HN Explorer

28 comments

[ 5.5 ms ] story [ 82.9 ms ] thread
stdan27
For anyone in the UK, this is more like "Visualise the Deepwater oil spill over your part of the country"
Confusion
Or in the case of smaller countries like NL: visualize the oil spill over half your country.
alex_c
Enough to cover one of the Great Lakes.

Charming.

electromagnetic
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.

jz
I thought the exact opposite. I'm in Chicago and the spill covers a 1/3 to 1/2 of Lake Michigan. After zooming out though, it clearly would cover Lake Erie or Lake Ontario. The thing that was put in perspective for me was the shear size of the Atlantic.
spot
Isn't this a knockoff of http://paulrademacher.com/oilspill/ ?
btucker
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.

rodion_89
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.
[dead] ptolemy
it's not like many people care, we just all like to pretend we do and say how terrible it is
bena
I'm in the minority that cares deeply because it's something like 50 - 100 miles southeast of my house.
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
callahad
Er, I do think this particular Emperor is wearing clothes...
[dead] bbgun
Drill baby, drill!... Yeah.
bena
Hey, I very nearly don't have to imagine it. I can practically live it. :D

Type in Houma, LA, USA in the box next to "Move the Spill"

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

If only.

mortenjorck
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.
nostromo
I actually thought it was bigger... (perhaps from all the coverage) so I guess for me this website is relatively good news.
angstrom
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.
nostromo
Maybe. Regular oil floats to the surface. I'm not sure about all this crude however.
beezm
It floats.

Until it forms into little tarballs, and then sinks below the surface of the water. Combined with the "safe" dispersant BP is using to thin the oil, it helps the whole sinking process go faster.

The size of this overlay is more so a depiction of the "core" spill. The slick above and below water extends to a much larger area, and also moves around daily.

statenjason
Covers the Great Salt Lake, and most of the upper corner of Utah.
felideon
Wow, it would cover all of South Florida and reach to the Bahamas. (Enter Miami, FL to visualize.)
s-phi-nl
Does anyone know what causes the big clear spots in the middle?
EvanK
I live in Houston, so I don't have to visualize...It IS sort of over my hometown.