RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Iowa >> Polk County >> Altoona >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Altoona, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Altoona 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 Altoona:
    • 41.644130, -93.483726
    • 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 Altoona
  • 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 Polk County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Polk County
    • Since Altoona is near Jasper County and also Warren County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jasper County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Warren 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 Altoona

Communities Also Named Altoona ...

We found ten communities that are also named Altoona.

Within Iowa, the name Altoona is unique.

Beyond Iowa, we know of ten communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Etowah County
      • This Altoona is located in Etowah County and lies 654 miles [1,052.5 km]<1> to the southeast of the Altoona that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Etowah County community of Altoona.
    • Florida
      • Lake County
      • This Altoona is located in Lake County and lies 1,098 miles [1,767.1 km]<1> to the southeast of the Altoona that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lake County community of Altoona.
    • Kansas
      • Wilson County
      • This Altoona is located in Wilson County and lies 307 miles [494.1 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Altoona that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wilson County community of Altoona.
    • Louisiana
      • Madison Parish
      • This Altoona is located in Madison Parish and lies 644 miles [1,036.4 km]<1> to the south of the Altoona that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison Parish community of Altoona.
    • Minnesota
      • Pipestone County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Minnesota community of Altoona [Pipestone County].
    • Ohio
      • Jackson County
      • This Altoona is located in Jackson County and lies 598 miles [962.4 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Altoona that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Altoona.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Blair County
      • This Altoona is located in Blair County and lies 788 miles [1,268.2 km]<1> to the east of the Altoona that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Blair County community of Altoona.
    • South Dakota
      • Beadle County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Dakota community of Altoona [Beadle County].
    • Washington
      • Wahkiakum County
      • This Altoona is located in Wahkiakum County and lies 1,523 miles [2,451 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Altoona that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wahkiakum County community of Altoona.
    • Wisconsin
      • Eau Claire County
      • This Altoona is located in Eau Claire County and lies 241 miles [387.9 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Altoona that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Eau Claire County community of Altoona.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Altoona ...

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 Altoona 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 Altoona to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Des Moines, which is the Seat of Polk County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies just to the west southwest (WSW).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 885 miles [1,424.3 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Altoona to White House, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 51 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,402 miles [10,303 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,150 miles [11,506.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,046 miles [8,120.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Altoona) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Altoona could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Altoona 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 Altoona. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.6441, Longitude: -93.4837    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.394 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.829 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.577 degrees.