Geographic Center of Disc Golf Courses

[Steve West]

Somewhat related to recent events: The geographic center of all the active courses on here has moved outside the borders of the United States.

Shocking!

It is now at 48.956440, -87.772090.

Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada is the nearest place with a name, I think, with Birch Point Park DGC being the closest to the center at 74 miles away.

 

[dbanderson]

What are these recent events you speak of?

 

[scarpfish]

Where was the old geographic center at Steve? Which way it has moved since might provide insight into what caused it to move. Something tells me Finland is involved.

 

[Aim For The Chains]

Where was the old geographic center at Steve? Which way it has moved since might provide insight into what caused it to move. Something tells me Finland is involved.

Yeah i tried searching this AM but came up empty. Id be curious to see old center points.

 

[optidiscic]

things are drifting north probably due to the pull of the scandinavian sprawl

 

[Steve West]

things are drifting north probably due to the pull of the scandinavian sprawl

Yes, or at least the addition of those courses to the directory. The old center was around the Quad cities IA/IL/MO area.

If San Diego and Los Angeles had as many courses as they need for their population, we might be able to bring it back into the USA.

 

[scarpfish]

FWIW, 49 degrees North is the "straight" portion of the U.S. Canadian border from BC & Washington state over to Manitoba and Minnesota. Ontario has the second most courses of any Canadian province, and pretty much every course in Ontario is south of this line.

Latitude of Helsinki, the capital of Finland which is at the southern tip of the country....60 degrees North.

 

[Steve West]

Oops, slight miscalculation.

I had a bad constant in my formula. The real center is near Thunder Bay, but it's out in Lake Superior, still in the USA by just about 17 miles.

47.69527319, -87.58397901

 

[Aim For The Chains]

Does that mean MN is the true disc golf mecca?!

 

[Darkgreen]

Does that mean MN is the true disc golf mecca?!

The nearest U.S. piece of land might be Isle Royale, which is actually a part of Michigan.

 

[damtroll]

Actually, it looks like the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge course is the closest thing to the center of the disc golf universe. Awesome, and go Michigan Tech Huskies!

 

[Reniger]

Damn straight, Michigan owns disc golf. Your fees can be sent directly to me at...

 

[Steve West]

Does that mean MN is the true disc golf mecca?!

This doesn't meant that, but that might still be true. Stay tuned for the most well-served points and states.

 

[ThrowBot]

How are you determining the geographic center? Is it just "(average of course latitudes) , (average of course longitudes)" ?

 

[Steve West]

How are you determining the geographic center? Is it just "(average of course latitudes) , (average of course longitudes)" ?

For areas, the theory goes like this: take a lightweight globe, evenly paint some heavy paint on the area in question, and plop it in some water. It will roll around until the area in question is at the bottom. The lowest point of the floating globe is the geographic center.

I took the point that would be at the bottom of a floating globe if tiny little baskets were attached - one for each disc golf hole.

The picture above is what it would look like from underwater looking straight up. The center is at the average x and average y of all the dots (weighted by number of baskets), including the grey dots which are on the top of the floating sphere.

 

[glassila]

Actually, it looks like the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge course is the closest thing to the center of the disc golf universe. Awesome, and go Michigan Tech Huskies!

IF Isle Royale were the geographic center of Disc Golf, then the Calumet Lake Disc Golf course (50 miles) would be closer than the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge course (52 miles). There is a course in Thunder Bay Canada, however that is 32 miles from Isle Royale.

If the 47.69527319, -87.58397901 coordinates are correct then the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge is easily the closest (about 32 miles).

 

[ThrowBot]

For areas, the theory goes like this: take a lightweight globe, evenly paint some heavy paint on the area in question, and plop it in some water. It will roll around until the area in question is at the bottom. The lowest point of the floating globe is the geographic center.

I took the point that would be at the bottom of a floating globe if tiny little baskets were attached - one for each disc golf hole.

The picture above is what it would look like from underwater looking straight up. The center is at the average x and average y of all the dots (weighted by number of baskets), including the grey dots which are on the top of the floating sphere.

Interesting. That's definitely a more robust and objective method than using average lat/long data. Your way sounds like it would give the same "center" regardless of where the zero longitude meridian is set, which was my initial concern.

You also answered another question I had: it sounds like your system is "weighted" to reflect the number of holes at each location. (Props for that :hfive

Follow up question:
Does your model calculate a "depth" beneath the surface where the center is located, or is the geographic center assumed to be on the surface of the sphere?

 

[Steve West]

Interesting. That's definitely a more robust and objective method than using average lat/long data. Your way sounds like it would give the same "center" regardless of where the zero longitude meridian is set, which was my initial concern.

You also answered another question I had: it sounds like your system is "weighted" to reflect the number of holes at each location. (Props for that :hfive

Follow up question:
Does your model calculate a "depth" beneath the surface where the center is located, or is the geographic center assumed to be on the surface of the sphere?

On the surface. I suppose one could compute x, y, and z coordinates for all the courses, and then compute the centroid to find the central point within the earth.

Are you planning a super disc golf subway system?

 

[bikinjack]

So, do you have a historical record of how this point has moved?

I'm guessing it's moved to the north due to all the courses that have popped up in Scandinavia and the Baltics in the last few years.

 

[Steve West]

So, do you have a historical record of how this point has moved?

I'm guessing it's moved to the north due to all the courses that have popped up in Scandinavia and the Baltics in the last few years.

I'll work on that.