Downloaded By: [Garcia-Castellanos, Daniel] At: 13:01 6 March 2008 hns rvneo ijag h itnet h e tteelctosi 50ad21 km 2514 westernmost and north 2510 the is K in locations located these being at thought. sea generally poles than the both closer to Bohai, km distance of 120 one Gulf The about Gulf EPIA, from . equidistant respectively, for and other of candidates within the Bengal and are province that, Sea, of locations show Chinese Arabian Gulf two calculations and Bengal present coastline, Ob, of the the Gulf of coastline, Ob, of of Although given definition Gulf km. a the from 435 for equidistant to to pole inherent 156 one error from (EPIA), only ranging the inaccessibility is a calculations of (PIA), there the previous pole Inaccessibility Eurasian general in calculate of the misplacement in to Poles For a as explorers. used reveal known of is results also interest the This masses, the raised land polygon. has major spherical that in concept sea given the a from to furthest spots distance great-circle the maximising O:10.1080/14702540801897809 DOI: A Sabarı **Universita i Sole Almera, Jaume LOMBARDO** *ICT UMBERTO & GARCIA-CASTELLANOS* DANIEL Earth Places on Remotest the for Calculation Algorithm A Inaccessibility: of Poles 2007 September 233, – 227 3, No. 123, Vol. Journal Geographical Scottish SN17-51Pit15-6XOnline Print/1751-665X 1470-2541 ISSN ocean’’. or sea any from Dsungarei removed the farthest Address of Correspondence is region which the globe to the refer of 94) spot p. ‘‘the (1944, Asia. as French central & Desert in Cable located as EPIA), as such referred Explorers by hereafter Inaccessibility, led of Expedition Pole (Eurasian Soviet 2nd exploration the This 1959). by the 1987). (Petrov, 1958 Bonner, Treshnikov in in furthest 1971; Aleksei achieved place Lambert, in first 1966; place difficult-to-reach was to the Ramseier, to challenge most (1920) (e.g. refer sea to the Stefansson used the and widely Vilhjalmur from been by Pole has coastline it introduced particular North Thereafter, . a first the from was between furthest concept distinguish location of The the Pole A 1). as inaccessibility. (Figure defined and isolation is to (PIA) related historically Inaccessibility is sea the from Distance Introduction pi.Eal [email protected] Email: Spain. BSTRACT EY h emi loue orfrt h lc nErhta sfrhs rmayocean any from furthest is that Earth on place the to refer to used also is term The W ORDS ¨ en en Switzerland Bern, Bern, t nagrtmi rsne ocluaetepito h ufc fasphere a of surface the on point the calculate to presented is algorithm An itnet e,cmue method computer sea, to Distance : ailGri-atlao,ITJueAmr,Sl Sabarı i Sole Almera, Jaume ICT Garcia-Castellanos, Daniel : ´ ,Breoa Spain Barcelona, s, Ó 07RylSots egahclSociety Geographical Scottish Royal 2007 ´ ,Breoa 08028, Barcelona, s, Downloaded By: [Garcia-Castellanos, Daniel] At: 13:01 6 March 2008 aiu itnet h os ssace.Arglr etnua rdof grid rectangular regular, A searched. is the to distance maximum ie osln.B ento,apl fiacsiiiyhsol he lss hrln points shoreline closest three only has inaccessibility of pole a definition, By coastline. given 1 Figure 228 oe ste endin defined then is nodes ucino h location the of function location l o ahieain ucsieysalrregion coastline. given smaller a successively to associated a PIA iteration, the calculate each to designed For is method iterative An EPIA Methodology the as regarded popularly location the in 1987). km Crane, reveals 435 method & and this (Crane 156 of between application of The the Earth. error on an available, landmasses largest as the gradually to known, associated become long growing. is are databases method poles numerical geographical very a such for remains and calculate necessity documentation to coastlines academic been methods while has digital graphical subject, there 1987), the Although Crane, in scarce. & interest (Crane increasing and an 2007) January (19th Antarctica f usqetyteregion the Subsequently itnefo aho hs 4 oe otecatiei hncluae n new a and calculated then is coastline the to nodes location 441 those candidate of each from distance qiaett h mletdsac rmtepitt l fteplgnscorners. polygon’s the of all to is point coordinates the spherical from in distance polygon allows smallest the and the easily point to 4 a equivalent between