Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Plato, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Plato and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Plato
- 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 Plato:
- 41.738075, -91.308497
- 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.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Plato
- 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 Cedar County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Cedar County
- Since Plato is near Johnson County and also Muscatine County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Johnson County
- eBird sighting report for Muscatine 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Plato ...
We found eleven communities that share the name Plato.
Within Iowa, the name Plato is unique.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another eleven communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these eleven communities, ten are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- New York
- Saskatchewan
- This Plato lies 1,039 miles [1,672.1 km]<2> to the northwest of the Plato that is located in Cedar County.
- Tennessee
- Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Plato ...
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.
- Cedar Bluff
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Bluff
- Cedar Bluff is located in Cedar County
- Cedar Valley
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Valley
- Cedar Valley is located in Cedar County
- Graham ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest) - Iowa City
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iowa City
- Iowa City is located in Johnson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 76,608 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Iowa City <5>
- Lime City
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast) - Lisbon
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lisbon have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lisbon
- Lisbon is located in Linn County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,252 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lisbon <5>
- Mechanicsville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mechanicsville
- Mechanicsville is located in Cedar County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,116 people
- Morse
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west) - Oasis
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oasis
- Oasis is located in Johnson County
- Twin View Heights
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Twin View Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin View Heights
- Twin View Heights is located in Johnson County
- University Heights
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for University Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Heights
- University Heights is located in Johnson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,025 people
How Far From Plato 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 Plato to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Plato and extending to:
- Tipton, which is the Seat of Cedar County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Plato to Tipton, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 119 miles [191.5 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 775 miles [1,247.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 31 days and walking would take 44 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,321 miles [10,172.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,066 miles [11,371.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,957 miles [7,977.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Plato. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/
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 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 Plato 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- Plato) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Plato. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.7381, Longitude: -91.3085 In this case, the coordinates for Plato have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Plato, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Plato to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.904 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.133 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.445 degrees. |