Center

Olivier · Post by **Olivier** » Sun Sep 07, 2003 5:05 am

francky wrote:Which place is the center of the EU?

I don't know what it will be next year... I guess the center will be in Austria or south of Germany...

It would be funny to calculate the new center if the EU is in ... Switzerland!

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Mon Sep 08, 2003 9:34 am

Anonymous wrote:This little map shows Europe (Let's forget about the projections for a while and not use this picture for estimating where the centre is, because here France and Spain are clearly too small and Finland too big. I,m just showing what Europe consists of )

You forgot Iceland, The Spitzenbergen and the northern part of Novaja Zemlya. But yes, not so many people understand how far Europe reaches in east.

For me it's annoying that people talk about "Europe" when they mean European Union.

I've heard the centre of Europe is in a park in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. And I think it's in a good place as Lithuania presents European culture very well. Not so many people know that Lithuania is one of the old superpowers of Europe and its territory used to reach from Baltic Sea to Black Sea.

Donald · Post by **Donald** » Mon Sep 08, 2003 6:08 pm

I just confirm that I have heard of the Lithunian center assumption before. My source (ZDF - Germann TV) says that it has been computed by the French National Institute of Geographics.

Dakkus · Post by **Dakkus** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 7:38 pm

Wonder where the center of EU is now..

yli · Post by **yli** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 9:05 am

Hm, I think it's easy to calculate (but I couldn't find the good co-ordinates)

Western border (Ireland) : around 10° W
Eastern border (Cyprus) : around 33° E
Northern border (Finland) : around 70° N
Soutern border (Cyprus) : around 35° N

So, the center is somewhere around 52°30" N 11°30" E

That must be somewhere in Germany (Niedersachsen or Sachsen-Anhalt) - roughly between Hannover and Magdenburg)

Dakkus · Post by **Dakkus** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 10:35 am

Well, here's a map with that coordinate dotted.

androl · Post by **androl** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 12:13 pm

yli wrote:Western border (Ireland) : around 10° W
Eastern border (Cyprus) : around 33° E
Northern border (Finland) : around 70° N
Soutern border (Cyprus) : around 35° N

So, the center is somewhere around 52°30" N 11°30" E

you forgot Iceland (west), Russia (north, east)

but the average of the edge coordinates is not the best definition of a center.

a better center is the average of all positions (not lat/long coordinates, real positions) of all land masses of Europe (one value for every square kilometer), and from that point (which is below earth) straight up to the earth surface.

Dakkus · Post by **Dakkus** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 12:38 pm

androl wrote: you forgot Iceland (west), Russia (north, east)

Hmm? They aren't in the EU. They are talking in Iceland about joining the EU, but that's nothing but talking. And besides, they're talking very quietly.

androl · Post by **androl** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 3:27 pm

ok, you and yli were talking about the EU
but we also have to find a centre of Europe

yli · Post by **yli** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 4:35 pm

androl wrote:ok, you and yli were talking about the EU
but we also have to find a centre of Europe

Yes, I thought this subject started about the (new) center of the EU. I believe the french scientist who calculated that the center of Europe is a bit north of Vilnius (Lithuania)

And yes, I believe my calculations aren't very good. But it's just to get a (extremely) rough position

@Dakkus, is Iceland really talking about joining the EU ? (I thought they had a big problem with the EU rules about whales and seal hunts)

tabbs · Post by **tabbs** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 8:35 pm

Dakkus wrote:Wonder where the center of EU is now..

In Kleinmaischeid, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
http://www.ign.fr/affiche_rubrique.asp? ... &lng_id=FR

See also ...
http://www.kleinmaischeid.de/top2.jpg

... and:
http://liveserver2.ionas.de/rpn/vg_dier ... asbach.jpg

The guy on the left is the Ministerpräsident (governor, sort of) of Rhineland-Palatinate. What is a little odd in my opinion is the "e" in the middle of the star circle. That symbol is used by the Council of Europe, and (AFAIK) not by the EU.

Christian

Dakkus · Post by **Dakkus** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:03 am

yli wrote:
@Dakkus, is Iceland really talking about joining the EU ? (I thought they had a big problem with the EU rules about whales and seal hunts)

They're talking about it in the "maybe in a couple decades" way. There was an article about that in Helsingin Sanomat about a year ago.
Of course those hunting problems are a problem, but if there's only one problem, it can probably be corrected. And besides, the limits Iceland doesn't want to obey exist because otherwise there won't eventually be anything left to hunt. And that'll "solve" the problem anyway.

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