#geoweirdness โ Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #geoweirdness, aggregated by home.social.
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Today is Ascension Day, which of course means our thoughts turn to ... the remote territory (pop. ~800) of Ascension Island in the south Atlantic, part of the ๐ฌ๐ง British Overseas Territory of ๐ธ๐ญ Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.
We covered the various British Overseas Territories in a #geoweirdness thread a few years back:
https://en.osm.town/@opencage/110288036094504869 -
We're only a few days away from one of the key pop events of the year: Eurovision! ๐บ๐
This year the event is hosted by Austria ๐ฆ๐น and there is more geopolitical drama than ever with 5 countries ๐ฎ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ณ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ฎ๐ช๐ธ boycotting to protest the participation of ๐ฎ๐ฑ
A fitting reason for us to resurface our #geoweirdness thread about the bizarre geographic complexities of the song contest - which this year celebrates its 70th anniversary
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13/ ๐จ Bonus toot ๐จ
Long time followers will recall that we covered the "special relationship" between Cyprus ๐จ๐พ and Greece ๐ฌ๐ท when it comes to the Eurovision Song Contest in our #geoweirdness thread last year about Eurovision ๐บ
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3/ Map lovers will note that the country is one of only two to feature a map on its flag, the other being Kosovo ๐ฝ๐ฐ
The flag features the entire island of Cyprus, despite the Republic not controlling the entire island
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7/ Finally, in the south we have the British ๐ฌ๐ง Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, a British Overseas Territory that consists of two separate areas
Until 1960 the entire island of Cyprus was a British colony. When the island was granted independence these bases stayed British, and they are directly administered by the British ministry of defense.
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12/ That's it for our look at the geographic oddities of Cyprus ๐จ๐พ, what did we miss?
We have more threads about specific countries, border disputes, geocoding, etc linked on our blog: https://blog.opencagedata.com/geothreads
If you particularly like #geoweirdness of the eastern Med you may also enjoy our threads about:
Turkey ๐น๐ท https://en.osm.town/@opencage/110326676703792569
and
Egypt ๐ช๐ฌ https://en.osm.town/@opencage/115729051480488048We also have a thread about all the ๐ฌ๐ง British Overseas Territories
https://en.osm.town/@opencage/110288036094504869 -
9/ Again, in the interest of #geoweirdness we need to mention the Republic of Cyprus ๐จ๐พ has multiple enclaves within Dhekelia ๐ฌ๐ง, the eastern base area.
Also the borders of Dhekelia include an extended bit the width of a single road.
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6/ For the sake of #geoweirdness we need to mention that Northern Cyprus includes the tiny pene-exclave of Erenkรถy / Kokkina on the northern coast.
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4/ The northern third of the Island is "Northern Cyprus" or officially the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" a defacto state recognized only by Turkey ๐น๐ท
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Cyprus
Northern Cyprus is a legacy of the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus ๐จ๐พ
the effect of which was to split the previously mixed ethnically Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities to two distinct and separate communities. -
5/ To stop the fighting there is a United Nations ๐บ๐ณ buffer zone between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities. In rural areas the buffer zone can be quite wide, but it can also be as narrow as street when passes directly through Nicosia, the island's largest city (and capital of the Republic of Cyprus ๐จ๐พ)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Buffer_Zone_in_Cyprus
The Buffer Zone is one of four territories in the world administered by the UN
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_territories_administered_by_the_United_Nations -
11/ A glance at the position of the island of Cyprus raises another interesting #geoweirdness question - is Cyprus part of Europe or Asia?
Culturally and as part of the EU ๐ช๐บ, Cyprus ๐จ๐พ is often classified as Europe, but geographically it is in Asia and this is also the approach we take in our geocoding results
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8/ Legally the Sovereign Base areas are complicated as they are integrated with the surrounding Republic of Cyprus ๐จ๐พ communities and economies. They are the only British ๐ฌ๐ง territory to use the Euro, but they are NOT part of the EU ๐ช๐บ
In the last 20 years there has been some tension between the UK and Cyprus as the Republic of Cyprus seeks to gain legal sovereignty over the bases.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akrotiri_and_Dhekelia#Dispute_and_controversies
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10/ One of the key points of dispute regarding the bases is whether or not the UK ๐ฌ๐ง has control of territorial waters.
On a related note Cyprus ๐จ๐พ has a dispute with Israel ๐ฎ๐ฑ regarding the rights to underwater gas fields south of the island
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphrodite_gas_field#Aphrodite-Yishai_Dispute
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This time in #geoweirdness we turn our focus to the eastern Mediterranean - join us for a look at the geopolitical oddities of the island of Cyprus
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2/ First up, you may be surprised to learn that the island of Cyprus is divided into four distinct areas of political control.
We start with the Republic of Cyprus ๐จ๐พ (often referred to simply as "Cyprus") an EU ๐ช๐บ member with a largely Greek-speaking population of about 1 million people in the south of the island.
