RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Florida >> Volusia County >> De Land >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in De Land, we use the following websites to find information relevant to De Land and the surrounding area.

  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for De Land:
    • 29.028143, -81.303509
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on De Land
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Volusia County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Volusia County
    • Since De Land is near Lake County and also Seminole County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lake County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Seminole County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for De Land

Communities Also Named De Land ...

We found one communities that are also named De Land.

Within Florida, the name De Land is unique.

Beyond Florida, there is another community also named De Land in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Piatt County
      • This De Land is located in Piatt County and lies 871 miles [1,401.7 km]<1> to the north northwest of the De Land that is located in Volusia County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Piatt County community of De Land.

Curious and Interesting Names Near De Land ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

How Far From De Land to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as De Land to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in De Land and extending to:

  • Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 203 miles [326.7 km]<1> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from De Land to Tallahassee, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 12 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 723 miles [1,163.6 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 41 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,517 miles [10,488.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,187 miles [11,566.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,085 miles [8,183.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- De Land) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<4>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from De Land to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in De Land. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 29.0281, Longitude: -81.3035    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.292 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.754 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.288 degrees.