# Could you find your home, starting from orbit? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 17, 2008, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706 "2008-04-17T11:06:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/121 "2008-04-18T17:41:17Z")
What a fun game! Moving thread from IMHO to The Game Room. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/122 "2008-04-18T18:38:25Z")
Pretty simple once I got close. I tried hitting the spot from the longest zoom then scrolling in to see where that got me. About 60 miles away. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/123 "2008-04-18T18:40:19Z")
There’s a distinctive bend in the river near my house so I was definately within walking distance. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/124 "2008-04-18T19:48:47Z")
Right in my driveway. It helps that you can see metro Atlanta while still zoomed out fairly far and the local highway system is pretty easy to make out. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/125 "2008-04-18T19:56:31Z")
Within walking distance–less than 2 miles–from home. I could have gotten closer if I’d thought a little harder about where my apartment is relative to the marina. (Hint–close. Really close. At least from the Bird’s Eye View perspective). (I live REALLY near a lake. While this lake is not that large, it’s not that far away from other lakes which are visible from much greater altitudes. So I had no problems until I got down close enough to start looking at rooftops for my apartment building–and couldn’t find it because it was just west of the visible portion of the map). ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/126 "2008-04-18T20:35:01Z")
I can find my parents house no problem but I ended up 100 miles away from my new house but I guess that can be explained since I only been living there for a month ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/127 "2008-04-18T21:06:07Z")
I can get in the right state (more or less), but then I have to figure out which of the 5,000 lakes in southern Minnesota are the right ones. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/128 "2008-04-18T21:22:50Z")
I tried for Ottawa. I ended up in Montreal. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/129 "2008-04-18T21:30:02Z")
I landed at least 400 miles away, more than an entire state east. Without state borders to navigate from, it’s really hard to find Vegas from orbit. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/130 "2008-04-18T21:44:28Z")
Tried it again taking my time more and wound up on a golf course about 5 miles from my house (as the crow flies.) I put it down there because I wasn’t sure exactly where I was. It really is hard without the road and town names. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/131 "2008-04-18T22:45:01Z")
[QUOTE=Rysto] I tried for Ottawa. I ended up in Montreal. :smack: [/QUOTE] Ottawa is the one that isn’t the island. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/132 "2008-04-18T23:57:46Z")
Easy. Look at Chicago, there’s a couple mile long dark green patch of woods and lagoons just north of the metro area parallelling the lake a mile or so inland, I live at the southern tip of it. Fairly distinctive on Google maps actually. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/133 "2008-04-19T00:16:03Z")
With no recentering I got it one county over (sixty miles roughly) and within three miles of relatives. I suppose they could give me a lift the rest of the way. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/134 "2008-04-19T00:19:44Z")
I made it to the roof of my dorm in one shot, even though Oklahoma is lacking in distinctive features. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/135 "2008-04-19T00:20:30Z")
I was able to land within a few blocks of my apartment, which isn’t bad given that I’m in the middle of a very large city, in a section without obvious aerial landmarks. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/136 "2008-04-19T01:13:30Z")
First try, allowing more mouse movement, I landed right in my back yard. But Lake Michigan is kind of a big hint as to where to aim. The second time I positioned my cursor and just gave the scroll wheel a good spin. I wound up in Naperville, about 20min from home. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/137 "2008-04-19T02:45:02Z")
I ended up in the next city over (Allentown, PA instead of Bethlehem). Oooops. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/138 "2008-04-19T03:51:44Z")
[QUOTE=MikeG] Easy. Look at Chicago, there’s a couple mile long dark green patch of woods and lagoons just north of the metro area parallelling the lake a mile or so inland, I live at the southern tip of it. Fairly distinctive on Google maps actually. [/QUOTE] I’m gonna fly over and poo. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Rosewater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@Mr.Rosewater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Rosewater)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/139 "2008-04-20T06:33:34Z")
I tried it 3 times. The first time I wasn’t really trying that hard until I got close and ended up about 2 miles North of my building. The second time I mis-identified a landmark and ended up about a mile South… The third time I landed right on my roof. There’s no access to the roof without a key that only the landlord has, so I either have to try a fourth time or die from exposure. ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706/140 "2008-04-20T09:03:50Z")
" not, in fact, unlike this." Oh my God, I can’t find the Pacific Ocean. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-find-your-home-starting-from-orbit/445706.md?page=8)