Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

River Runner: drop a raindrop anywhere in the USA, watch where it ends up

river-runner.samlearner.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 128 posts

Re: River Runner: drop a raindrop anywhere in the USA, watch where it ends up

#101

Post by dboreham »

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #19
dboreham wrote: post #14

There's a small part of North Dakota (and a teeny part of Montana) that drain into Hudson Bay. This led to the odd fact that these parts of the Midwest USA were for a while British territory (until 1818). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pembina_Region

Which part is that? I can't find it on the map. Just want to see the twisty windy path.

See: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selkirk_Concession

And in Montana it's Triple Divide Peak https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Divide_Peak_(Montana)

Re: River Runner: drop a raindrop anywhere in the USA, watch where it ends up

#102

Post by dboreham »

foota wrote: post #21
asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which part is that? I can't find it on the map. Just want to see the twisty windy path.

I think it must be northern?

Yes, anywhere that drains to the Red River, which flows north. The Louisiana Purchase you'll recall only covers land that drains into the Mississippi.

Re: River Runner: drop a raindrop anywhere in the USA, watch where it ends up

#103

Post by boringg »

Lendal wrote: post #98
boringg wrote: post #94

No clue one the true value of this aside from scratching an interest. Either way very cool.

Educational. The thing that strikes me is that the reasons why we're in an extinction event are not what most people think. I used to think it was due to cities or suburban sprawl. Not true. This tool shows it's farmland. A high percentage of the land you pass through on this tool is farmland. There are no wilderness areas anymore.

Thats true however the reason we have a lot of farmland is to feed people in the cities. It's a collective system that is putting pressure everywhere on all of the global resources...

Re: River Runner: drop a raindrop anywhere in the USA, watch where it ends up

#104

Post by garborg »

cpascal wrote: post #87
MetallicCloud wrote: post #81

One thing which I suppose isn't surprising, but still was amazing to see at scale, is I put a drop in Colorado that ended up in the Gulf of Mexico. As the camera followed the path, it's nothing but farms, with the odd city sprinkled in. I got bored and left in Nebraska, but I imagine it's like that the whole way. It's obvious it takes a lot of land to feed everyone, but to see it like that really drove it home.

Depending on where you placed that drop in Colorado it also could've ended up in the Pacific. The continental divide is in Colorado and all water west of the divide will eventually drain into the Pacific and all water east will drain to the Atlantic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Divide_of_the_Amer...

Another fun, if more subtle divide is right around Hibbing, MN -- step west and water flows down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, step north and water flows up to Hudson Bay, step southeast and water flows through the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. https://www.google.com/maps/@47.4206243,-93.0430116,12.7z

Re: River Runner: drop a raindrop anywhere in the USA, watch where it ends up

#106

Post by MKinley »

samlearner wrote: post #67
codingdave wrote: post #47

At a high level, I really like this. Some UX concerns are all that stop it from being amazing: - The mouse should be a pointer, not a hand. Not only is that the expectation when an element is interactive, but it helps with precision clicking. - The map almost made me sick when it starting moving. It needs to be slower and smoother. You already let people speed it up, but start slower. - Dragging the map should be pos…

Hey, thanks for the feedback. I actually struggled on what to do with the cursor, since the map is draggable (when not at min zoom level) prior to a click and the default mapbox cursor is denoting that. On balance, I think you're right that a default cursor might be better. Re: interaction during the run, I thought about allowing you to interact and just pausing the run while you do, but thought that too many people…

Just wanted to say thank you for this tool! I hope you keep it online as I want to use this for my kids as they grow up to teach them this when they reach it in school.

Also, as it stands right now as of this post I found the UI to be fine, the speed was decent and did a good job of following the path without taking too long or being too fast, I think its at a good balance right now.

Re: River Runner: drop a raindrop anywhere in the USA, watch where it ends up

#108

Post by jubjubbird »

howzitallworkeh wrote: post #10

Cool project - and I like that it uses USGS hydrography data. They publish all kinds of terrain survey information about the entire USA for free. There's probably enough data to make your own GPS mapping device/app. https://www.usgs.gov/products/maps/gis-data

And here's a USGS site that delineates a watershed from any point on a stream:

https://www.usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources/science/s...

Re: River Runner: drop a raindrop anywhere in the USA, watch where it ends up

#109

Post by samlearner »

rsfinn wrote: post #9

This is a lot of fun. As a resident of Maryland, I was mildly surprised to find that the Chesapeake Bay is treated as part of the Atlantic Ocean, instead of an individual waterway in its own right. I suppose this is probably due to the underlying data set, but it doesn't seem right to me.

This has been added a stopping feature as of the last update.
Post reply on HN