#8: [13-Aug-22]

#7: [24-May-18]

#6: [27-Oct-08]

#5: [07-Aug-07]

#4: [27-Oct-05]

#3: [23-Jun-05]

#2: [05-Oct-03]

#1: [09-Jan-99]

04-Jun-2024 -- As I was at the nearby Ohio State University for the Cartography and GIS Information Society Symposium, combined with the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, and as the combination event was focused on the application of geospatial technologies, and the whys of where, this confluence was the perfect capstone.

Therefore, after my last session wrapped up for the day, I set off from The Ohio State University off on city streets to the east and north of campus: 13th, 14th, 15th, Summit. This was one of the easiest confluences from any university campus I have visited. There are some magnificent large houses and trees, including some fraternities and sororities, though much of the housing and sidewalk infrastructure is in a sad state of neglect. I turned in to the alleyway north of 15th Ave, and my GPS was having difficulty reading signal due to the many buildings and power poles. I almost walked to 16th, but then things stabilized and I was led to the back corner of one of the houses that had its front to the street to the south along 15th Ave. As I walked along, someone in the alley was diving in the dumpsters looking for things, so I walked to the end of the alley until that person had gone. I doubled back and first came very close to zeroing out the confluence near the corner of the building. I took pictures and this video. Just before I was about to depart, the satellites moved and confluence ended up being on the gravel just north of the building; therefore I was able to zero out the unit.

I saw no other people besides the person that has been diving in the dumpsters. It was late spring, late afternoon/early evening. The temperature stood at about 85° F or 29.4° C; and quite humid already here at the beginning of June. The sky was partly cloudy with some haze. Nevertheless, it was a splendid day. The neighborhood here is composed of century old houses that have been converted into units for students and others in the community. Many are in very sad shape. Others are fairly well-maintained. Interspersed are newer houses and apartments from the 1960s and 1970s.

I had been here once before, for another geotechnology event called Geotech Ohio, teaching this institute for K-12 educators with one of my dear colleagues. It was hard to believe that it was now 19 years later during the same mont--so 18.9 years later, more specifically. The alley looked much less full of trees than back then: It is really quite amazing to see the change, even in an urban area. With all the late discussion on urban heat, I hoped that this area would be considered for the tree cover it had lost for future plantings. I remembered the addition on the back of the house.

It had been two years during one of my trips to Indiana that I last was in Ohio to visit a confluence point. That point at 41 N / 84 W was in the middle of the flooding river. This 40 North 83 West confluence point is most solidly urban. Now I have a nice tidy collection of points in Ohio spanning the last 25 years, probably at least six. I have visited many points along 40° north latitude around the world, including in Spain and at least 25 in the USA from the west to the east coasts. I have also stood on a few points along 83° west, here in Ohio, in Tennessee, South Carolina, and on to a very muddy point down to Georgia. I did not think the alley was a great place to hang out, especially after I heard more banging in the dumpster, so I was only on site for a few minutes. Then I walked north and west through many other neighborhoods in Columbus and even found a vinyl record store.

Get out there and explore!