This realization was impressed on me the other day when a new address plaque for our house was delivered, a present from my spouse. On it was printed not the street number of our house but its precise Latitude and Longitude. Even those coordinates which I had used in poring over maps in high school geography classes long ago to locate faraway cities had been modified: instead of degrees, minutes and seconds, the Latitude and Longitude were stated in degrees followed by the decimal equivalent of minutes and seconds. Pinpoint accuracy. To check it out I entered those coordinates into Google Earth and there instantly appeared a satellite view of my roof with a pin stuck into it..
I wonder how long it will be before the mail service begins to accept addresses stated in terms of GPS coordinates in addition to traditional street number addresses. Think how fast an electronic sorter would help distribute the mail using that system.
Already “Location Based” services have become universal. Often my iPod Touch will flash a message that a certain site requests that I permit it to use the Location Service of my device when all I wanted was a general weather forecast or the news.
Every item I order on the net is accompanied by a tracking number that enables me to follow precisely and in real time the movement of say, a laptop, from its manufacturer in China, though its transfer to another air freighter in Alaska and on to a truck in California. I have learned the names of forlorn truckstops in small towns somewhere out in the Midwest where my package was transshipped in the middle of the night. When I hear that jumbo air freighter throttling back right over my house at 3:55 am every dawn on its final approach I have a pretty good idea that my package is going to be at my doorstep when I wake up because I had tracked it being onloaded at that forwarder’s hub in Memphis thousands of miles East earlier in the night. And all of those logistics were using GPS coordinates, not street numbers.
All of which has prompted me to think: What if I followed that line of Latitude that runs right through my house all around the world, 16,517 miles, back to my house? (Click on arrow to start movie clip)
My geography lessons always defined Latitude as “an imaginary line” but for me 47°N begins as a very real line, a narrow path up a low berm across the street from my front entrance that disappears into a stand of trees. I have often thought of travelling around the world and I have even planned such a trip several times using the conventional way of checking airline routes and schedules and fares, flying in a zig zag route from major airport to major airport following the logic of the air travel business.
But now I am going to find out what lies straight ahead over the horizon as I look due West through my front window and follow footpath Latitude 47°N (approx.) beyond those trees.
It’s not going to be a physically or logistically demanding journey. Except for the first thirty minutes or so as I walk along Latitude 47°N to the water’s edge at Puget Sound I will be doing most of my travel at my computer using Google Earth. Can’t blame me: how would you like to trudge through Mongolia, or vast expanses of Central Russia, which to my surprise I discovered are directly beyond those familiar trees outside my front window, over the horizon, across the Pacific, on the other side of the International Dateline?
Following Latitude 47°N to the water's edge at Puget Sound:
6 comments:
What a simply delightful Geography lesson! If only our teachers had the imagination - and the inclination - to bring the world to life for us like that! Poor sods, too busy trying to finish the text and prepping us for the exam-to-come, I guess. This ex-teacher knows how that feels :(
Where you live sounds absolutely beautiful. I am new here, so forgive this: Is that building a lighthouse? Or am I making an awful faux pas?!
You are spot on, Pat. That is a lighthouse, marking the point where the Ship Canal from Lakes Union and Washington enters Puget Sound. If your husband ever lands a Pacific salmon on a fishing trip, it might be one that swam past this lighthouse as a hatchling from its birthplace in a stream off Lake Washington on its way out into the Pacific :)
As I become more and more involved with IT I marvel at the possibilities it has for students. Have you blogged about your teaching career? That would be interesting reading.
I am indebted to my kids for having moved to Seattle, having our grandchildren here as bait to lure us to migrate from California, and to my son for finding us this ideally situated house. There is a really beautiful world right outside the front door.
What a brilliant post, Louis! I love the idea that there is a direct line that leads you to Mongolia and Central Russia right from your armchair! What a little big world we live in! It would be awesome to be able to travel the world following the latitude lines -- I'd love to backpack all the way along the Equator that way, from my doorstep right back to my doorstep.
I love the photos you posted. I previously had no idea that you lived in an area so full of trees and wooded areas and so close to the coast. When I think of Washington DC, I always think of grunge rock bands like Nirvana, and newspapers like The Stranger and columnists like Dan Savage, and the Redskins, and the Capitol and the Washington Monument. I wouldn't have imagined quiet wooded paths as beautiful as the ones I see here. Thanks for taking us on a walk with you!
Hi CO'78,
Glad you enjoyed the post. If you do strap on that backpack and head out along the Equator, just a short detour would take you to the island of Trinidad where I was born. About the same latitude as Malaysia.
I was very surprised by which countries lie along my line of Latitude, until I looked at the globe as a globe rather than as a flat map, and especially ignoring the usual routes of commercial airlines.
Your view of Washington , DC is correct. I should have pointed out that where i live is not that Washington but Washington State, on the other side of the continent and far different in almost every way. Our almost constant rain keeps vegetation lush. People here don't age. We just rust away.
I am also very fortunate to live across the street from the largest park in Seattle, a wooded nature preserve. From time to time a wild coyote, bear or most recently a cougar (http://louis-hopscotch.blogspot.com/2009/09/its-jungle-out-there.html) has been known to prowl in it. A ten minute drive in the opposite direction from the park would take you to the heart of downtown Seattle with the Space Needle and usual highrises and crowded development.
Louis,
I actually read this post last night and fell asleep imagining myself hopscotching with giant leaps across the parallels of latitude from my location to yours.
I agree with Pat that you would have been a great teacher but it helped that you placed the photos lower down in the post. If I'd seen the nature photos, especially of the coast, the call of the wild would have been too strong. In my school days, no teacher could successfully compete for my attention if the classroom had a window with a view. I wouldn't even bother to pretend that I was paying attention. My mind would lasso anything going by - a bird, a cloud, a breeze and it would be pulled clear of that classroom.
You are so lucky to be so close to open natural spaces. I also ramble and am bowled over by natural beauty so I know what a gift it is. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and photos.
Blessings
Guanaguanare,
Sorry for the long delay in responding to your comment. I was away all of the past week, watching those free spirited namesakes of yours wheeling about in the wild scenery of fiords in Alaska. I will be writing about my cruise there shortly.
I took my iPad along. It was great to have your recommendation, Walden, in my e-book library. My other intended read on days at sea, Ulysses, turned out to be not a good fit for the context.
Given the strong attraction of the wild on you you would have spent days at the railing of the ship absorbed in the natural beauty.
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