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Null Island: The Land of Lousy Directional Data (vice.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Null Island is one of the world's most visited places for directional data that doesn't exist in real life. The Wall Street Journal reports (Warning: source may be paywalled): "In the world of geographic information systems, the island is an apparition that serves a practical purpose. It lies at 'zero-zero,' a mapper's shorthand for zero degrees latitude and zero degrees longitude. By a programming quirk introduced by developers, those are the default coordinates where Google maps and other digital Global Positioning System applications are directed to send the millions of users who make mistakes in their searches. [About seven years ago, Mr. Kelso, who had heard the phrase used by other cartographers, encoded Null Island as the default destination for mistakes into a widely used public-domain digital-mapping data set called Natural Earth, which has been downloaded several million times. On a whim, he made the location at zero-zero appear as a tiny outcrop one-meter square. In no time at all, other mappers gave the 'island' its own natural geography, created a website, and designed T-shirts and a national flag.]" If you're feeling cognitively lazy, you can watch the short animated YouTube video explaining Null Island.
I don't want to start a war here, but I heard it has a lot of oil.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
where all the duped stories on /. wind up?
Sig Follows: "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain
The YouTube link is sorta broken: it links to the video credits, not the beginning of the video. Correct link is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjvIpI-1w84
For some reason "Null Island" in Google Maps takes you to the Library of Congress...
https://goo.gl/maps/dqba5yfuN3U2
If you need a stand-in for your directions to nowhere you could easily return an actual error code.
Modding this down is discriminatory and supports police killings of unarmed black people.
I believe you're mistaken. Modding a comment down can mean multiple things. The most common of which, on a site like this, would be topicality. The BlackLivesMatter movement isn't relevant to a story about GIS and GPS technology and oddities. Most would agree black lives do matter -- just like anyone's else's -- but find it hard to show support for the movement if it's appearing in places that it's not relevant.
Posting a comment on the Web isn't a demonstration. It takes little effort. In fact you probably copied and pasted that text from somewhere. That's slacktivism. A demonstration would be actively increasing awareness (through more than a few sentences) and using creative and inspiring ways to share facts with the world. For better or worse, cultures react better to things that actively appeal to them and appease their values. They also react more to action over word. Showing evidence/facts, shedding light on policies or laws that allow it to happen, and constructive suggestions on fixing it are proactive measures you can take to share a persuasive message.
Despite over-adjective-ing that last sentence, I hope I've explained why a 10-second comment on a story that has nothing to do with black people is not going to be well-received.
Just tried it on Google Maps. If you enter "0, 0" it takes you to the North Pole. There are a couple of Comex drilling rigs there and a bunch of water. If you type "Null Island" into the search, it takes you to the Library of Congress. I find that humorous.
The efforts that I do to avoid that piece of shit.
Zero-Zero Island used to be the secret base of Colonel Bleep! (Google is your friend, here). Since they tore down his secret mountain headquarters to sell off the bauxite, I can see why he moved. Maybe all the alien technology he left behind is why they have so many software developers, and clearly the Segues are just adaptations of the Colonel's famous "space unicycle." Glad to see the people are prospering!
Write a bot to "auto-post" stories every 3 hours (3AM, 6AM, 9AM). Then spank your monkey for several hours while large attacks are perpetrated against NATO countries.
Is anyone keeping track?
I'm not sure, but the image at http://www.nullisland.com/geog... looks a lot like Aogashima Island in Japan.
You know, half a century ago, people would've hit the streets in the thousands. Remember MLK? Malcolm X?
Today, they can't even get their ass out of their chair if they want to protest. Get your ass out into the streets where people can SEE your protest. On here on the internet you're just another bozo snorting some random bullshit onto some random board to a random topic that doesn't have anything to do with what you wish to protest again (or for).
And you really wonder why nobody takes you serious?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
When I type in "0,0" in google maps, it takes me to just off the west coast of Africa...
in the Gulf of Guinea
Directly in line with Accra and Libreville...
coordinates show 000'00.0"N 000'00.0"E
wtf???
Why is this even a story? Oh noes, an application defaults to using 0, 0 for coordinates when it can't find anything. At least it's better than sending them to the middle of Kansas. /. is becoming slash crap.
On the internet, nobody is a race. I support relevant comments.
LUDDITES have been destroying appy app apps by making LUDDITE software that looks like apps, but is really LUDDITE software!
Vote for Appald Trump, he will make apps appy again!
Apps!
In some old (probably in the 7.x era) versions of Mac OS, there was a map control panel (I think it was for setting your time zone), that would let you look up locations by name. The zero-zero coordinates had a name of "Middle of Nowhere".
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
No mention of Optional Island? (Swift programmer joke)
Those of us of a certain age may better know 0 degrees Latitude/0 degrees Longitude as the location of Zero Zero Island, the home of Colonel Bleep (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_Bleep).
A long time ago I was working with GPS applications and their internal representation of longitude meant our Null Island was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 0 north, 180 west.
We figured out the conventions of the mapping application we were using (no Google Maps yet, and the documentation was vague) by trial and error. Our first attempts to plot GPS fixes from a drive along a local freeway showed a blank area with no freeway, nor much of anything else. We found that we were drawing a map centred on 49 degrees north (correct) but 123 degrees east, out in the middle of nowhere near the border between China, Mongolia and Russia. Nearest town Harbin, China...
...laura
This is a peaceful demonstration. Mod this up if you support equal rights and care about black lives. Modding this down is discriminatory and supports police killings of unarmed black people.
#BlackLivesMatter
But what about rising Japanese steel imports? Or the fact that the most common street sign in America is the '35 MPH" sign?
Can we discuss those completely off-topic things too?