to distance the 2 coastline), Figures automatic absolute the in the with is missed as being it is that maximum results method. ensure local not relevant successive a does whether it the discriminating but shore, Mapping the to maximum. distance the of maximum min 0 PIA nti ae,asml ehdi rpsdadue ocluaetePIA’s the calculate to used and proposed is method simple a paper, this In of PIA the document to conducted been have expeditions as years, recent In fteplgni ie ihhg nuhrslto a stecs fteEarth the of case the is (as resolution enough high with given is polygon the If , l .Gri-atlao .Lombardo U. & Garcia-Castellanos D. n h rcdr sieae.Bcueshrcldsac sacontinuous a is distance spherical Because iterated. is procedure the and max oeo ncesblt PA sapiti otnn i ry utetfo a from furthest grey) (in continent a in point a is (PIA) inaccessibility of pole A . l PIA n aiuerange latitude a and , f PIA Initially, . l 0 PIA R , l R otrslssoni hsppruse paper this in shown results Most . f , 0 srdcdi ieb factor a by size in reduced is f PIA hsagrtmesrscnegnetwrsalocal a towards convergence ensures algorithm this , R orsod otergo nwihtelcto of location the which in region the to corresponds sdfie stend aiiigsc distance. such maximising node the as defined is f min , f (CSP) max sdfie ete nacniaePIA candidate a on centred defined is R endb ogtd range longitude a by defined p 2 ffiffiffi n ete at centred and N l ¼ N f ¼ N l 1 The 21. by l 0 PIA N f , Downloaded By: [Garcia-Castellanos, Daniel] At: 13:01 6 March 2008 h rtieain fteagrtmaepromdusing performed are algorithm the of iterations first The which km, computer. 1 personal ca. standard Results a of of precision time a computation with of PIA minutes one 110 calculate about takes to checked are coordinates h ra-icedistance great-circle The 2 Figure NIClnug ncmiainwt -hl nxsrps vial ttewebsite the at available scripts, Unix C-shell km. with 10 combination http://cuba.ija.csic.es/ (boundary of in order areas language the C deltaic ANSI in and often estuaries is in sea) arbitrariness open seas endorheic Its and and river Sea. lakes between excludes Caspian a here with the used and coastline as ellipsoid (1996; The WGS-84 such Smith m. on & based 500 Wessel Shoreline), about from instead. Vector of taken World used resolution is the be on work should based present segment turn the line in in a used to polygon point coastline a The from distance the to corresponding 1). Figure equidistant 3 (see and (CSP) PIA single points one shoreline have coastline closest a as such polygons arbitrarily-shaped at a edrvdfo h peia rgnmtycsn rule: cosine trigonometry spherical the from derived be can Earth qiitn ihteAtcOen h elwSaadteAainSa When Sea. Arabian Eurasia, local the two central of and case in unusual Sea results relative lies a The Yellow 4), ocean and 2). 3 the (Figures the (Figure Eurasia Ocean, central from coastline into Artic in furthest the zooming the to point with distance the equidistant of that map correctly world predict detailed a obtain where h optrcd oipeetteagrtmpeiul ecie switnin written is described previously algorithm the implement to code computer The formula the then enough dense not is polygon the in distribution vertex the If d x x 0 1 R ; ; ol a fdsac otecatiedrvdwt h ehddsrbdi this in described method the with derived coastline the to distance of map World . ae.Cnor vr 5 m ml ice niaePA itdi al 1 Table in listed PIAs indicate circles Small km. 250 every Contours paper. y y 0 1 E ¼ stema aiso h at,tkna 327k.B definition, By km. 6372.7 as taken Earth, the of radius mean the is R E rcssin arccos * ðÞ ailcPA.Attlo bu 000geographical 000 80 about of total A danielgc/PIA/. d ð ewe w ons[ points two between j 0 Þ sin ð j 1 Þþ cos ð l j 0 0 , Þ f 0 n [ and ] oe fInaccessibility of Poles cos N l ð j ¼ 1 l Þ N 1 , f f ¼ cos 1 naspherical a on ] 0,i re to order in 201, ð l 1 l 0 Þ 229 Downloaded By: [Garcia-Castellanos, Daniel] At: 13:01 6 March 2008 230 h oain fbt PAcniaepit r band(al ) PA sdistant is EPIA1 1): (Table obtained areas, are points both candidate separately 2510 EPIA Treating both apparent. of becomes locations the values peak respective similar with the maxima and EPIA, of location reported previously the EPIA2, EPIA1, of location 3 Figure luil.Teerslscnb aiycekduigayaalbeGSsoftware, GIS available any using equally are checked locations facilities. easily both similar that be or location follows Earth, can pole distance it Google results in EPIA2, the difference and and These for the EPIA1 20 than plausible. uncertainty between as larger ocean that are taken the values here half uncertainty to is about these uncertainty Because deltaic in 1). such in resulting (Table areas, are According respectively, Sea those 3). (Figure Arabian km in coastline 15 the geometry the and defining shoreline in Bengal the uncertainty of to intrinsic Gulf an the is there in areas, CSPs the Because Bohai. 