RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Georgia >> DeKalb County >> North Atlanta >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • Weather ...
  • 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 North Atlanta:
    • 33.865103, -84.336592
    • 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 North Atlanta
  • 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 DeKalb County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for DeKalb County
    • Since North Atlanta is near Fulton County and also Cobb County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fulton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cobb 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 North Atlanta

Curious and Interesting Names Near North Atlanta ...

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.

  • Derby Hill
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Derby Hill is located in Fulton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Derby Hill
  • Edwardsville ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Edwardsville is located in Fulton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edwardsville
  • Forest Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Forest Valley is located in Fulton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Valley
  • Misty Ridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Misty Ridge is located in Fulton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Misty Ridge
  • Oak Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Oak Grove is located in DeKalb County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Peachtree Park ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Peachtree Park is located in Fulton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peachtree Park
  • Powers Lane
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Powers Lane is located in Fulton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Powers Lane
  • Sandy Springs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Starlight Hills
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Starlight Hills is located in Fulton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Starlight Hills

How Far From North Atlanta to ...

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in North Atlanta and extending to:

  • Decatur, which is the Seat of DeKalb County, lies just to the South Southeast.
  • Atlanta, which is the State Capital of Georgia, lies just to the south southwest (SSW).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 533 miles [857.8 km]<2> to the northeast (NE). If you could drive a straight line from North Atlanta to White House, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 31 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 21 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,431 miles [10,349.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,134 miles [11,481.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,012 miles [8,066 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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- North Atlanta) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 North Atlanta 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 North Atlanta. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.8651, Longitude: -84.3366       In this case, the coordinates for North Atlanta have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.228 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 307.664 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.239 degrees.