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riddles >> medium >> Where was this picture taken
(Message started by: balakrishnan on Dec 25th, 2008, 1:47pm)

Title: Where was this picture taken
Post by balakrishnan on Dec 25th, 2008, 1:47pm
I had gone to some place a few months back. Can you find out where this picture was taken (based on the incomplete distances)?

Title: Re: Where was this picture taken
Post by towr on Dec 25th, 2008, 3:28pm
I could probably write a program to find the best fitting coordinates, and then look those up on google. (I could possibly write an application using the google maps api, but that'd be rather more bothersome.)

Title: Re: Where was this picture taken
Post by Eigenray on Dec 25th, 2008, 5:52pm
Somewhere near [hide]Brisbane[/hide], I guess.

Title: Re: Where was this picture taken
Post by balakrishnan on Dec 25th, 2008, 7:08pm

on 12/25/08 at 17:52:06, Eigenray wrote:
Somewhere near [hide]Brisbane[/hide], I guess.

Correct!  :) and the river behind happens to be  [hide]Brisbane river[/hide]

Title: Re: Where was this picture taken
Post by towr on Dec 26th, 2008, 3:49am
Here (http://maps.forum.nu/gm_sensitive_circle2.html)'s a usable google map application I've found that let's you draw circles with a given radius from a given point (but just one unfortunately).

Title: Re: Where was this picture taken
Post by TenaliRaman on Dec 26th, 2008, 6:39am

on 12/26/08 at 03:49:22, towr wrote:
Here (http://maps.forum.nu/gm_sensitive_circle2.html)'s a usable google map application I've found that let's you draw circles with a given radius from a given point (but just one unfortunately).

Actually, even this was extremely useful. Using johannesburg and los angeles as centers, one can get a fair estimate of the region in australia (infact its a very narrow region).

-- AI

Title: Re: Where was this picture taken
Post by Grimbal on Dec 26th, 2008, 7:02am
Except that the diameter of our Earth is around 12'700 km, so 16'000 km from any city would not be anywhere on the planet.  ;)

Title: Re: Where was this picture taken
Post by TenaliRaman on Dec 26th, 2008, 7:40am
I was assuming geodesic lines instead of straight lines  ::)

Title: Re: Where was this picture taken
Post by towr on Dec 26th, 2008, 2:49pm

on 12/26/08 at 07:02:17, Grimbal wrote:
Except that the diameter of our Earth is around 12'700 km, so 16'000 km from any city would not be anywhere on the planet.  ;)
Yeah, but space is curved.

And so is our planet :P

Title: Re: Where was this picture taken
Post by Grimbal on Dec 26th, 2008, 3:18pm
Oh, I see.  That would also explain why the arrows don't point downwards.  ::)

Title: Re: Where was this picture taken
Post by TenaliRaman on Dec 27th, 2008, 12:08am
I don't think that would explain the non-existence of down arrows. Apparently, whosoever designed them, wanted it to be functional enough to enable people to atleast walk in that direction (not necessarily reach the destination)  :P

Though, one can think of arrows floating in the air (in future) visible from miles away. In which case, the downward arrows can point to the current location.

-- AI

Title: Re: Where was this picture taken
Post by towr on Dec 28th, 2008, 9:22am

on 12/26/08 at 03:49:22, towr wrote:
Here (http://maps.forum.nu/gm_sensitive_circle2.html)'s a usable google map application I've found that let's you draw circles with a given radius from a given point (but just one unfortunately).
I found out you can keep a circle permanently if you drop javascript:alert(circle=null) in the locationbar.

So here's a puzzle for you. I'm at an equal distance (just about) from Batman (!) and Beirut and also at equal distances from Timimoun and Kazan; what are the two distances (in kilometers)?
And yes, I picked the distances first, which is why I was so amused to have found Batman there and decided to post it.

Title: Re: Where was this picture taken
Post by TenaliRaman on Dec 28th, 2008, 11:08am

on 12/28/08 at 09:22:03, towr wrote:
So here's a puzzle for you. I'm at an equal distance (just about) from Batman (!) and Beirut and also at equal distances from Timimoun and Kazan; what are the two distances (in kilometers)?
And yes, I picked the distances first, which is why I was so amused to have found Batman there and decided to post it.

[hide]3000 and 2500 kms resp.[/hide] ??

-- AI

Title: Re: Where was this picture taken
Post by towr on Dec 28th, 2008, 12:04pm
Oh, come on, surely I'd pick more interesting distances; you can probably guess them outright :P

Title: Re: Where was this picture taken
Post by SMQ on Dec 29th, 2008, 6:16am

on 12/28/08 at 12:04:35, towr wrote:
Oh, come on, surely I'd pick more interesting distances; you can probably guess them outright :P

Well, given that statement and TR's guess, I'll go for [hide]3141km and 2718km[/hide] without looking at a map. ;D

--SMQ

Title: Re: Where was this picture taken
Post by towr on Dec 29th, 2008, 7:00am

on 12/29/08 at 06:16:31, SMQ wrote:
Well, given that statement and TR's guess, I'll go for [hide]3141km and 2718km[/hide] without looking at a map. ;D
Yup :) (well, [hide]3142km[/hide] in the first case, of course; you need to round properly.)

Title: Re: Where was this picture taken
Post by TenaliRaman on Dec 29th, 2008, 10:50am

on 12/28/08 at 12:04:35, towr wrote:
Oh, come on, surely I'd pick more interesting distances; you can probably guess them outright :P



on 12/29/08 at 06:16:31, SMQ wrote:
Well, given that statement and TR's guess, I'll go for [hide]3141km and 2718km[/hide] without looking at a map. ;D

--SMQ


D'oh!

Title: Re: Where was this picture taken
Post by Noke Lieu on Jan 13th, 2009, 8:05pm

on 12/26/08 at 15:18:10, Grimbal wrote:
Oh, I see.  That would also explain why the arrows don't point downwards.  ::)



hey that would be kinda of fun.
I'll see if we can buold one for our science centre. Just a nice alternative.
The difference in angle, though, bewteen London and say... Paris... would notbe particulary large.



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