You have never been to Null Island . In fact , we do n’t suppose many masses actually have . However , speaking in terms of digital geospatial datum points , it ’s a plaza that ’s been documented time and time again .
Ok , enough with the enigma . Null Island is the jokey name feed to the localisation at zero degrees line of latitude and zero degrees longitude . In other words , the convergence where Earth’sprime meridianmeets the equator . This bring out to be a item in the Gulf of Guinea , a portion of the easterly tropic Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa .
Since its geographical coordinates are 0 ° N 0 ° E , it is often recorded as the geographical compass point of a locating that ’s been incorrectly inputted into a digitalmap .
As explained by theUS Library of Congress blog , the bug can occur for several rationality . Often , it ’s simply a misprint from the slip of a finger’s breadth . While entering a place ’s location into a digital dataset , misspelled street public figure or puzzling construction numbers can cancel the address and result in its coordinate being mechanically lumber as null , which the computer records as 0 ° N 0 ° E.
In the event of most error or uncomplete entries , the chanceful data decimal point will be assigned to the coordinate 0 ° N 0 ° E.
Null Island has become a uncomplicated style of identifying knotty or erroneous geocodes on maps . If you ’re looking to clean up errors in a geographical database , a unspoiled place to start is by searching the coordinate 0 ° N 0 ° E where you ’re potential to find many germ - laden entries .
Data analyst find this quirk and started to jokingly call it “ Null Island , ” utilizing it as a means to get over down geocode errors .
It ’s not clear when the cognomen arose , but the fix of Null Island first appeared onNatural Earth , a public domain mathematical function asseverate by volunteer geographer , before 2011 .
Intheir words : “ It is a fictional , 1 - meter - square island locate off Africa where the equator and prime meridian cross . Being centered at 0,0 ( zero latitude , zero longitude ) it is useful for flagging geocode failures which are route to 0,0 by most chromosome mapping services . ”
Of course , Null Island is n’t an actual landmass . However , if you literally sail out to the Gulf of Guinea towards the product between the world ’s prime meridian and the equator , you will come across a large buoy .
Known asStation 13010 - Soul , the weather condition - monitoring buoy is part of the Prediction and Research Moored Array in the Atlantic ( PIRATA ) scheme that keeps tabs on the tropic Atlantic Ocean . Together with 16 other buoys , the floating weather station measures things like wind fastness , tune temperature , and humidity to facilitate inform atmospheric condition forecasts and clime models .
In the genuine world , Null Island is just a lone buoy floating in theAtlantic . However , in the virtual earth , it ’s a suppositious peg - stop where lose data points lurk .
