h a l f b a k e r y"Not baked goods, Professor; baked bads!" -- The Tick
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Whilst walking to the fag shop, I remembered that as Eucid teaches us, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, but that's in 2D and the planet ain't 2D.
And so, I would like to have some system where I can do my very own mini-great circling, and so save on shoe-leather going to
the aforementioned fag shop.
Scheme could be expanded to include car travel, giving the best lane to be in on the motorway at appropriate points on the journey, so as to most closely following the bigger mini-great circle. Of benefit to the nation as lessening fuel imports and lower CO2 outputs. Huzzah.
There appears to be an app for that ...
http://www.greatcirclemapper.net/
... but only for airports. [angel, Mar 14 2014]
This may be better
http://www.qsl.net/sm3gsj/
[angel, Mar 14 2014]
Obsessive-Compulsive Pedestrian's GPS
Obsessive-Compulsiv...edestrian_27s_20GPS
You know you want one. Very reasonably priced ... [8th of 7, Mar 14 2014]
[link]
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Having thought about it, it would probably just be better to remove the central barriers of the motorway and simply paint the new lanes onto the surface. |
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Admittedly the lanes would be a little wider as not all of the drivers will be heading for the same destination. I calculate that if each lane is 50 ft wide, that would be a reasonable solution. |
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Maybe they could build roads in great circles :) |
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Narrowly refrains from posting links to all artists called Prior. |
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Who is this Eucid person? Does he work at the fag shop? I'm ever so confused. |
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He's El Cid's younger brother, who doesn't
look quite so much like Charlton Heston. |
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For cars, used on short journeys, you could have the suspension raised at the beginnning and end of the journey, and lowered in the middle. Perhaps also for adjustable shoe soles. |
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//Who is this Eucid person? |
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Can't afford the "L". It's the cut backs, don't you know. |
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That would only be helpful for a small subset of trips because if you ever have to turn off of a great circle road to drive a block or pull into a parking space, you've wasted all the savings you gained. |
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So as an alternative to paving over the whole earth, I suggest paving under the whole earth making a subteranean travel/parking layer. It will look somewhat like a parking garage except that the pillars will be more widely spaced to avoid interrupting ideal great circle routes, and will of course appear to stretch towards the horizon in every direction. With this system, additional savings are realized based on being closer to the center of the earth and therefore having a smaller radius on your great circle. |
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Cars will need to be controlled by computer to avoid collisions with minimal speed and route adjustments. When you choose a destination, the appropriate parking spot will be reserved ahead of time so that your great circle route ends at your parking spot. The parking spot isn't actually marked. The computer just reserves it and avoids planning other people's car trips through that bit of space while you are parked there. Since the computer can't predict the route of pedestrians, it's probably best just to exit through the roof of the car using a winch service provided by the owner of the location you are visiting. |
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// the pillars will be more widely spaced// |
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In theory, you wouldn't need any pillars. |
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// In theory, you wouldn't need any pillars. // |
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Only if you made sure the outer shell was perfectly balanced. I was envsioning leaving the mountains in place and keeping the driving/parking layer somewhat close to the surface. It won't be quite spherical that way, but it will make the trip from your car to the shops in Denver a bit shorter. |
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But I haven't quite worked out what to make the pillars out of under the mountainous regions... And there is the issue of plumbing for volcanoes. |
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If you trigger enough volcanoes, they will provide the pillars. |
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Still wondering how the GPS is going to penetrate the shell.... |
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// how the GPS is going to penetrate the shell // |
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Well, if you can afford to build this structure, surely you can afford to install some sort of dedicated radio navigation system as well. I think it would need to be a good deal more accurate than GPS to allow close spcing between cars. Or just put a grid of QR codes in the ceiling that are read by high speed cameras on the cars. |
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// Can't afford the "L". It's the cut backs, don't
you know // |
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Actually, it now seems to be the result of a
crime perpetrated by millitant welsh
nationalists calling themselves the Swns wf
Glyndwr. A ransom note has been received
for the "L" signed with their slogan "Wlll ywr
cwnnswnnt wr bwllngg tw ws". |
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To be honest, I couldn't get the wood. |
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Forgive my naïvety, but aren't so-called “straight” roads and paths already built on great circles? Otherwise they would curve and that would be stupid. |
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Hmm, but seriously, having the UK as an example, none of the roads are straight. |
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And not flat in just about any plane either, as they do seem to have a lot more camber than elsewhere in the world. |
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//a lot more camber// That's because the world is smaller here. |
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