2514 is EPIA2 whereas + .Gri-atlao .Lombardo U. & Garcia-Castellanos D. otu a fdsac otecatiei sa otu ie vr 0 m The km. 200 every lines Contour Asia. in coastline the to distance of map Contour . 0k a rmtesa(Ss ufo b ufo egladAainSea), Arabian and Bengal of Gulf Ob, of Gulf (CSPs: sea the from far km 10 lss hrln ons(S;seFgr )aeindicated are 1) Figure see (CSP; points shoreline closest + mfrfo ufo b ufo egladGl of Gulf and Bengal of Gulf Ob, of Gulf from far km 7 Downloaded By: [Garcia-Castellanos, Daniel] At: 13:01 6 March 2008 Notes Eurasia utai 132.27 , aic(on Nemo) (Point Pacific mrc,, aaacr46.67 Madagascar bra Peninsula Iberian fia2.756 1814 5.65 26.17 nouetdcalculation. undocumented ra Britain Great ein(e.E dg )(m k)(m) (km) (km) N) (deg. E) (deg. Antarctica Region netit smsl eae oabgiyi h ento ftecatiea ie otsor mouths river at coastline the of definition the in ambiguity to related mostly is is Uncertainty relief 1 Topographic Table km. level. 50 sea above every m 4000 sea and the 3000 2000, to 1000, 500, distance at contoured of and west lines the from Contour illuminated Asia. Central in 4 Figure I oain itdi al .Ol h I fGenadadAtrtc show Antarctica and Greenland of resulting PIA the the with Only Ocean, Pacific 1. the Table in in coast listed the locations to PIA distance maximum of location PA 81 52 2514 45.28 88.14 EPIA former EPIA2 PA 21 42 2510 44.29 82.19 EPIA1 h aetcnqei ple oohrlnmse swl st aclt the calculate to as well as landmasses other to applied is technique same The : a eutn oe fIacsiiiy(I)frslce otnnsadohrareas. other and continents selected for (PIA) Inaccessibility of Poles Resulting . oriae ftesve tto.Ntcluae nti work. this in calculated Not station. soviet the of Coordinates ealdlcto a fEI1 PA,adapeiul eotdlcto fEPIA of location reported previously a and EPIA2, EPIA1, of map location Detailed . a hd si iue3 h ono U of town The 3. Figure in as Shade b ogtd aiuedsac netit Altitude uncertainty distance Latitude Longitude 7 7 7 7 7 123.45 0.74.61639 43.36 101.97 7 7 56.85 10 65 469 76.50 41.00 29 49 1300 54.97 82.97 66 62 65?510 ? 2645 46.28 86.67 .13.9362 39.99 4.51 .65.5108 52.65 1.56 7 7 7 7 glaciers 88 2690 48.89 31 928 23.17 40 1517 14.05 83 260 18.33 ¨ ru ¨ q sidctdfrreference for indicated is mqi PIA oe fInaccessibility of Poles + + + + + + + + + + + + b omnyaccepted, Commonly 710 7 02700 10 30 2396 12 41030 14 1220 1 640 2 52520 25 595 4 100 8 1 3718 110 600 6 231 Downloaded By: [Garcia-Castellanos, Daniel] At: 13:01 6 March 2008 h oaino at utetfo h ca slctdi h north-western (44 the EPIA1 in Inaccessibility: of located Pole is the as of proposed definition ocean the are to the locations inherent two uncertainty from the coastline, Within furthest Xinjiang. of Earth province Chinese on location The population the with Conclusions interlinks and is family Uyghur, the Turkic region, the languages. the in Chinese rooted hundred speaking in longest few populated group less (a included ethnic the vicinity the among linguistically relative and is region world, the the the to Unsurprisingly, of Road. linked areas civilisations. Silk mostly Western ancient is the the of and history km) Chinese result in the a presence between as faint this border mm/yr of Its natural 350 isolation a – historical 200 as the 1944). of acting enhanced French, values probably region & have precipitation (Cable factors low sea Both of continentality. the result of to the connection partially fluvial is no This is there meaning world, the rvos(nouetd acltoso h PAddntacutfrteGl of 46 Gulf location the the for yielding account seas, the not of did part EPIA as the Ob of calculations (undocumented) Inaccessibility Previous of Pole Eurasian because the on km) Discussion 