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Measuring Worldwide Distances Measuring Worldwide Distances
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Photo by Andy Miller, UK, Taking a rest, Jokulsarlon, Iceland

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Andy Miller, UK,
Taking a rest,
Jokulsarlon, Iceland



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  #1  
Old 12 Jan 2006
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Measuring Worldwide Distances
Hey guys.

I have done some searches but not come up with any great results.

I am trying to mesaure distances between many different cities in Central and South America. Does anyone have a good online resource to do this?

I have not bought a GPS unit (yet), so I was hoping to fine a site online that would tell me the distance between two cities. I am not looking for "as the crow flies," I am looking for how many miles via roads or biking.

Thanks.
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  #2  
Old 13 Jan 2006
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I haven't found anything either. Mapblast (MSN) has Brasil (in addition to N America, Europe and Australia), Mapquest doesn't have anything in S America and Google doesn't have road maps there. Google does have satellite pictures though!

You might be best off just picking up an atlas from a map store and (gasp!) adding up the distances manually. :-)
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  #3  
Old 19 Jan 2006
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Not online but at least you don't need to do all that adding up yourself. I have an old Encarta world atlas 99 on cd rom and it has an excellent distance tool.
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  #4  
Old 24 Jan 2006
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It is so much fun, staring at the atlas (with good road maps) and measuring everything...

I have spend many evenings doing this when I prepared my trip.... Don't mis that fun!

Maarten


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  #5  
Old 24 Jan 2006
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Measuring manually should be OK, provided you get the right maps. Keep in mind that, in general, maps are most accurate at large scale (smaller area).

The accuracy of your measurements will be determined by the type of map - which will be determined by the direction you are travelling (N-S or E-W). When purchasing your maps, try going to a store (souk) that specializes in maps. You may need need a UTM, or gnomeric map. Some maps are more accurate measuring E-W travel, and some are more accurate measuring N-S travel.

Sorry if this is a little long-winded, but I have been researching navigation skills - and there is much more to it than just buying any old map.

The book "Advanced Outdoor Navigation"
by Greg Davenport explains map navigation very well.


[This message has been edited by tor1150r (edited 24 January 2006).]

[This message has been edited by tor1150r (edited 24 January 2006).]
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  #6  
Old 24 Feb 2006
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I have an old copy of AndRoute World, it's a CDROM with the four "world" maps loaded, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas.

It's not the best route planner I've ever used, you can't even measure Peking-Paris or London-CapeTown (just to name two famous competitions) because the maps are separate, but it's better than nothing at all.



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  #7  
Old 24 Feb 2006
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To address my own question and hopefully save some people time, the answer seems to be no.

As of now, there does not seem to be an online resource to measure international distances (non-crow flying).

For those that are interested in as-the-crow-flies, see this site:

http://www.indo.com/cgi-bin/dist

[This message has been edited by marc1 (edited 24 February 2006).]
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  #8  
Old 24 Feb 2006
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All CA/Panam 1 distances are available online.

Just google miles from A to Z.

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  #9  
Old 24 Feb 2006
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i don't follow you. could please provide an example.
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  #10  
Old 24 Feb 2006
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Quote:
Originally posted by Lone Rider:
All CA/Panam 1 distances are available online.

Just google miles from A to Z.
Think that means

Open http://www.google.com/
And then place "miles from A to Z" in teh seach thingy and click 'search" .. that gets me a load of songs ... umm you coannot get there from here.

If I type in "miles from cape town to Johannesburg" I get airline miles and train miles ... not what is wanted... suggeest google is not the tool for the job! Might work in 'merica but not in other places?


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  #11  
Old 24 Feb 2006
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Is that what Lone Rider is suggesting? Just type "miles from cape town to Johannesburg" into Google?

Google does not provide any geographic/distance data. I just get search restuls that contain the words miles, from, cape, town, to, and Johannesburg.

That does not really work.
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  #12  
Old 24 Feb 2006
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Google Earth might be nice tool if you want to measure yourself and toy around with the globe a bit.
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  #13  
Old 24 Feb 2006
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Garmins MapSource program with the appropriate maps can calculate routes that follow roads, however I believe that there is only detailed maps available for USA and Western Europe. If you get a Garmin GPS try this ressouce for independent maps for many countries/regions - some are rutable and will be able to calculate road distances:

http://mapcenter.cgpsmapper.com/catalogue.php
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  #14  
Old 24 Feb 2006
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Quote:
Originally posted by marc1:
i don't follow you. could please provide an example.
Someone asked about Central America, distances between cities.

You can get Hwy 1 (one) distances from a Google search, just as I did a year or two ago.

I have not tried this for Africa, Australia, Greenland, Falklands or Johnson Atoll...yet.
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  #15  
Old 20 Dec 2008
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finding routes and distances, without a GPS
it might seem funny, because I struck this thread some two years late, so this is not a problem for nobody for now, I suppose. anyway, if anybody need something really working and useful-without a GPS, search the internet for "sonymap". it is useful.
I tried to upload here, but too large a file to put in.
regards.
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