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.-- danman, Sep 03 2009 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.htmlLondon to New York "Telectroscope" [theleopard, Sep 03 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#nadirsI recalled of this neat printable map, for those gadget-phobics. [selenio, Nov 11 2009] Earth sandwich http://www.zefrank....2006/05/051606.html [EdwinBakery, Apr 05 2011] Antipodes Map http://www.antipodemap.com/Uses Google Maps to interactively find the antipode of any point [idris83, Apr 05 2011] It would be a groovy iphone app.-- danman, Sep 03 2009 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]-- Dub, Sep 03 2009 whoever they are, they're likely to be damp.-- po, Sep 03 2009 with the lumpish shape of the world //exactly on the other side of the world// might be ambiguous, so better have a chatroom ready-- loonquawl, Sep 03 2009 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.-- nineteenthly, Sep 03 2009 // an easy way of finding the antipodes //
Follow the sound of breaking glass and chundering ....-- 8th of 7, Sep 03 2009 Why not follow the light from the glowing women instead?-- nineteenthly, Sep 03 2009 I'm with [po]. Being near NYC, the only one I can talk to I think are fishermen WAY off Australia.-- MisterQED, Sep 03 2009 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.
Easter Island and the Pakistan/India border is an interesting one.-- tatterdemalion, Sep 03 2009 Funny, the Pacific Islands and any *istan seem to be opposites in other ways, too.-- RayfordSteele, Sep 03 2009 Makes me think of the Mururoa mosque.-- nineteenthly, Sep 03 2009 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?)-- blissmiss, Sep 03 2009 Bermuda should hit Western Australia [nineteenthly].
It's amazing how few places there are that work, really.-- theleopard, Sep 03 2009 That's interesting, Bermuda is about 20 miles or so off the coast of Perth.
The largest populated areas I could find that are reasonably close (within ~100 miles) are Shanghai and Buenos Aires.-- tatterdemalion, Sep 03 2009 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!
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.-- Worldgineer, Sep 03 2009 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.-- nineteenthly, Sep 03 2009 21, that is really not the case. The idea is not an iphone app.
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.
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].
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.-- danman, Sep 03 2009 +1 for the food for thought-- po, Sep 03 2009 Best Title Ever.-- blissmiss, Sep 03 2009 Not if it becomes a trend. Just imagine the "recent" page then:
o--o o---o o---------o o----o ...-- nineteenthly, Sep 03 2009 (considers idea for idea title Tetris)-- Worldgineer, Sep 03 2009 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.-- zeno, Sep 04 2009 If it were to be to scale, shouldn't the title be more like this?
0----------------------------0
(A lot longer than that, actually, but words of more than 30 characters aren't allowed in annotations.)-- Grim Fun Scenes, Sep 04 2009 /Where are these places that haven't developed?/\
In the minds of the developers.-- bungston, Sep 04 2009 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.-- danman, Sep 04 2009 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.-- danman, Sep 05 2009 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.-- danman, Sep 05 2009 Quite a cool idea. + from me.-- DrBob, Sep 07 2009 I reckon it'd be cool for travellers.
Maybe if it can't find anyone, it should have an option to go the the closest matching person?-- bbglas007, Nov 10 2009 Where ever this platform was set up, I would make my way out there sooner or later (given enough time). [+]
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.
<imho> I suggest making only one, though. Each additional pair of platforms would detract from the unique beauty of this idea <imho>-- MikeD, Nov 12 2009 //90 miles straight// If I remember rightly, this responds to a lost [Unabubba] remark about a stretch of road on the Nullarbor plain, near which there is a road house which is almost opposite... somewhere.-- pertinax, Apr 05 2011 it is true that for most land locations the polar opposite location is in the water. 70+% i would estimate.-- WcW, Apr 06 2011 It's an interesting puzzle - if a spherical (or other solid) shape has its surface is randomly painted in 2 colours, at some ratio x:y, what are the chances that opposite sides of the surface will both be x - or y?
Or to put it into context, if the earth's surface is covered with 70% of water, how much of it can we expect to have matching land antipodes?-- zen_tom, Apr 06 2011 Judging by idris83's antipodes map, all of the US is paired with whales except for Hawaii, which is paired with Botswana (for Honolulu, a point off A3, NE of Ghanzi) , and the north shore of Alaska, paired with Antarctica, due south of Africa, and a tiny spot in SE CO with Martin-de-Viviès. The best matches are South America with Indonesia and Asia.-- ldischler, Apr 06 2011 // the US is paired with whales //
I thought Wales was in Scotland.-- sqeaketh the wheel, Apr 07 2011 That's odd, Scotland is in Arkansas.-- RayfordSteele, Dec 03 2014 random, halfbakery