How far north of the Arctic Circle is the Treriksroset, or Three-Country Cairn, in Scandinavia?

If you put the latitudes into this website it calculates the distances as 278km north for the Sweden Norway Finland border and 275km north for the Russia Norway Finland border.

You can find these things on google maps, @Yellowdog . It shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out. The Arctic circle is, what,.. 66N? Google is telling me it’s nearly 66N. Just putting a pin in the point on google maps and it looks like 69N where Norway, Sweden and Finland meet. Then, Sweden stops and Finland and Norway share a border for a while going North and then it goes South again where it meets Russia so Norway, Russia and Finland meet at about 69N as well because the boarder with Finland goes way North and then back down again. Huh. How about that. Do you know how to use Google Maps, @Yellowdog ? Using math, I know that each full point of latitude near the poles is approximately 69 miles (or 111km) because the Earth is ellipsoid so the latitudes are ever so slightly longer near the poles than the equator. So 69×3=207 miles approximately (333km) north of the arctic circle for both of them. I’m rounding. You can get more accurate if you want. Holy cow. There’s loads of cities on the map there. I never think of so many people living north of the arctic circle, but there you go.

@flutherother can you show your work so I can check it?... not you, but check the formula in the website you used. I’m curious if it compensates for the shape of the earth.

I got 66°33′47.2″ N as the latitude of the Arctic Circle from this website and the others I got from Google Earth.

OK… also, there is a portion on the bottom of that website that gives two distances. One for a spherical Earth and one for an ellipsoidal Earth. If the measurements are close to the equator, you use the spherical measure and the closer you get to the poles, you’d use the ellipsoidal measure. So, the formula isn’t built into the calculations, but the two extremes are given. Huh… not bad.

@Flutherother: Thanks! This was very helpful. I used to have a program that calculated these distances if you just entered the coordinants—this website appears to do the same thing. And thanks for doing it for me in advance. Even so, I’ll get a lot of use from the website.

@ScienceChick: Google Maps doesn’t calculate geographic distances—only road trips.

Tromso, Norway is about the same latitude. Pretty warm relatively speaking in the brief summer—in the 60s—due to the Gulf Stream. There’s even a university there.

There are a few towns even north of that. They look pretty cold, but not icy and barren.

@Yellowdog if you know the latitudes in this situation, you can always calculate the distances, so I don’t get your point that you can’t calculate distances using google maps. You wanted to know the distance from the Arctic circle… which is a constant around the latitude. Any plot point north of that is a simple calculation using a corresponding latitude.

I measured 225 Km using a ruler and the scale on the map from a point on the Arctic Circle due south of the cairn.

Latitudes are not always available.

@Yellowdog What?

As the crow flies, approximately 333 kilometers (207 miles).
I used Google Maps’ measure feature.

Thus, I hope explains the problem of measuring. 278 km vs 333 km. A difference of about 20 percent.

@Yellowdog You realise it’s because the Earth isn’t a sphere, right? If you are in the higher latitudes you use the higher number for one latitude.

Actually I just thought I was dumb. But I learned that the distance is 171 miles.

How did you come to this outcome, now?

@flutherother posted a tool in the first response that measures this.

@Yellowdog Ah, I see, okay.
I went through the thread to find the 171, but didn’t see it.
But I failed to read his tool suggestion.

You also have to convert kilometers to miles

You don’t have to convert kilometers to miles. In fact, in the area you are measuring, they use kilometers.

and, also, @Yellowdog I have a feeling that if the people living there ever dare to correct your calculations… You wouldn’t believe them and you would find a way to insult them all.

Not my calculations.

And who are YOU to call others insulting people? That’s about all you ever do.

I asked a question. Someone answered it. What pisses you off about that, @sciencechick?

Oh, so you didn’t even bother to do the math after we showed you how to do it. I’m not surprised.

There was no math. Just a tool. And no one showed how to do any maths.

Yep. Just a tool.