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@IvanSanchez yes, it's a fun one, but no point.
You may enjoy our Finland ๐ซ๐ฎ #geoweirdness thread
https://en.osm.town/@opencage/112230840920256747 -
@zkarj you may enjoy our New Zealand ๐ณ๐ฟ #geoweirdness thread
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@KerryMitchell yes, we discussed it a bit in our Canada ๐จ๐ฆ #geoweirdness thread
https://en.osm.town/@opencage/109970277198086308
but not sure it is a choke point currently
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9/ That's it for our overview of โด๏ธ maritime choke points. What did we overlook?
We have more threads about the #geoweirdness of specific countries, border disputes, geocoding, etc linked on our blog:
https://blog.opencagedata.com/geothreadsIf you enjoyed this thread you might enjoy our thread about geocoding the oceans ๐ https://en.osm.town/@opencage/110207789147450417
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In the Americas the most important maritime choke point is the Panama Canal, which passes through Panama ๐ต๐ฆ and connects the Caribbean (Atlantic) with the Pacific.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal
Until 1979 the Canal Zone was a territory of the United States ๐บ๐ธ
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3/ At the northern end of the Red Sea we have the Suez Canal, passing through Egypt ๐ช๐ฌ.
The Canal's critical importance to global logistics and the route from Europe to Asia came into focus a few years ago when it was blocked by a container ship that ran aground.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Suez_Canal_obstruction
Our #geoweirdness thread about Egypt: https://en.osm.town/@opencage/115729051480488048
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4/ Heading north we find the ๐น๐ท Turkish straits (the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles) linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_straits
The strategic location of Istanbul (previously Constantinople) connecting Asia and Europe has been clear for millennia, but the on-going Russia ๐ท๐บ / Ukraine ๐บ๐ฆ war has brought renewed focus to this critical waterway.
Our #geoweirdness thread about Turkey
https://en.osm.town/@opencage/110326676703792569 -
5/ At the other end of the Mediterranean is the Strait of Gibraltar, connecting the Med with the Atlantic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Gibraltar
Since 1704 Britain ๐ฌ๐ง has controlled Gibraltar ๐ฌ๐ฎ though this is contested by Spain ๐ช๐ธ. Meanwhile Spain has the "autonomous city" of Ceuta bordering Morocco ๐ฒ๐ฆ on the southern side of the Strait.
As we covered in our Morocco #geoweirdness thread, nearby Tangier was it's own "international zone" until 1956.
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The world's attention remains fixed on the US ๐บ๐ธ / Israel ๐ฎ๐ฑ / Iran ๐ฎ๐ท conflict generally and the Strait of Hormuz, the entry to the Persian Gulf, specifically.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_hormuz
While the conflict hopefully de-escalates we thought for this week's
#geoweirdness thread we would feature the list of strategic maritime "choke points".1/
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2/ Not far from the Strait at the entrance to the Red Sea we find the Bab-el-Mandeb passage between Yemen ๐พ๐ช on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti ๐ฉ๐ฏand Eritrea ๐ช๐ท in the Horn of Africa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bab-el-Mandeb
Nearby is Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia ๐ธ๐ด in 1991 and operates as its own country, but is recognized by only one UN member: Israel ๐ฎ๐ฑ
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This week was Easter, so it's fitting we reshare our #geoweirdness thread about Chile ๐จ๐ฑ , owners of Easter Island ๐ฟ
Enjoy:
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6/ That concludes our look at geographic jokes. What did we miss?
If you liked this #geoweirdness thread you may also enjoy our look at
Geo games: https://en.osm.town/@opencage/113606413273241319
and of course "The Vaguely Rude Places Map" is always worth a chuckle
https://en.osm.town/@opencage/110524917750377747We have many more threads about specific countries and regions, border disputes, geocoding, etc linked over on our blog:
https://blog.opencagedata.com/geothreads -
5/ to close out our little thread of geographic jokes here's a fun one from our very own @mtmail and naturalist #OpenStreetMap mapping
https://mastodon.social/@mtmail/116329520012697501
"Map Like You were Born To"
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4/ Another bit of cartographic fun is the long tradition of map makers hiding figures in their maps
SwissTopo has a nice article with several examples from their maps:
https://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/en/hidden-images-20161221 -
3/ No list of geographic jokes would be complete without a discussion of the "Bielefeld Conspiracy" which makes the claim that the German ๐ฉ๐ช city of Bielefeld does not exist.
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as always you can find all the past #geoweirdness and #geoeducation threads linked over on the blog:
https://blog.opencagedata.com/geothreads
Enjoy!
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2/ Before we go full #geoweirdness , a bit of #geoeducation
Time zone information is tracked by the "tz" database, a fascinating, open-source project worth learning about!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tz_database
Most countries have simple time zones, generally based on the sun's position relative to the region's positions on the Earth's surface. However, time zones also involves political and historical factors, and thus they don't always correspond to the longitudinal lines on the globe.