4 than estuaries. lesser with (errors is coincide Iberia determined CSP’s and sea and better respective America, and Republic) the are North African of Madrid) river none America, Central from between (easternmost South SW limit Africa km for (80 on of a occurs uncertainty PIA’s where similarly by The affected This Bay, Australia. is define. Weston Britain along to Great of glaciers difficult of of termination PIA presence the eastern the of to the location due EPIA, The for . found their that than larger uncertainties seudsat2514 equidistant is 2510 hs eut usinteol ouetdatmtt xlr h PAb two at by EPIA access the difficult explore 1987). to Crane, Sea. & attempt Arabian km (Crane the documented 435 to 1986 ) only by in (East PIA the Bohai explorers of the EPIA1, question Gulf of of the results case location from the These changes In the CSP calculations. modify the previous of and to one relative km, also (EPIA2) 130 km than 156 available and more (EPIA1) shift by all large coast a the and definition implies to the section. waters, to Seas previous related the the sea uncertainty in of the of shown open part part within as as as solutions the Ob coastline, two Ob of of has of Gulf of which km-wide Gulf EPIA part 80 the the to of for up as and Accounting basis deep Ob no ocean. m is the 12 of there – Ocean, 10 However, Arctic the Gulf China). displays the East cartography in the in Bohai Baydaratskaya of exclude of Gulf the Gulf to and the Bengal, to of Gulf km the 2648 equidistant is location aahtnadKrysa.EI2le t70mattd,14k N fU of NNE km 174 altitude, m 710 at lies EPIA2 Kyrgyzstan. and 81 232 eie en a rmteoen,bt oe r ntelretedrecbsnin basin endorheic largest the in are poles both oceans, the from far being Besides PA isna oiqnSa onan(68m,a nae fhg eifand relief high of area an at m), (3698 Mountain Shan Kokirqin near lies EPIA1 distance maximum Earth’s the reduce paper this in found poles candidate two The 8 51 + 0 .Gri-atlao .Lombardo U. & Garcia-Castellanos D. 31 0k rmGl fO,Gl fBna n h rba e,adEPIA2 and Sea, Arabian the and Bengal of Gulf Ob, of Gulf from km 10 00 )adEI2(45 EPIA2 and E) 4 + 00maoesalvl ls oteCieebreswith borders Chinese the to close level, sea above m 2000 mfo ufo b ufo egladGl fBohai of Gulf and Bengal of Gulf Ob, of Gulf from km 7 8 17 0 60 00 ;88 N; 8 8 16.8 8 0 0 N86 24 00 ) PA sequidistant is EPIA1 E). 8 40.2 0 seFgr ;this 4; Figure (see E 8 18 ¨ ru 0 ¨ 1 mqi. 00 N; Downloaded By: [Garcia-Castellanos, Daniel] At: 13:01 6 March 2008 asir .O 16)Rl fsneigi nwconstruction, snow in sintering of Role Antarctica, (1966) in O. expeditions R. Soviet Ramseier, (1959) P. V. Petrov, tfnsn .(90 h eino aiu ncesblt nteArctic, the in inaccessibility maximum of region The (1920) V. Stefansson, abr,G,Adun . rce,E ois .(91 aac of Balance (1971) C. Lorius, & E. Brichet, B., Ardouin, (1987) G., N. background. Lambert, Crane, historical & (1944) R. conservation—the F. Crane, French, and & M. science Cable, Antarctic (1987) N. W. Bonner, 48 at is location Nemo) Point the or from Ocean, Pacific respectively 4). far (Figure km EPIA 156 the and as 435 accepted are popularly EPIA2 and EPIA1 (China). esl .&Sih .H .(96 lblsl-osset irrhcl ihrslto shoreline high-resolution hierarchical, self-consistent, global A (1996) F. H. W. Smith, & P. Wessel, Ptar sad) I’ acltdfrohrcnietlmse ihtesame the with References masses continental Island 1. Ducie other Table and in for (Anctartica), listed calculated Island are Maher technique PIA’s Island), Islands). (Easter Nui (Pitcairn Motu of coasts rtce area, protected International database, 172. – 167 pp. h lc nErhta sms itn rmln Pl fIacsiiiyo the of Inaccessibility of (Pole land from distant most is that Earth on place The ora fGohsclResearch Geophysical of Journal 3 p 9–25. – 19 pp. 13, , at n lntr cec Letters Science Planetary and Earth ore oTeCnr fTeEarth The Of Centre The To Journey h oiDesert Gobi The 0,B,84 8743. – 8741 B4, 101, , 8 52.6 NwYr:Macmillan). York: (New 0 1 p 1 323. – 317 pp. 11, , ,123 S, h rfsinlGeographer Professional The 8 23.6 ora fTerramechanics of Journal 0 ,2690 W, Lno:Bna Press). Bantam (London: oe fInaccessibility of Poles 90 roe nacia xsec fa of existence Antarctica: over Sr + egahclReview Geographical mfrfo the from far km 2 ,p.6–10. – 6 pp. 9, , ,p.4 50. – 41 pp. 3, , Environment 10, , 233