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Featured Maps: Beware the Ides of March (15 March 2010)

William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar famously depicts the assassination of Caesar on the Ides of March—a common way of saying March 15th at the time—and how he was crossed by Marcus Brutus ("Et tu, Brute?").

The Great Circle Mapper wouldn't have helped Caesar but a new feature can help you explore the crossing of two ranges. Consider this map showing 180-minute ranges (at a nominal single-engine speed for a Boeing 757) from SFO and KOA:

180min@(SFO,KOA)

Click on the map where you'll see that the site now adds a More Information section describing the intersections of these two ranges including an option to add the points to the map:

The two ranges intersect at:
  • 37°31'27"N 146°54'37"W
  • 21°43'09"N 135°23'12"W
You can add these points to your map.

If the two ranges don't intersect, as can be see with 120-minute ranges, the closest points and the distance between them will be calculated:

120min@(SFO,KOA)

These examples use ETOPS for illustration but the original intent of the feature was for triangulation: if you know that a location is distance D1 from point A and D2 from point B, where is it? More on that in the future. For now, enjoy exploring with this new feature and let me know if you find anything interesting.

 

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