km then you'll be on a remarkable stretch of the Eyre Highway, on the Nullarbor Plain. Your starting point is just to the north of a stretch of the Eyre Hwy that is gunbarrel straight for 146.6km, or 91.1 miles. |
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See [link] for a glimpse of the sheer desolation you'd be facing. |
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From there it's about 80km walk east to Caiguna (pop ~30) or 80km west to Balladonia (pop ~20) |
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90 miles straight... I wonder how many drivers fall asleep at the wheel each year driving it. I hope it's got a decent speed limit get through it quicker. |
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Though it is unlikely that someone will pick up the phone, having the opportunity to talk to someone living in such an unusual place makes me want to use this. |
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The telephone no at the BP Service Station & John Eyre Motel at Caiguna is +617 9039 3459 |
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I'm sure they'll be quite confused to hear from you. |
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The speed limit in Western Australia is 110kmh (70mph), enforced by traffic cops in light aircraft, in the Nullarbor region. They time you between 2 marks on the road and radio ahead if you traverse the distance too quickly. |
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Yeah, timing really sucks. Renders expensive radar detectors
useless. Hard to beat in court, too. Of course, with almost no
overhead cover, I'm betting they'd be pretty easy to spot from
the ground. And 70mph on a 90-mile straight is about the same
as interstate speeds in my state, so not bad. |
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It also just occurred to me that this isn't something you want to
get addicted to using, especially for iPhone users, because ATT
doesn't have unlimited international calling plans. No matter
what plan you use, you're paying by the minute, and that shit
adds up fast. And the price is different for calling a landline vs
calling a mobile in the country in question. Without a plan for it,
standard international rates to Australia from the USA are 3.49
per minute to a landline, 3.64 to a mobile. For a 4 dollar monthly
charge, there's a discounted rate that reduces it quite drastically,
as low as .09 per minute to landline, and .24 to mobile. |
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Well, I don't use ATT, but stateside they're the only carriers with
iPhones. If you want to use one with another carrier, you have to
hack it and void the warranty, or order one from overseas. |
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But it's ok, UB, because the iPhone sucks. ATT can *have* it, as
far as a great many of us are concerned. I get complaints about
the damn things everyday. They drop calls like hot bricks
because they lack the ability to smoothly transition from one
tower to another, or so it seems. I've heard about, and
experienced, much better service with HTC devices, such as T-
Mobile's Dream (G1) and Magic (MyTouch 3G). I've heard very
few complaints, and received no calls, about the HTC Fuze
malfunctioning, and the biggest complaints I've heard of with the
Dream and Magic are lack of a decent amount of onboard
memory and lack of a
standard headset jack. Performance doesn't seem to be an issue. |
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21, you couldn't really use this in the us anyway.
Our iphones here in SA are no longer locked to one particular network, I suspect that this is the case in many other countries as well. |
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You can use unlocked phones here, Dan, that's what I was saying.
You just have to order them from another country that doesn't
lock 'em down. |
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See link. It's some kind of chat forum discussing phones. |
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Quite a cool idea. + from me. |
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I reckon it'd be cool for travellers. |
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Maybe if it can't find anyone, it should have an option to go the the closest matching person? |
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Where ever this platform was set up, I would make my way out there sooner or later (given enough time). [+] |
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I wouldn't even need to see the people on the other side. Just knowing there was a corespondin platform on the exact other side of the world would be enough for me. |
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<imho> I suggest making only one, though. Each additional pair of platforms would detract from the unique beauty of this idea <imho> |
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I finally bunned this idea, but on the whole if you want to stand at the same place on the opposite side of the globe, be prepared to get your feet wet. I tried to make a composite view blue/red/overlap gif but got confused. [selenio] to the rescue - link. |
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