| earthdirections | |
For thousands of years humans have known the Earth is not flat, yet gravity constrains us to the surface of what we tend to perceive as relatively planar territories. In these pages are ideas and resources for learning tools offering ways to visualize a more 3-dimensional Earth, providing a more intuitive sense of where other peoples and places are are in this spherical village we all share. The ideal would be to achieve something a bit like the overview effect astronauts have spoken of, but at ground level.
Concepts for exhibitry and public art are illustrated on the ideas pages, the locate tool allows you to pick two cities from a list and calculate the straight-line “as the neutrino flies” direction & distance from one city to another, and the links page points to software, formulas and other tools that could be useful in further developing these general ideas.
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I put this website together back in 2004 after a stint developing biology exhibits at the Exploratorium, a museum with a focus on informal science education. That experience led to an interest in finding ways to help make real the fact that we're all together on this big ball of life in space. The passage of time and various responsibilities somehow did not leave room for creating installation art... but I keep earthdirections up to share ideas with others, with the hope of circling around to pick up on this again.
John Magolske
June 2025
37°20' N 121°53' W