Coordinate Palindromes

I noticed an odd query on the site earlier today. Someone was searching for “Coordinate Palindromes in Nebraska.” I know exactly how they arrived here because the search engine linked them to one of my previous articles featuring Place Name Palindromes. However, I had no familiarity with what could possibly be considered a coordinate palindrome.

Latitude / longitude coordinates can be displayed in a variety of formats. All of these will get you to the Eiffel Tower in Paris:

• Degrees, minutes, seconds: 48° 51′ 29.87″, 2° 17′ 40.55″
• Degrees with decimal minutes: 48° 51.4978′, 2° 17.6758′
• Decimal degrees: 48.858297, 2.294596

A palindrome reads the same way backward as forward. The names Otto and Anna are both palindromes. A coordinate palindrome would follow the same pattern with either the entire string reading the same from both directions, or with each of the two individual components doing that. The coordinates for the Eiffel Tower do not form a palindrome.

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Then What Might Fit the Definition?

Everything apparently is on the Internet already and I quickly found an entire Coordinate Palindromes category on the Waymarking website. I got a kick out of it and you may too if you like page-after-page of handheld GPS units displaying coordinate palindromes from around the world. Sadly, I do.

Many GPS units display the “degrees with decimal minutes” format so that’s mainly what appears on the site. Also they’ve decided to focus solely on the numbers and ignore directional indicators (+/- or n,s,e,w) when creating their palindromes to allow all four quadrants of the globe to participate.

Here are a few I’ve borrowed from the site with links to their individual pages.

• Canterbury Park – Regina SK, Canada at N 50° 26.340 W 104° 36.205 (i.e., 502634010436205 get it?)
• Holmepark Fell, Burton-in-Kendal – Cumbria UK at N 54° 12.420 W 002° 42.145
• Av Dr Francisco Mesquita – Sao Paulo, Brazil at S 23° 35.364 W 046° 35.332
• Sportcentre Bojnice at N 48° 46.484 E 018° 33.810 (an example where each component is a palindrome but not the entire string)

I never did find one for Nebraska though. Good luck, Mr. Nebraska visitor. Send me a letter if you ever find it and thanks for the diversion.