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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 Otranto, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Otranto 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 Otranto:
- 43.458298, -92.985750
- 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 Otranto
- 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 Mitchell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Mitchell County
- Since Otranto is near Worth County and also Mower County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Worth County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Mower 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 Otranto
Communities Also Named Otranto ...
We found two communities that are also named Otranto.
Within Iowa, the name Otranto is unique.
Beyond Iowa, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- South Carolina
- Barnwell 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 South Carolina community of Otranto [Barnwell County].
- Charleston County
- This Otranto is located in Charleston County and lies 1,006 miles [1,619 km]<2> to the southeast of the Otranto that is located in Mitchell County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Charleston County community of Otranto.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Otranto ...
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.
- Carpenter
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Carpenter is located in Mitchell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carpenter
- Population from the 2020 Census: 108 people
- Deer Creek
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Deer Creek is located in Worth County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer Creek
- Johnsburg
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Johnsburg is located in Mower County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Johnsburg
- London
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- London is located in Freeborn County (MN)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for London
- Lyle
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Mitchell
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
- Mitchell is located in Mitchell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mitchell
- Population from the 2020 Census: 128 people
- Rose Creek
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
- Stacyville
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Stacyville is located in Mitchell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stacyville
- Population from the 2020 Census: 466 people
- Stacyville Junction
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
- Stacyville Junction is located in Mitchell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stacyville Junction
How Far From Otranto 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 community such as Otranto to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Otranto and extending to:
- Osage, which is the Seat of Mitchell County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Otranto to Osage, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 132 miles [212.4 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 884 miles [1,422.7 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 35 days and walking would take 51 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,291 miles [10,124.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,043 miles [11,334.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,944 miles [7,956.6 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 Otranto 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Otranto) 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 Otranto 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 Otranto. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.4583, Longitude: -92.9857 In this case, the coordinates for Otranto have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.088 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.719 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.883 degrees. |
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