A Virtual Visit to the Republic of Null Island — “Like No Place on Earth”

nullislandbannerThe website for the Republic of Null Island reads: “Welcome to Null Island! The Republic of Null Island is one of the smallest and least-visited nations on Earth. Situated where the Prime Meridian crosses the Equator, Null Island sits 1600 kilometres off the western coast of Africa.” The website goes on to describe the geography, the people and the history of this “least-visited nation.”

In, fact Null Island, at a latitude and longitude of 0,0, does not exist. Or does it? It seems that thousands of addresses appearing on the Internet show up as having a longitude and latitude of 0,0. Given all the houses, restaurants and office buildings which share the same 0,0 latitude and longitude, Null Island must be a very crowded place indeed.

So, what is going on? It is all about geocoding. Geocoding is the process by which you can take a street address and turn it into a coordinate on the face of the globe expressed in terms of longitude and latitude. The problem arises if you input an address that the software you are using cannot locate or if you input the latitude and longitude in a format that it does not recognize. In many cases, the default return is the coordinate 0,0.

Null Island is an in joke created by Nate Kelso and Tom Patterson as part of the Natural Earth data set in January 2011. And while it may be a joke, it is a popular location. The Mostly Maps blog has an example of a 3 bedroom property near Enfield in North East London whose coordinates land on Null Island. They comment: “This is in London, the capital of the United Kingdom, which as far as I know hasn’t suffered massive continental drift to end up in the middle of the ocean.

Zoom the map out and you can see why this unique property seems to be alone in the middle of the ocean; it’s really on Null Island. Either that or someone hasn’t been checking their geocoding results properly. A bad geocoding result is almost probably definitely the reason for this little geographic faux pas, but a part of me likes to think that Null Island really does exist and you really can spend close to a million pounds securing a 3 bedroom apartment on one of geography’s most tongue in cheek places.

nullisland

Comments

A Virtual Visit to the Republic of Null Island — “Like No Place on Earth” — 6 Comments

  1. Rick, The Old Salt Blog might not be the proper forum for my question, but I respect your views and those of your readers. As we all know the USMM has been on the decline for years and now seems to be on life support. Is there a way to restore the merchant marine to a commercial and a military viability once again, creating jobs, new ships and a robust industry that doesn’t totally rely on the largess of the US government? I know that I am sticking my neck out for an anti-union chop, but the working men and women must be a part of any solution proposed. To see my former profession in such dire straits is truly distressing. As an Able Bodied Seaman and later Mate I did well for my family, but I still worked shoreside jobs to provide additonal income when I was on the beach. Sailing alone never made me rich:) Thank you and if you don’t feel the the OSB the place, I will respect your decision.

  2. Harry,

    It is a good and interesting question. I wish I had an answer.

    When I started in the US shipping industry in the 70s, the deep sea bulk fleet was all foreign but the US flag liner business was more or less limping along. Now, for all intents and purposes, the US shipping industry has almost disappeared. The majority of the US flag fleet in international trade is foreign owned through Marad’s MSC scheme. Virtually none are actually operating in international trade. Most are carrying military or government aid cargoes.

    The Jones Act is under fire for being far more expansive and expensive than most other nation’s cabotage laws. Does it make sense to consider port calls in islands more than 2,000 from the US mainland part of the coastal trade? Does requiring ships built in the US for the coastwise trade, even if they cost four times more than a foreign built vessel? Of course, even asking these questions results in angry rejoinders from those who would lose their livelihoods if significant changes were made. And I don’t blame them for being angry.

    The greatest obstacles to a revitalized shipping industry seem to me to be economics and our own history. Our cost structures are high and we need to find ways to be more efficient. The old subsidy structure of Operating Differential Subsidy (ODS) and Construction Differential Subsidy (CDS) provided real incentives for inefficiency. In the subsidized world, the marine unions became more rigid in their work rules and more aggressive in their wage demands. (I have no objection to unions, but not all unions make good choices and not every union boss has the best interests of his members at heart.) The old subsidized world was fine while it lasted but it was unsustainable.

    So where do we go from here? I wish I knew.

  3. Rick, I’d like to thank you for your insightful comments to my question and to Cap’t Boucher for his suggestions also. I would agree that the rigid superstructure that envelops our industry needs an overhaul, long overdue. One of the main sticking points is the loss of jobs. And with the anger that exists today on that issue, nobody wants to touch it. A revitalized and robust industry would create jobs, but to get there is the dilemma.
    It would be nice to have an industry spokesperson, a maritime czar so to speak, that could provide the leadership for all involved to get involved with finding solutions.

  4. As the holder of a British Masters and a USCG Masters since I became a USC I can empathize with Mr. Scholer that due to the cost of manning vessels with US Union crews he does not get the opportunity to sail in these beautiful cruise ships even though they sail from US Ports. However one thing which would be nice if his Union and he would stop calling them FOC vessels. They are fine ships well designed and meet the highest standards of the IMO and USCG. The Officers and Ratings are from various Merchant Navies with excellent training programmes and requirements. In passing I would mention that having taken both examinations British and USCG, the British was far harder to pass as an essay examination trying to remember everything and write it clearly to impress the examiner than the US being multiple choice. In the US the answer was in front of you provided you had done the basic study of the subject just a tick mark and one was done.
    Regardless for the USMM to survive it must be rebuilt from the top down and the bottom up. You may also not realize that these Cruise ship Officers must hold the documents and Certificates of the flags of registry as a result I had to hold Panama, Liberia, Bahamas Certificates for which under IMO Regulations testing is now required.
    The most important thing for the USMM I believe is to start out with a complete change of attitude, and Unions that give up the “them and us” concept and work with management through seats on company boards to achieve a successful industry together. In all honesty I do not believe this is possible in the United States so the decline will continue particularly depending on the result of the upcoming general election.

    Good Watch.