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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Iowa City, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Iowa City 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 Iowa City:
- 41.657917, -91.534632
- 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 Iowa City
- 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 Johnson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Johnson County
- Since Iowa City is near Cedar County and also Washington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Cedar County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Washington 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 Iowa City
Communities Also Named Iowa City ...
We found four communities that are also named Iowa City.
Within Iowa, the name Iowa City is unique.
Beyond Iowa, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Placer County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of Iowa City [Placer County].
- Yuba County
- This Iowa City is located in Yuba County and lies 1,573 miles [2,531.5 km]<2> to the west of the Iowa City that is located in Johnson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Yuba County community of Iowa City.
- Florida
- Seminole County
- This Iowa City is located in Seminole County and lies 1,068 miles [1,718.8 km]<2> to the southeast of the Iowa City that is located in Johnson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Seminole County community of Iowa City.
- Kansas
- Crawford County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Iowa City [Crawford County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Iowa City ...
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.
- Coralville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
- Frytown
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Graham ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
- Graham is located in Johnson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graham
- Green Castle ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
- Green Castle is located in Johnson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Castle
- Hills
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Iowa Junction ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Iowa Junction is located in Washington County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iowa Junction
- Morse
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Oasis
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- River Junction
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
- Twin View Heights
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Twin View Heights is located in Johnson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin View Heights
- University Heights
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- University Heights is located in Johnson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Heights
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,025 people
How Far From Iowa City 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 city such as Iowa City to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Iowa City and extending to:
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 107 miles [172.2 km]<2> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Iowa City to Des Moines, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 786 miles [1,264.9 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 31 days and walking would take 45 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,333 miles [10,192 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,079 miles [11,392.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,969 miles [7,996.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek 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 Iowa City 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. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Iowa City) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 Iowa City 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 Iowa City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.6579, Longitude: -91.5346 |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.057 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.297 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.579 degrees. |
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