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10/ Thanks for reading (and sharing) this week's #geoeducation ๐๐งโ๐thread.
If you found this interesting you may also like our thread about the details of IP geolocation:
https://en.osm.town/@opencage/110684680611521959or our thread about the privacy implications of geocoding:
https://en.osm.town/@opencage/112263444689238767We have links to many more geothreads about geospatial technologies, #geoweirdness of individual countries, geocoding, border disputes, etc listed on our blog:
https://blog.opencagedata.com/geothreads -
1/ Time for this week's geo thread.
We have some fun #geoweirdness planned for the coming weeks, but this week we're back to #geoeducation
Today's topic is something we often see people get confused about: browser geolocation.
What is it, and how is it different than geocoding?
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11/ Thanks for reading and sharing
Please get in touch if you have any questions (or suggestions) about our approach to privacy or security (or anything else).
We have more threads about #geoeducation, the #geoweirdness of specific countries, border disputes, geocoding, etc linked on our blog: https://blog.opencagedata.com/geothreads
Stay safe and private! ๐ต๏ธ
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After a few weeks of #geoweirdness threads, this weekend let's switch things up and do some #geoeducation
One topic that often comes up around location data is privacy ๐ต๏ธ
If you accurately know where someone spends their time, you can often figure out who they are. Users of our geocoding API have to send us location info. So, how can they ensure privacy?
๐๐งต๐
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13/ Thanks for reading and sharing.
Have questions about open data? Or anything else related to geocoding? Please get in touch.
Like threads about geospatial topics? We have links to many more geothreads about border disputes, exclaves, #geoweirdness of individual countries, reverse geocoding, etc listed on our blog:
https://blog.opencagedata.com/geothreads -
9. Ireland ๐ฎ๐ช was the last country in Europe to introduce a national postal code system. Called "Eircodes", national postcodes were introduced only in 2014, and are still not widely used.
Sadly Eircodes are not open data, which means using them at scale (for example for geocoding) requires a license and paying a licensing fee ๐ฌ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_addresses_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland#Eircode
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This concludes today's #PirateGeoWeirdness presentation! Now that you know everything there is to know about the #GeoWeirdness of #MountWaverley, you have no reason to visit! (12/12)
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This concludes today's #PirateGeoWeirdness presentation! Now that you know everything there is to know about the #GeoWeirdness of #MountWaverley, you have no reason to visit! (12/12)
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This concludes today's #PirateGeoWeirdness presentation! Now that you know everything there is to know about the #GeoWeirdness of #MountWaverley, you have no reason to visit! (12/12)
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This concludes today's #PirateGeoWeirdness presentation! Now that you know everything there is to know about the #GeoWeirdness of #MountWaverley, you have no reason to visit! (12/12)
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This concludes today's #PirateGeoWeirdness presentation! Now that you know everything there is to know about the #GeoWeirdness of #MountWaverley, you have no reason to visit! (12/12)
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In true #GeoWeirdness spirit, Mount Waverley has a Court which is not a Court: Malcolm Court, only one of whose three segments could remotely be considered a true cul-de-sac. (9/12) #PirateGeoWeirdness #MountWaverley
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In true #GeoWeirdness spirit, Mount Waverley has a Court which is not a Court: Malcolm Court, only one of whose three segments could remotely be considered a true cul-de-sac. (9/12) #PirateGeoWeirdness #MountWaverley
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In true #GeoWeirdness spirit, Mount Waverley has a Court which is not a Court: Malcolm Court, only one of whose three segments could remotely be considered a true cul-de-sac. (9/12) #PirateGeoWeirdness #MountWaverley
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In true #GeoWeirdness spirit, Mount Waverley has a Court which is not a Court: Malcolm Court, only one of whose three segments could remotely be considered a true cul-de-sac. (9/12) #PirateGeoWeirdness #MountWaverley
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In true #GeoWeirdness spirit, Mount Waverley has a Court which is not a Court: Malcolm Court, only one of whose three segments could remotely be considered a true cul-de-sac. (9/12) #PirateGeoWeirdness #MountWaverley
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Today's #GeoWeirdness subject is the Melbourne suburb of Mount Waverley. Founded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people, Mount Waverley 3149 is Australia's most rectilinear postcode, almost exactly a perfect 2-mile by 3-mile rectangle, thanks to the Mile Grid. (1/12) #PirateGeoWeirdness #MountWaverley
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Today's #GeoWeirdness subject is the Melbourne suburb of Mount Waverley. Founded on the lands of the Wurundjeri people, Mount Waverley 3149 is Australia's most rectilinear postcode, almost exactly a perfect 2-mile by 3-mile rectangle, thanks to the Mile Grid. (1/12) #PirateGeoWeirdness #MountWaverley