Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown • Hacker News Board

Re: Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown

#11

Post by btucker » Fri, May 28, 2010, 1:19 AM UTC

spot wrote: post #6

Isn't this a knockoff of http://paulrademacher.com/oilspill/ ?

Well the concept of projecting something onto a non-native locale for comparison purposes is not exactly groundbreaking. So I'm not sure it really matters which came first.

Call me "old fashioned", but I actually find the simpler Google Maps based visualization more effective in conveying the scale.

Re: Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown

#12

Post by jbrennan » Fri, May 28, 2010, 1:20 AM UTC

If only there were some giant atomic furnace beaming us down energy from above, maybe this wouldn't happen.

If only.

Re: Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown

#13

Post by mortenjorck » Fri, May 28, 2010, 1:29 AM UTC

This is actually a great way to visualize the size of pretty much anything within the scale range of 10^-1 to 10^2 miles across. Nothing humanizes a distance more than seeing it directly in comparison to what you experience every day.

Re: Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown

#14

Post by rodion_89 » Fri, May 28, 2010, 2:22 AM UTC

spot wrote: post #6

Isn't this a knockoff of http://paulrademacher.com/oilspill/ ?

that one tells me that the google earth plugin is only for windows and mac, so its no good for me and some others here.

Re: Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown

#15

Post by [deleted] » Fri, May 28, 2010, 2:29 AM UTC

ptolemy wrote: post #7

it's not like many people care, we just all like to pretend we do and say how terrible it is

[deleted]

Re: Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown

#16

Post by nostromo » Fri, May 28, 2010, 2:31 AM UTC

I actually thought it was bigger... (perhaps from all the coverage) so I guess for me this website is relatively good news.

Re: Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown

#17

Post by electromagnetic » Fri, May 28, 2010, 2:43 AM UTC

alex_c wrote: post #5

Enough to cover one of the Great Lakes. Charming.

Interestingly enough the geolocation based off my IP actually puts me and virtually everywhere important around me (at least important to me) in the clear spots in the middle.

Perspective = epic fail.

Re: Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown

#18

Post by angstrom » Fri, May 28, 2010, 2:57 AM UTC

nostromo wrote: post #16

I actually thought it was bigger... (perhaps from all the coverage) so I guess for me this website is relatively good news.

Isn't this just the tip of the iceberg? Much of it is in a suspend emulsion that doesn't neccessarily match the surface outline.

Re: Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown

#19

Post by nostromo » Fri, May 28, 2010, 3:09 AM UTC

angstrom wrote: post #18

nostromo wrote: post #16

I actually thought it was bigger... (perhaps from all the coverage) so I guess for me this website is relatively good news.

Isn't this just the tip of the iceberg? Much of it is in a suspend emulsion that doesn't neccessarily match the surface outline.

Maybe. Regular oil floats to the surface. I'm not sure about all this crude however.

Re: Visualize the Deepwater oil spil over your hometown

#20

Post by callahad » Fri, May 28, 2010, 3:48 AM UTC

ptolemy wrote: post #7

it's not like many people care, we just all like to pretend we do and say how terrible it is

Er, I do think this particular Emperor is wearing clothes...