Obi Wan Posted January 11, 2004 Posted January 11, 2004 Just A thought for you to mull over. If you were at the North Pole what would your GPSr read? Well latitude should read 90°. I think. But what about longitude? Theoretically, if you went a few feet away from the north pole and ran in a circle you should see every line of longtitude! Something similar should happen at the south pole. I need to get out more.... Anybody tried it? I'll probably lie awake at night thinking about this one Obi. Quote
+Renegade Knight Posted January 11, 2004 Posted January 11, 2004 ...But what about longitude? Theoretically, if you went a few feet away from the north pole and ran in a circle you should see every line of longtitude! ... You would also be able to tell how fast the ice is drifting at the north pole. If you had long enough to wait. Quote
+Team GPSaxophone Posted January 11, 2004 Posted January 11, 2004 Anybody tried it? I haven't tried it yet, but if you pay for the trip, I'll do it and report back what I find. Quote
+Subarite Posted January 11, 2004 Posted January 11, 2004 Hi Obi, The GPS will work at the poles but the GPS constellation is such that the satellites never go overhead and will always be at a low angle. There is no land at the north pole so no caches there!! There is land at the south pole (but no caches) but there are a number of caches on Antarctica. I guess we will see you logging them in the near future . Andy. Quote
+S&G.Davison Posted January 11, 2004 Posted January 11, 2004 This is also worth a read ....... http://www.gps.gov.uk/additionalInfo/image...de_to_coord.pdf Althought written about Great Britain - it is very informative of the various co-ordinate systems in the world so .... what/where is the north pole, where are you - are you there when you think you are here .. is your GPS where you think it is .. I am about on page 11 and lost in heights at the moment Quote
+hedberg Posted January 11, 2004 Posted January 11, 2004 A tip: Go to the Nordic Countries forum here at geocaching.com, and ask your question there. There are some people living way up north in Sweden, Norway & Finland that might have the answer for you.... And yes, you definitely needs to step out from your room... Quote
+DustyJacket Posted January 11, 2004 Posted January 11, 2004 No need for a GPS. At the North Pole, everything else is due South........ Quote
+hedberg Posted January 12, 2004 Posted January 12, 2004 I assume that you will need an ice-picker more than a GPS! Quote
+stu_and_sarah Posted January 12, 2004 Posted January 12, 2004 When I waypointed the north pole (yes, I need to get out more, too!), the GPS wouldn't let me waypoint 90 degrees north. So I marked 89 59.999 at 0 degrees longitude. You are entirely right that you could pass through all longitudes in a small circle round the pole. Luckily, because the GPS uses great-circle navigation, it wouldn't get too confused about direction. It is perfectly happy to send you north up towards the pole and then back down south. If you don't believe me, set a route from somewhere in the UK to somewhere in Alaska. Set the line to course pointer and zoom out. If you're used to looking at flat maps, you might be surprised to see the quickest way is to go up over Scotland and past the east coast of Iceland. Quote
+hedberg Posted January 12, 2004 Posted January 12, 2004 Suggestion: Why not post a message in the Spanishspeaking forum? Quote
Obi Wan Posted January 12, 2004 Author Posted January 12, 2004 Do lots of Spanish speakers go to the North Pole? Has any one ever made it to N 0, W 0 I think it's somewhere in the Atlantic... I will get out more I promise. Cheers. Obi. Quote
+Sparky-Watts Posted January 12, 2004 Posted January 12, 2004 Anybody tried it? I haven't tried it yet, but if you pay for the trip, I'll do it and report back what I find. I'm with smurf-boy on this one. I'd be willing to make an all-expense paid information gathering trip for you! Quote
