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the Degree Confluence Project
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Finland : Etelä-Suomen lääni

3.8 km (2.4 miles) NNE of Vilkjärvi, Etelä-Suomen lääni, Finland
Approx. altitude: 71 m (232 ft)
([?] maps: Google MapQuest OpenStreetMap ConfluenceNavigator)
Antipode: 61°S 152°W

Accuracy: 4 m (13 ft)
Quality: good

Click on any of the images for the full-sized picture.

#2: View to the North #3: View to the East #4: View to the South #5: View to the West #6: GPS reading #7: Ground Zero #8: The Confluence Hunters #9: The Finland graph #10: Parking the car 200 m from the Confluence #11: Confluence points & hunters

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  61°N 28°E (visit #3)  

#1: The Confluence from 30 m distance

(visited by Rainer Mautz and Elionora)

30-Jul-2017 -- This is the first out of 13 reports reaching confluence points in Finland. On our 4-day trip to Finland, we agreed to devote one day for confluencing – but this day we would spend entirely on visiting the maximal number of confluence points. We had reached 10 points in 2005 and 12 points in 2015. Would it be possible to beat our record?

In order to optimize our route through Finland, I calculated all driving times between neighbouring confluence points using Google Maps. I also estimated the hiking times to the confluences including the return to the car, considering the minimal parking distance, the terrain, the existence of footpaths and the vegetation. The result was an inscrutable graph with nodes and edges between them. It soon became obvious that southern Finland offered shorter travel times compared to the arctic north due to higher network density of roads in southern Finland. But how could I find the optimal route?

In order to find the quickest route, I wrote a simple MATLAB program based on a randomized global optimizer, also called Monte Carlo method, that cannot guarantee to deliver the quickest route, but a very quick route in reasonable computation time. This way, I minimized the sum of travel times between 15 confluence points. The output of this program was a route that was obviously a very good route and we prepared for it.

Critical was the daylight time. We had to arrive at the first CP with the first daylight and reach the last point before nightfall. At such high latitudes of more than 60°, the summer daylight is long and the beeline travel distances of around 50 km are less than half between longitude lines compared to the distances at the equator. However, the distances between longitudes remain at 110 km and the infrastructure of roads is significantly less dense compared to central Europe. Also critical were the pauses. To minimise them, we changed drivers, and the one who was not driving was eating our prepared food consisting of two loaves of bread, cheese, tomatoes etc.

We already arrived at Lappeenranta the day before, spending the night in town. At the hotel reception, we wanted to cancel our breakfast, arguing that we would leave the hotel too early. But the breakfast was included and offered “anytime”. But when we said that we would like to take breakfast at 3 AM, the receptionist asked us twice if he had understood correctly.

The next morning, our alarm-clock woke us at 2:50 AM. After having our specially arranged early breakfast buffet, we left our hotel at 3:30 AM expecting a 14-minute drive to this confluence point (according to Google Maps). But sometimes there is a gap between prediction and reality – such in this case. Road no.6 had been upgraded to a motorway with the drawback that the exits near the confluence had been removed. Our navigation system however had an old data set such that it told us nonsense. At the end, 14 minutes became 40 minutes until we were able to park the rental car at our planned spot in 200 m distance from the confluence point.

We walked along the edge of a wheat field and a forest up to a distance of 30 m. We then had to jump over a water-filled ditch. Finally we found the confluence point in a young birch forest with a lot of undergrowth. The plants were covered with dew which made us totally wet.

Altogether it took us 17 hours 48 minutes to visit all 13 points, taking the picture of the first confluence at 4:34 AM and the last at 10:22 PM. On average it took us 1 hour 29 minutes to get from one point to another (75 minutes driving and 14 minutes hiking). The driving distance was 1013 km (thus we covered 84 km on average between two CPs) which is 40% more compared to the geometric distance of 732 km. The following table gives some more detailed statistics about the trip.

Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Latitude 61°N 61°N 61°N 62°N 62°N 62°N 62°N 63°N 63°N 63°N 63°N 63°N 63°N
Longitude 28°E 27°E 26°E 26°E 25°E 24°E 23°E 22°E 23°E 24°E 25°E 26°E 27°E
Car Parking [hh:min] 04:28 05:46 06:59 08:42 10:51 12:12 13:31 15:19 16:35 17:45 19:05 20:39 22:03
Picture at CP [hh:min] 04:34 05:48 07:01 08:48 10:55 12:22 13:34 15:33 16:41 17:53 19:12 20:40 22:14
Time to CP [hh:min] 01:04 01:12 01:13 01:47 02:07 01:27 01:12 01:59 01:08 01:12 01:18 01:28 01:34
Driving Time [hh:min] 00:58 01:05 01:08 01:38 01:59 01:11 01:00 01:43 00:49 00:56 01:01 01:17 01:18
Hiking Time [min] 20 5 5 10 10 19 2 27 14 19 17 6 24
Driving distance [km] 45 76 72 127 99 73 74 134 57 60 67 88 86
Parking distance [m] 200 106 49 122 388 412 15 555 331 458 331 130 374
Minimal distance [m] 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
GPS accuracy [m] 4 3 3 4 4 3 3 4 4 3 3 3 4
Altitude 74 112 111 172 108 124 145 16 41 114 180 106 107

Here is an overview over all 13 confluences, including a snapshot the of confluence hunters as they appeared at the sites.

CP Visit Details:

  • Distance of car parking: 200 m
  • Time to reach the CP from the road: 12 min
  • Time at the CP: 4:34 AM
  • Measured height: 74 m
  • Minimal distance according to GPS: 0 m
  • Position accuracy: 4 m
  • Topography: slightly hilly
  • Vegetation: birch forest, ferns and bluebottles
  • Weather: mostly clear, 14° C (felt temperature)
  • Given Name: The Wetfield Wrongdrive Confluence

The story continues at 61°N 27°E.


 All pictures
#1: The Confluence from 30 m distance
#2: View to the North
#3: View to the East
#4: View to the South
#5: View to the West
#6: GPS reading
#7: Ground Zero
#8: The Confluence Hunters
#9: The Finland graph
#10: Parking the car 200 m from the Confluence
#11: Confluence points & hunters
ALL: All pictures on one page