RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Indiana >> Decatur County >> Saint Omer >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Saint Omer, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Saint Omer 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 Saint Omer:
    • 39.435356, -85.595593
    • 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 Saint Omer
  • 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 Decatur County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Decatur County
    • Since Saint Omer is near Shelby County and also Rush County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rush 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 Saint Omer

Communities Also Named Saint Omer ...

We found two communities that are also named Saint Omer.

Within Indiana, the name Saint Omer is unique.

Beyond Indiana, we know of two communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these two communities, one is located in the United States and the other three communities are located in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Coles County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Illinois community of Saint Omer [Coles County].
    • Quebec
      • We haven't found the location of this community yet.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Saint Omer ...

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 Saint Omer to ...

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

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

  • Greensburg, which is the Seat of Decatur County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Indianapolis, which is the State Capital of Indiana, lies 37 miles [59.5 km]<2> to the northwest (NW). If you could walk a straight line from Saint Omer to Indianapolis, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take over two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 459 miles [738.7 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 18 days and walking would take 26 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,222 miles [10,013.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,949 miles [11,183.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,826 miles [7,766.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Saint Omer, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Saint Omer) 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 Saint Omer 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 Saint Omer. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.4354, Longitude: -85.5956       In this case, the coordinates for Saint Omer have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 313.117 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.476 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.30 degrees.