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 Giles:
38.134272, -81.447336
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 seven communities that are also named Giles.
Within West Virginia, the name Giles is unique.
Beyond West Virginia, we know of seven communities that are located in the United States.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Alabama
Bibb County
This Giles is located in Bibb County and lies 465 miles [748.3 km]<1> to the southwest of the Giles that is located in Kanawha County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bibb County community of Giles.
Georgia
Chattahoochee 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 Georgia community of Giles [Chattahoochee County].
Iowa
Decatur 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 Iowa community of Giles [Decatur County].
Mississippi
Kemper County
This Giles is located in Kemper County and lies 534 miles [859.4 km]<1> to the southwest of the Giles that is located in Kanawha County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kemper County community of Giles.
Nebraska
Cherry County
This community is historic<3> and although located in Cherry County, we don't know where within the county.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cherry County community of Giles.
Texas
Donley County
This Giles is located in Donley County and lies 1,084 miles [1,744.5 km]<1> to the west of the Giles that is located in Kanawha County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Donley County community of Giles.
Utah
Wayne County
This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Utah community of Giles [Wayne County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Giles ...
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.
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 Giles to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Giles and extending to:
Charleston, which is the Seat of Kanawha County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Giles to Charleston, 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 five to six hours.
Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 17 miles [27.4 km] to the north northwest (NNW). The buggy would take five to six hours and walking would take most of a day.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 244 miles [392.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 14 days.
The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,115 miles [9,841.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,828 miles [10,988.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,704 miles [7,570.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'
Footnotes ...
<1>
Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Giles) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 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 Giles 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 Giles, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>
While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Giles 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 Giles. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.1343, Longitude: -81.4473 In this case, the coordinates for Giles have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.553 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.358 degrees.
<9>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.853 degrees.