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A scale model of the Solar System along Portage Avenue
Contents
Sun at Portage and Main; Pluto at the West Perimeter
Place a sphere 3.198 m in diameter (10 feet 6 inches) at Portage and Main. This puts Pluto at the West Perimeter Highway, with the various planets and other objects along Portage Avenue as follows:
| Object | Distance | Diameter | Approx Location | OpenStreeMap Scale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | 0 m | 3,198 mm | Centre of Portage & Main | |
| Mercury | 133 m | 12 mm | NE corner Cdn Western Bank | 76px = 30 m: 337px radius |
| Venus | 249 m | 28 mm | West edge of Paris Building | 76px = 30 m: 631px radius |
| Earth | 344 m | 29 mm | ½ way between Smith & Donald | 63px = 50 m: 475px radius |
| Mars | 524 m | 16 mm | East wall of Portage Place | 63px = 50 m: 660px radius |
| Asteroids | 951 m | East wall of Investor’s Group | 64px = 100 m: 609px radius | |
| Jupiter | 1,789 m | 328 mm | East side of Maryland Street | 95px = 300 m: 567px radius |
| Saturn | 3 268 m | 267 mm | West wall RCMP ‘D’ Division | 95px = 300 m: 1035px radius |
| Uranus | 6,608 m | 108 mm | East side of Ferry Road | 80px = 500 m: 1057px radius |
| Neptune | 10,347 m | 104 mm | Turnoff to NB Sturgeon Road | 79px = 1 km: 817px radius |
| Pluto | 13,570 m | 5 mm | West Perimeter Highway | 79px = 2 km: 536px radius |
Sun at Portage and Main; Neptune at the West Perimeter
Place a sphere 4.194 m in diameter (13 feet 9 inches, or about the height of a one storey house) at Portage and Main. This puts Neptune at the West Perimeter Highway, with the various planets and other objects along Portage Avenue as follows:
| Object | Distance | Approx Location | OpenStreeMap Scale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | 0m | Portage and Main | |
| Mercury | 175m | ½ way Fort and Garry | 76px = 30 m / 443px radius |
| Venus | 326m | West side Smith at Portage | 76px = 30 m / 826px radius |
| Earth | 450m | West side Donald at Portage | 63px = 50 m / 568px radius |
| Mars | 687m | Hydro Building Entrance | 64px = 100 m / 439px radius |
| Asteroids | 1,247m | University of Winnipeg Rock | 95px = 300m / 395px radius |
| Jupiter | 2,346m | Simcoe Street / Vimy Ridge Pk | 95px = 300m / 743px radius |
| Saturn | 4,286m | Empress Street Underpass | 80px = 500 m / 685px radius |
| Uranus | 8,668m | Vernon Road (w of Deer Lodge) | 79px = 1km / 685px radius |
| Neptune | 13,659m | West Perimeter Highway | 79px = 2km / 540px radius |
| Pluto | 17,797m | 2.5km west of Headingly | 79px = 2km / 703px radius |
How I did this
- Using OpenStreetMap, I nagivated to Winnipeg at zoom level 13 (0=Earth, 19=max zoom in) which gave me a full view of west Winnipeg from the west Perimeter Highway to Portage and Main.
- At each zoom level, OpenStreetMap puts a scale in the lower left hand corner. I used kruler to measure the number of pixels from the left to right vertical bar on the scale. At zoom level 13, 1 km was 79 pixels wide.
- Using kruler I saw there were 1072 pixels between Portage and Main and the Perimeter Highway. At 79 px = 1km, a simple calculation showed the distance is 13,570 metres, or 13.5 kilometres.
- By playing around a bit with my Build a Scale Model of the Solar System page (see also here,) I determined I needed a sphere 3,198 mm in diameter in order to put Pluto at 13.5 km from Portage and Main.
- The Build a Scale Model of the Solar System page gave me the distances of all the planets from Portage and Main in metres. For example, at that scale the Earth is 344 metres from Portage and Main.
- In OpenStreetMap, I used zoom level 18 and put Portage and Main at the top right of the screen, then used ksnapshot to create a file with the screen image.
- Next I opened the image in Gimp. Using kruler I determined the scale was 76 pixels = 30 metres. Since Earth is 344 metres from Portage and Main, I calculated Earth would be 475 pixels from Portage and Main.
- Next I used gimp’s ellipse selection tool to get a circle selection 950 pixels in diameter (because I needed a circle with a radius of 475 pixels.)
- I placed the centre of the circle—fortunately gimp puts crosshairs at the centre—at Portage and Main, and noted where the circle intersected with Portage Avenue.
- I Repeated the above process for all the planets, using different OpenStreetMap zoom levels to accomodate the ever increasing distances from Portage and Main.