A_1337_Canadian OP t1_j4w5wbr wrote
Someone made a quip about a city being on the "other side of the world" and I was curious what these direct overlaps looked like. Turns out they are called "antipodes". Here is the Wikipedia page that goes into some detail as well. And here is a cool tool you can use to see what is directly on the other side of the world from where you are!
I found it amazing that only 15% of land has an antipode that is also land. And if you account for only 30% of the Earth's surface being land, this works out to only 4% of the Earth's surface having two points antipodal that are both on land.
It's just a product of how the land and water are laid out, but it's really cool!
12INCHVOICES t1_j4w9dgj wrote
Great post and great links to follow up. Very cool, OP...thank you!
A_1337_Canadian OP t1_j4wa6at wrote
Thanks! This was one of the more humorous maps out there.
NightWriter500 t1_j4wg4li wrote
Awesome tool, and fun to play with. So there are only three states with an antipode that is on land. Do you know the three?
TheEggoEffect t1_j4y5sxl wrote
Hawaii, Alaska, Montana?
NightWriter500 t1_j4y7bti wrote
That’s right! A tiny spot in Montana overlays port-aux-francais in the Kerguelen islands.
glen27 t1_j4z2mjo wrote
Also, it looks like the only territory with a land antipode is American Samoa.
AnthillOmbudsman t1_j4xuwy9 wrote
"Are you trying to tell me," said Arthur, "that you made the Earth with hardly any land antipodes?"
"Oh yes," said Slartibartfast. "Did you ever go to a place…I think it was called Portugal?"
"No," said Arthur, "no, I didn’t."
"Pity." said Slartibartfast. "That antipode is in New Zealand. Which has fjords. I was going to have all the antipodes set up that way."
EH6TunerDaniel t1_j4ytjx3 wrote
I really need to reread those books.
mruserdude t1_j548o87 wrote
Where is this reference from?
EH6TunerDaniel t1_j550wcr wrote
Slartibartfast is a planet designer from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series.
mruserdude t1_j56i4qr wrote
Errmahgeerd!
Been too long since I’ve seen the movie and tv-series..
Been waiting to show the old tv-series to my S.O. This was probably what I needed to kick my ass into gear..
Fskn t1_j51cs5l wrote
The antipode of new Zealand is in Spain not protugal unfortunately
JacobLyon t1_j4yhgqc wrote
My teachers were so full of shit!!!!
[deleted] t1_j4wd7oa wrote
[removed]
Blutarg t1_j4wrlqb wrote
Huh, mine is a lot closer to Madagascar than I would have thought.
A_1337_Canadian OP t1_j4wtuyg wrote
Interesting. I'm in a North American city and someone said, most likely in a hyperbolic way, that London UK is on the "other side of the world". And I thought, well, technically, any point in the northern hemisphere will have it's opposing location in the southern hemisphere. Then I was curious on the exact point, and led me here!
bloomy60 t1_j4x0k5y wrote
As someone that lives in New Zealand I laugh slightly sadly when I hear people in America say the UK or europe is on the other side of the world. It's one medium length flight away.
A_1337_Canadian OP t1_j4xa0o1 wrote
I mean, colloquially, those places are on the other "side" of the world. If we think of what the other "side" means when talking about a sphere that rotates about an axis, the other "side" makes people think of the other "vertical" hemisphere when sliced along the rotational axis.
From a North American standpoint, take a city like Denver at 105 deg W. If you centre a vertical hemisphere over that longitude, then that hemisphere's borders would be at 90 deg either way. So from 15 deg W to "195 deg W" (15 deg E).
This ends up being a point off the west coast of the UK in line with the western coast of Africa all the way around to east of Japan.
While this is a technical definition I just made up, it sort of aligns with what people mean when they say "other side of the world".
Soldier5ide t1_j4y9mn1 wrote
Having moved from the UK to S.E. US, very weird to see on these maps that it’s the (rough) equivalent of going from SW Australia to New Zealand.
bloomy60 t1_j4yquky wrote
Yeap, Perth is 7 hours away. Apart from the islands which are a measly 4hrs away the next place is like Bali which is something like 10 hours.
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments