Aerial geohashing anyone? (And, first geohash attempt report.)

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DCat22

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DCat22
Got my first aerial geohash last night! (Well, almost...)

Now, those that read XKCD are probably laughing at me...for everyone else, a brief explanation is in order: Imagine, a $100 hamburger trip, except to a specific set of lat/long coordinates. And that those coordinates are based on an algorithm that uses the previous close of the Dow as its source for a random seed.

Still with me?

The points repeat, as the output of the algorithm is just the minutes and seconds -- so there is a repeating point in every 1x1 degree lat/long grid (called a graticule).

Here is the source of all this: http://xkcd.com/426/

(XKCD the source of people playing chess on rollercoasters, the bottom of pools...and guitar in the shower...and one of my favorite webcomics.)

The basic premise is go to that point. ...and the "official" time where you may run into other geohashers is 4PM on Saturdays. (You just need a picture of you and your GPS. Not many people active around Houston though...)

The site which has all the detail, trip reports, etc, is here: http://wiki.xkcd.com/geohashing

And the mapping utility (click in the map to show the point for each graticule): http://irc.peeron.com/xkcd/map/

The first Air Geohash: http://wiki.xkcd.com/geohashing/2008-06-11_31_-84

And my post: http://wiki.xkcd.com/geohashing/2009-06-27_30_-95

(So far, seems there are only 2 other pilots that have gotten hashes. And not many of these "awards" have been claimed: http://wiki.xkcd.com/geohashing/Air_Geohash )

Laughing at me yet, now? Hey, there are worse reasons to spend money... ;)

As for my actual trip, which was my second flight with a passenger (also a geek)...the hash point was in the southeast corner of the DWH delta, and pretty close to the Bravo. I was taking him on a quick "downtown" trip, so on the way back, got through the Bravo on FF...so the point was lined up with a downwind entry to Hooks. Difficulty with that is that both numbers were moving at the same time...ideally I would get one direction right, and fly a straight line until the other matched...as you can see, I didn't nail it exactly...and unfortunately the picture wasn't taken when I was within 10 seconds of the location, so it technically doesn't count...N30°01'09.33", W95°30'49.17" vs my N30°01'07", W95°30'23". (And, then got a fun scare with some deer crossing the runway, but that is another story.)

So...thoughts? (/hides under rock/)

[xposting to the red/purple/green...its a worthy cause! :D]
 

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That's pretty cool. The location for today is very near me, and accessible.

I wonder what these guys do when it ends up in somebody's backyard or the roof of a building??!

P.S.--You need a helicopter. ;-) To "nail" the coordinate, you could save an XKCD waypoint as a user waypoint (like that first aero-geohash report you posted did), and just do "direct to".
 
OK, so how do I know what todays coordinates are?
 
Always wanted to do this but never was nerdy enough to keep track of the coordinates waiting for one to be near me. I have also wanted to stalk Randall as I go to school within a few miles of where he lives, but have also been unsuccessful in that venture
 
scit106 said:
Always wanted to do this but never was nerdy enough to keep track of the coordinates waiting for one to be near me. I have also wanted to stalk Randall as I go to school within a few miles of where he lives, but have also been unsuccessful in that venture
Click to expand...
They are always plenty near you if you're using an airplane.
 
I don't get it. I can see hiking to a random spot and exchanging knickknacks and doodads but entering a lat/lon in a GPS and hitting direct-enter and engaging the autopilot :dunno:
 
Areeda said:
I don't get it. I can see hiking to a random spot and exchanging knickknacks and doodads but entering a lat/lon in a GPS and hitting direct-enter and engaging the autopilot :dunno:
Click to expand...

I tried by just using a waypoint with no course in the 530, and then when near, switching to the lat/long text-only view and making it from a diagonal angle...was a bit harder than I expected it to be.

Of course, if you're doing it on Sat at 4pm in a popular and accessible area, you can do turns around the geeks. :smilewinkgrin:

But, yeah, there is no other real point, other than an excuse to do it in the first place. I've also played underwater chess at night.
 
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