I managed to make maps to help me get an idea of how far places are from me. I'm sure the reader can apply this to where s/he lives.
World with equidistant small circles 2000 km. apart, originating in Taiwan (or Paraguay), map centered on North America, Taiwan (4 Kb each), and Europe:
Program I used on GNU/Linux to make the maps. Raup's gallery and form does better.
| Km. | Elongated geographic feature |
|---|---|
| 3180 | Strait of Malacca axis |
| 3700 | Java, Timor, Aru, Indonesia |
| 5000 | Indian Peninsula west coast |
| 8200 | Red Sea, Africa / Asia |
| 9000 | New Zealand west coast (except Auckland Peninsula) |
| 10000 | Halfway around the world, Wilkes Land coast, Antarctica |
| 12000- 12600 |
Africa west coast: Cape of Good Hope to Nigeria |
| 12300 | Lake Erie axis, USA / Canada |
| 12650 | Long Island axis, New York |
| 12900 | Tennessee / N. Carolina boundary |
| 12950 | Texas coast (except south extreme) |
| 13900 | Africa west coast: Gambia to Sierra Leone |
| 14000 | Antarctic coast from ~ 10 to 35 west longitude |
( Source code.) (To compute instead distances from Paraguay, subtract the above number from 20000.) Perpendicular to these are great circles through Taiwan
We find the closest place in China to me. It turns out first we meet Taiwan controlled Wuqiu Islands. China is 170 km. away. ( Source code.) (We also thus find the farthest place in China from (my antipode in) Paraguay.)
Last modified: Wed May 12 04:19:58 +0800 2004