“I Think i Discovered a Military Base in the Middle of the Ocean”—Null Island, the Most Real of Fictional Places
This paper explores Null Island, a fictional place located at 0° latitude and 0° longitude in the WGS84 (World Geodetic System 1984) geographic coordinate system. Null Island is erroneously associated with large amounts of geographic data in a wide variety of location-based ser...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IEEE
2022-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Access |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9852234/ |
| _version_ | 1818483643777024000 |
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| author | Levente Juhasz Peter Mooney |
| author_facet | Levente Juhasz Peter Mooney |
| author_sort | Levente Juhasz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper explores Null Island, a fictional place located at 0° latitude and 0° longitude in the WGS84 (World Geodetic System 1984) geographic coordinate system. Null Island is erroneously associated with large amounts of geographic data in a wide variety of location-based services, place databases, social media and web-based maps. Whereas it was originally considered a joke within the geospatial community, this article will demonstrate implications of its existence, both technological and social in nature, promoting Null Island as a fundamental issue of geographic information that requires more widespread awareness. The article summarizes error sources that lead to data being associated with Null Island. We identify four evolutionary phases which help explain how this fictional place evolved and established itself as an entity reaching beyond the geospatial profession to the point of being discovered by the visual arts and the general population. After providing an accurate account of data that can be found at (0, 0), geospatial, technological and social implications of Null Island are discussed. Guidelines to avoid misplacing data to Null Island are provided. Since data will likely continue to appear at this location, our contribution is aimed at academics, computing professionals and the general population to promote awareness of this error source. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T15:44:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1b5462e656a54700a5c5225739468205 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2169-3536 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T15:44:36Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Access |
| spelling | doaj.art-1b5462e656a54700a5c52257394682052022-12-22T01:42:59ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362022-01-0110841478416510.1109/ACCESS.2022.31972229852234“I Think i Discovered a Military Base in the Middle of the Ocean”—Null Island, the Most Real of Fictional PlacesLevente Juhasz0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3393-4021Peter Mooney1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2389-3783Geographic Information Systems Center, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USADepartment of Computer Science, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Kildare, IrelandThis paper explores Null Island, a fictional place located at 0° latitude and 0° longitude in the WGS84 (World Geodetic System 1984) geographic coordinate system. Null Island is erroneously associated with large amounts of geographic data in a wide variety of location-based services, place databases, social media and web-based maps. Whereas it was originally considered a joke within the geospatial community, this article will demonstrate implications of its existence, both technological and social in nature, promoting Null Island as a fundamental issue of geographic information that requires more widespread awareness. The article summarizes error sources that lead to data being associated with Null Island. We identify four evolutionary phases which help explain how this fictional place evolved and established itself as an entity reaching beyond the geospatial profession to the point of being discovered by the visual arts and the general population. After providing an accurate account of data that can be found at (0, 0), geospatial, technological and social implications of Null Island are discussed. Guidelines to avoid misplacing data to Null Island are provided. Since data will likely continue to appear at this location, our contribution is aimed at academics, computing professionals and the general population to promote awareness of this error source.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9852234/Errorfictional placegeocodinggeographic information sciencegeowebhuman-computer interaction |
| spellingShingle | Levente Juhasz Peter Mooney “I Think i Discovered a Military Base in the Middle of the Ocean”—Null Island, the Most Real of Fictional Places IEEE Access Error fictional place geocoding geographic information science geoweb human-computer interaction |
| title | “I Think i Discovered a Military Base in the Middle of the Ocean”—Null Island, the Most Real of Fictional Places |
| title_full | “I Think i Discovered a Military Base in the Middle of the Ocean”—Null Island, the Most Real of Fictional Places |
| title_fullStr | “I Think i Discovered a Military Base in the Middle of the Ocean”—Null Island, the Most Real of Fictional Places |
| title_full_unstemmed | “I Think i Discovered a Military Base in the Middle of the Ocean”—Null Island, the Most Real of Fictional Places |
| title_short | “I Think i Discovered a Military Base in the Middle of the Ocean”—Null Island, the Most Real of Fictional Places |
| title_sort | x201c i think i discovered a military base in the middle of the ocean x201d x2014 null island the most real of fictional places |
| topic | Error fictional place geocoding geographic information science geoweb human-computer interaction |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9852234/ |
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