“Some random user on Reddit posted a picture claiming that this is the longest straight line path on water possible on the Earth. We implemented a smart algorithm to solve this problem, found the elevation data, ran our algorithm... yes, that random user was right. Also, here's the longest path on land.”
Thanks, I really enjoyed reading it, even though I hoped that they would disprove the original claim!
Edit: here are the gcmap links to the two paths: sea [1], land [2].
They only identify the Reddit user as "kepleronlyknows", but in the Reddit thread [1] he links to his video visualization [2], where his user name is Patrick Anderson.
Before he made the video visualization using Google Earth, he actually went to the library and used a string on a real globe. [3]
There's a longer land path that starts in or near Senegal and ends in China. But they miss it because it goes near the Dead Sea, and they treat anything below sea level as water.
I myself walked the longest path to 1200 karma. It was painful. Blisters of delta_karma=f*vote_points, where f could be 0.5 or 0.3 or unknown lower no. I'm tired, boss.
Over water, probably something like the entire 60th parallel south.
Over land, I think you want to start near the westernmost point of the African continent and thread the needle of the Isthmus of Suez, and stay south of the Caspian Sea. At least in the projection gcmap.com uses (plate carree - essentially the x-coordinate and y-coordinate are just raw longitude and latitude), this keeps you south of Lake Baikal and allows you to get very far east in far eastern Russia. Something like 17.5 N, 16 W to 69 N, 178.5 E seems to work:
This is different from the Portugal-to-China path that is the longest over land in reality, which a flat-earther would have crossing the Mediterranean.
If it is undrivable in a straight line, why does that count? I’d assume the longest you could drive in a perfectly straight line would either be the longest straight highway or some drivable desert.
it would be interesting if it was a list of actual journeys with the sub lists of deviations required.
a special club for the brutaly determined and persistant the "strait liners"
things like having to beg, bluff, bribe, your way through someones house
The paper is basically like this (spoiler alert):
“Some random user on Reddit posted a picture claiming that this is the longest straight line path on water possible on the Earth. We implemented a smart algorithm to solve this problem, found the elevation data, ran our algorithm... yes, that random user was right. Also, here's the longest path on land.”
Thanks, I really enjoyed reading it, even though I hoped that they would disprove the original claim!
Edit: here are the gcmap links to the two paths: sea [1], land [2].
[1]: http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=25%B017%27N+66%B040%27E-58%B037...
[2]: http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=24%B033%27N+118%B038%27E-37%B02...
I opened Apple Maps in globe mode and I still have trouble visualizing the water path.
Does it help to point out that the water path looks suspiciously like the day/night line on a map?
Like this: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5477/
yes!! why is that ? :)
The day/light line is a great circle. The "straight line paths" are great-circle segments.
It's going South and then trying to close the loop from behind. It gets interrupted by land before the loop closes.
Hope it makes sense.
Open the linked paper and scroll down, they have images of the path on a globe as well as the flat map view.
They only identify the Reddit user as "kepleronlyknows", but in the Reddit thread [1] he links to his video visualization [2], where his user name is Patrick Anderson.
Before he made the video visualization using Google Earth, he actually went to the library and used a string on a real globe. [3]
1: https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/15mwai/the_longest...
2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpQwuGueeoA
3: https://imgur.com/a/great-circle-2hYFM
There's a longer land path that starts in or near Senegal and ends in China. But they miss it because it goes near the Dead Sea, and they treat anything below sea level as water.
That would an interesting finding!
If you are talking about the trail from Cape Town to Vladivostok, that one is not a straight line.
They aren't, as clicking through on a sibling's link demonstrates. Moreover, Senegal is nowhere near Cape Town.
Indeed, this route would be about 13,250 km, or about 2,000 km longer than the one TLA suggests.
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=10%B0+24%27+41.4%22+N,+14%B0+31...
Or, using nearby airports: https://www.greatcirclemap.com/?routes=gucy-vmmc
It seems like that path crosses the Suez canal. I think it's fair that bridges and/or tunnels don't count.
I myself walked the longest path to 1200 karma. It was painful. Blisters of delta_karma=f*vote_points, where f could be 0.5 or 0.3 or unknown lower no. I'm tired, boss.
I made a "first person" perspective rendering of this: https://mrgris.com/img/landfall/longest.png
> Figure 9: Longest Drivable Straight Line Path on Earth.
Walkable, maybe, but definitely not drivable (it crosses directly over the Alps, for example).
There might be icebergs or sandbars or rocks or volcanic activity or wars blocking the sailing route too. They seem like equivalents.
The longest mettled straight route with minimal deviation would also be an interesting exercise.
Extremely highly inprobable vs 100% there and directly impassable unless walking & doing some proper alpinism is hardly equivalent
Presume for a moment that you don’t drive on tyres…
But what would flat-earthers consider the longest possible paths to be? Not the ones shown in the article, presumably?
Over water, probably something like the entire 60th parallel south.
Over land, I think you want to start near the westernmost point of the African continent and thread the needle of the Isthmus of Suez, and stay south of the Caspian Sea. At least in the projection gcmap.com uses (plate carree - essentially the x-coordinate and y-coordinate are just raw longitude and latitude), this keeps you south of Lake Baikal and allows you to get very far east in far eastern Russia. Something like 17.5 N, 16 W to 69 N, 178.5 E seems to work:
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=17.5n16w-21.79n0.21e-26.08n16.4...
Of course this depends on the projection you use!
This is different from the Portugal-to-China path that is the longest over land in reality, which a flat-earther would have crossing the Mediterranean.
It would be a straight line (in their official map) from the south of Portugal to Kamchatka (east Russia)
If it is undrivable in a straight line, why does that count? I’d assume the longest you could drive in a perfectly straight line would either be the longest straight highway or some drivable desert.
Nerd sniping at its best... ;)
it would be interesting if it was a list of actual journeys with the sub lists of deviations required. a special club for the brutaly determined and persistant the "strait liners" things like having to beg, bluff, bribe, your way through someones house
Wikipedia has an article listing some of the notable (walking) straight line missions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_line_mission
edit: and the article already notes this longest possible path from Portugal to China, citing a 2023 article: https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/these-are-the-worlds-longe...
Note that the 2023 article also cites the submission, which is five years older.
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