Degree Confluence Project

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:Confluence point 53N 0.jpg The Degree Confluence Project is a World Wide Web-based project which aims to have people visit each of the integer degree intersections of latitude and longitude on Earth, posting photographs of each location online.

The precise location of each confluence is determined with GPS receivers. For a successful visit, the visitor must get within 100 metres of the confluence point (using the WGS 84 datum), and post a narrative and at least two photographs to the project website. A visit, or attempted visit, which does not conform to these rules may still be recorded on the website as an incomplete visit. The project allows visits to confluence points which have been visited previously, and many confluence points in North America and Europe have been visited several times.

The total number of confluence points is 64,442<ref>Latitude lines 89°N to 89°S (179), multiplied by 360° of longitude (360), plus the two poles (2) = 179 × 360 + 2 = 64,442.</ref>, of which 21,541 are on land, 38,411 on water, and 4,490 on the Arctic ice cap. The project divides these points into primary and secondary confluences. A confluence is primary only if it is on land or within sight of land. In addition, at high latitudes only some points are designated primary, because confluences crowd together near the poles. Both primary and secondary confluences may be visited and recorded.

One way to think of the Degree Confluence Project is as a way of sampling the surface of the Earth.

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