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
This is just another example of stupid sloppy programming by developers who have no clue about how the real world works or have any regard for human safety. Fortunately developers are not true Engineers and so do not get sued when they kill people.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Most pathetic attempt at trolling ever. Advice: get out of whatever shitservice has you trolling as fast as you can, or die trying.
You know, half a century ago, people would've hit the streets in the thousands. Remember MLK? Malcolm X?
Today, they can't even get their ass out of their chair if they want to protest. Get your ass out into the streets where people can SEE your protest. On here on the internet you're just another bozo snorting some random bullshit onto some random board to a random topic that doesn't have anything to do with what you wish to protest again (or for).
And you really wonder why nobody takes you serious?
Sometimes they do but lately there is a tendency to do things that hurt perception of the movement more than help. Like blocking the roads and highways, which happened in California and happened a few times (recently again) in Chicago. All that does it PISS OFF the people trying to get home from work and does nothing to make them sympathetic to your cause.
desk accessory, this was labeled "Middle of Nowhere".
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
This is a peaceful demonstration. Mod this up if you support equal rights and care about ALL lives of ANY race, color, creed, age, gender, or sexual orientation. Modding this down is discriminatory and supports racism, bigotry, willful ignornance, and intolerance in general.
#AllLivesMatter
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Actually null island is the home of Colonel Bleep a TV character of the late 50's. It was then called zero/zero island. Here is a great link describing the cartoon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_Bleep. I use to watch it in the afternoon after school.
Take any WSJ link and put it into archive.is. The article will be copied fully and you'll be able to read it.
I just did it with this article on the Nice Attack: http://archive.is/iqvEF
Google maps is part of Google which is under control of the US Government. Hence, all the surveillance.
So you look at Google Street View right? The license plates are all blurred. Guess what. It is only on your end, not theirs.
Here is another fun fact not-so anecdotal. Other countries have moles in US spy agencies. The FBI is absolutely Mole LLC.
Here is the takeaway: When the US government is saying we are going to stop encryption and protect you way way better and all we need is your guns too... they really shh shh shh.. don't let anybody know but shhh pssspsspsss... can not protect you from shit. They are liars and pussies.
have a nice day boys and girls. a dead spy a day keeps the fear away.
Finally a place to put Donald Trump!
there is no null island.
The imperialist dog CIA got rid of that soon after they destroyed Bermeja island.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Ferrying a survey vessel from Nova Scotia to Gabon, we noticed we would be within a couple of kilometers of 0,0 so diverted slightly to pass over it.
It's very overrated,and there's no beer.
You realize that you've probably been trolled, right? The last sentence seems pretty much designed to raise negative sentiment about BLM.
Come to think of it, I haven't seen any GNAA posts today.
They are probably working this lovely new angle.
Using APRSISCE program (RF only) occasionally I zoom out to see what stations are there as result of lat/long settings of 000/000 (either too lazy to check configuration or testing hardware). I find a few there. One time I saw a friend's truck in North Atlantic, "hey Norm, how did you get there in just two days?" Obviously some screwed up bits from the laptop.
Today I heard someone said, "APRS: The original Pokemon Go."
mfwright@batnet.com
Sounds like "Zero-Zero Island" - the secret hideout of a cartoon character from the early 1950s or so on the Captain Kangaroo children's show.
I think it was Tom Teriffic...
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
In no time at all, other mappers gave the 'island' its own natural geography, created a website, and designed T-shirts and a national flag
China is now claiming null island as "historic Chinese territory".
Mod this up if you support equal rights and care about ALL lives of ANY race, color, creed, age, gender, or sexual orientation.
That's BLM. Why is that so hard for the deliberately obtuse to understand?
Learn to love Alaska
Yeah, I knew it could've been bait, but on the off-chance they were serious... Sometimes perspective helps people.
I'm not sure I understand what point you're trying to make. Mine is fairly obvious: While 'black lives matter', so do everyone else's, too. Getting shot by cops because you're black is very, very bad, but so is getting your head cut off by some violent assholes, or getting shot up while you're out at a club, or run down by some lunatic in a truck while you're watching fireworks. Blacks here in America don't have a corner on the unfairness and suffering market, it's all over the place, and I'm beyond weary of it all.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
While 'black lives matter', so do everyone else's, too.
And that's exactly what BLM means. Black lives matter too. It's only the racists full of hate who can see it only as "black lives matter [more|only]". BLM is the first ALM movement. They just noticed that while all lives matter, the treatment was not equal. If you called 911 with your house on fire and the fire department showed up and started spraying down the houses around yours, but didn't try to put your fire out, if you said "my house is on fire" to one of them, would you think "all houses matter" is an appropriate response?
All lives matter. BLM recognizes that. BLM is making the racists angry by pointing to the burning house everyone is trying to ignore.
How can all lives matter if Black lives don't matter?
Blacks here in America don't have a corner on the unfairness and suffering market, it's all over the place, and I'm beyond weary of it all.
So innocent black people should get gunned down by the police on your street because you are weary of world violence?
Learn to love Alaska
So innocent black people should get gunned down by the police on your street because you are weary of world violence?
Ah, I see what your point is now: Your point is to be a piece of shit troll and stir things up. Fuck the fuck off and stop attaching other shit to what I had to say. Asshole. Don't bother responding I have nothing more to say to you.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
How can all lives matter if Black lives don't matter?
Fuck the fuck off and stop attaching other shit to what I had to say.
I didn't attach anything to what you said. I just challenged your racists comments, and pissed you off.
Learn to love Alaska
Project much?
Oh so by that logic I guess terrorism, women's rights and the war of 1812 don't matter to you either. Just because they " don't have anything to do with programming anomalies in gps systems" how narrow minded of you
Perhaps the tie in to the story is the location of 0,0 on the globe...it is off of Africa after all.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?