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 Rio Vista:
42.543149, -71.305059
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.
We found fourteen communities that share the name Rio Vista.
Within Massachusetts, the name Rio Vista is unique.
Beyond Massachusetts, we know of another fourteen communities that are located throughout in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Arkansas
White County
This Rio Vista is located in White County and lies 1,189 miles [1,913.5 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Rio Vista that is located in Middlesex County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the White County community of Rio Vista.
California
Solano County
This Rio Vista is located in Solano County and lies 2,629 miles [4,231 km]<1> to the west of the Rio Vista that is located in Middlesex County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Solano County community of Rio Vista.
Florida
Pinellas County
This Rio Vista is located in Pinellas County and lies 1,196 miles [1,924.8 km]<1> to the southwest of the Rio Vista that is located in Middlesex County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pinellas County community of Rio Vista.
Georgia
Chatham County
This Rio Vista is located in Chatham County and lies 907 miles [1,459.7 km]<1> to the southwest of the Rio Vista that is located in Middlesex County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chatham County community of Rio Vista.
Dougherty County
This Rio Vista is located in Dougherty County and lies 1,034 miles [1,664.1 km] to the southwest of the Rio Vista that is located in Middlesex County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dougherty County community of Rio Vista.
Kentucky
Harlan County
This Rio Vista is located in Harlan County and lies 750 miles [1,207 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Rio Vista that is located in Middlesex County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Harlan County community of Rio Vista.
Maryland
Talbot County
This Rio Vista is located in Talbot County and lies 365 miles [587.4 km]<1> to the southwest of the Rio Vista that is located in Middlesex County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Talbot County community of Rio Vista.
Nevada
Esmeralda 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 Nevada community of Rio Vista [Esmeralda County].
Lyon County
This community is historic<3> and although located in Lyon County, we don't know where within the county.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lyon County community of Rio Vista.
Tennessee
Blount County
This Rio Vista is located in Blount County and lies 830 miles [1,335.8 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Rio Vista that is located in Middlesex County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Blount County community of Rio Vista.
Texas
Johnson County
This Rio Vista is located in Johnson County and lies 1,588 miles [2,555.6 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Rio Vista that is located in Middlesex County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Johnson County community of Rio Vista.
Utah
Weber County
This Rio Vista is located in Weber County and lies 2,072 miles [3,334.6 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Rio Vista that is located in Middlesex County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Weber County community of Rio Vista.
Virginia
Henrico 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 Virginia community of Rio Vista [Henrico County].
Richmond County
This Rio Vista is located in Richmond County and lies 475 miles [764.4 km]<1> to the southwest of the Rio Vista that is located in Middlesex County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Richmond County community of Rio Vista.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Rio Vista ...
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.
Centralville (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Centralville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
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 Rio Vista to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Rio Vista and extending to:
Cambridge, which is the Seat of Middlesex County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Rio Vista to Cambridge, with an average speed<5> 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.
Boston, which is the State Capital of Massachusetts, lies 17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast (SE). The buggy would take five to six hours and walking would take most of a day.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 391 miles [629.3 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 23 days.
The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,507 miles [8,862.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,215 miles [10,002.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<8>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,091 miles [6,583.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<9>
Footnotes ...
<1>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Rio Vista) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rio Vista. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.5431, Longitude: -71.3051 In this case, the coordinates for Rio Vista have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Rio Vista 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>
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 Rio Vista, 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 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.
<6>
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 Rio Vista to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 304.095 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 299.737 degrees.
<9>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 300.588 degrees.