+Renegade Knight Posted January 12, 2004 Posted January 12, 2004 When I waypointed the north pole (yes, I need to get out more, too!), the GPS wouldn't let me waypoint 90 degrees north. So I marked 89 59.999 at 0 degrees longitude... When I was giving this problem some thought at exactly 90degrees north all the longitudes come together. The coordinate would seem to be undefined in the same way divding by zero gives an error rather than infinity. Garmin, Magellen et all would have to say how they deal with the problem. Not that it comes up a lot in real life. Quote
+hedberg Posted January 12, 2004 Posted January 12, 2004 My reply was in the wrong topic - don't know why? Quote
Prof. Y. Lupardi Posted January 12, 2004 Posted January 12, 2004 [...]The coordinate would seem to be undefined in the same way divding by zero gives an error rather than infinity.[...] I remember a story (Urban Legend?) about the first F16 Fighter airplane that went across the equator (0!) for the first time ever on his automatic pilot and was turned upside down (belly up). Somewhere a zero-divide in the software? Anyone? Quote
+stu_and_sarah Posted January 13, 2004 Posted January 13, 2004 I remember a story (Urban Legend?) about the first F16 Fighter airplane that went across the equator (0!) for the first time ever on his automatic pilot and was turned upside down (belly up). Somewhere a zero-divide in the software?Anyone? I also heard this one. I don't know about its urban-legend status (can't find it on snopes), but it wasn't divide by zero, it was the fact that the plane knew that the horizon had to be flat and that the roof of the plane should point northwards. The way I heard it, they'd only been flown in the northern hemisphere for testing, and it was the trip to the Falklands war where it flipped. If there are enough slightly different stories I would guess it's an urban legend. Quote
+Mr & Mrs Hedgehog Posted January 13, 2004 Posted January 13, 2004 I thought it was only us in the Falklands War against the Argies... and we don't have F-16's. Were the Americans there as well. Quote
+stu_and_sarah Posted January 13, 2004 Posted January 13, 2004 (edited) I thought it was only us in the Falklands War against the Argies... and we don't have F-16's. Were the Americans there as well. I don't know my planes, so maybe it wasn't an F-16. It gets slightly more legendary... In fact, from my quick research, it happened to the F-15, F-16 or F-18 and was either caught in simulations or actually happened. And it affected between one and four planes. Hmm... Edited January 13, 2004 by stu_and_sarah Quote
+Sparky-Watts Posted January 13, 2004 Posted January 13, 2004 I thought it was only us in the Falklands War against the Argies... and we don't have F-16's. Were the Americans there as well. I think the US was there in more of a support role, behind the scenes, though I do know a couple of Navy seals that actually took part in the attack. Quote
+kennamatic Posted January 13, 2004 Posted January 13, 2004 I do know a couple of Navy seals that actually took part in the attack. Seals? I thought it was only penguins and sheep on the Falklands! If you're used to looking at flat maps, you might be surprised to see the quickest way is to go up over Scotland and past the east coast of Iceland. When I flew from London to Houston we went over Canada, so that would probably explain it. I thought the pilot must be a London cabbie going the long way round! Quote
+Jamie Z Posted January 13, 2004 Posted January 13, 2004 Has any one ever made it to N 0, W 0 0° 0° Jamie Quote
+stu_and_sarah Posted January 14, 2004 Posted January 14, 2004 Obi Wan:>Has any one ever made it to N 0, W 0 Jamie: >0° 0° What a shame they didn't take a handheld and do the real thing in that little boat on the photos. Quote
+Captain Morgan Posted January 15, 2004 Posted January 15, 2004 And when you go there, take a photo of yourself and your GPSr in front of this webcam, and after that you can submit the most northern webcam cache in this planet Quote
+The Forester Posted January 15, 2004 Posted January 15, 2004 What is the local time at the North Pole? Quote
+Bill D (wwh) Posted January 16, 2004 Posted January 16, 2004 The Forester wrote:What is the local time at the North Pole? Right now, it's about ten past midnight. Or more correctly, it's 0010 hours. UTC, which is effectively GMT, is used at the North Pole, so local time there and here is the same when we're on GMT. Quote
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