Losties working out where they are

MOH

Something struck me last night. They're on an island in the middle of the ocean, and none of them has a clue where. But shouldn't it be possible to work it out (very roughly)?

They've got watches, presumably starting at Sydney time. They can see what time the sun is rising and setting. From that they should be able to work out what time zone they're in, giving them an approximate longitude, within about 500 miles.
A bit tricker, but based on how the length of days have changed over the 3 months they've been there, shouldn't they be able to work out an approximate latitude.
Plus they've got the flight time of the plane giving them a maximum distance from Sydney.

It still leaves them quite a large margin of error, but if they were ever going to get off the island it might be helpful to know what direction to head.

death1234567

Its a TV show, not real life.

And a rubbish show at that.

E@gle.

Deleted User wrote:

And a rubbish show at that.

if you dont like it why are u posting here

event

MOH wrote:

Something struck me last night. They're on an island in the middle of the ocean, and none of them has a clue where. But shouldn't it be possible to work it out (very roughly)?

They've got watches, presumably starting at Sydney time. They can see what time the sun is rising and setting. From that they should be able to work out what time zone they're in, giving them an approximate longitude, within about 500 miles.
A bit tricker, but based on how the length of days have changed over the 3 months they've been there, shouldn't they be able to work out an approximate latitude.
Plus they've got the flight time of the plane giving them a maximum distance from Sydney.

It still leaves them quite a large margin of error, but if they were ever going to get off the island it might be helpful to know what direction to head.

the magnetism in the hatch would have rendered watches useless id say
and didnt a pilot say they were 1000 miles off course?

ZiabR

Deleted User wrote:

And a rubbish show at that.

Don't waste our time or yours...

marco_polo

MOH wrote:

Something struck me last night. They're on an island in the middle of the ocean, and none of them has a clue where. But shouldn't it be possible to work it out (very roughly)?

They've got watches, presumably starting at Sydney time. They can see what time the sun is rising and setting. From that they should be able to work out what time zone they're in, giving them an approximate longitude, within about 500 miles.
A bit tricker, but based on how the length of days have changed over the 3 months they've been there, shouldn't they be able to work out an approximate latitude.
Plus they've got the flight time of the plane giving them a maximum distance from Sydney.

It still leaves them quite a large margin of error, but if they were ever going to get off the island it might be helpful to know what direction to head.

You can't sail off the island so it wouldn't make a difference. Remember Desmond tried to get away on his yacht and ended up back where he started.

Star Lord

MOH wrote:

Something struck me last night. They're on an island in the middle of the ocean, and none of them has a clue where. But shouldn't it be possible to work it out (very roughly)?

They've got watches, presumably starting at Sydney time. They can see what time the sun is rising and setting. From that they should be able to work out what time zone they're in, giving them an approximate longitude, within about 500 miles.
A bit tricker, but based on how the length of days have changed over the 3 months they've been there, shouldn't they be able to work out an approximate latitude.
Plus they've got the flight time of the plane giving them a maximum distance from Sydney.

It still leaves them quite a large margin of error, but if they were ever going to get off the island it might be helpful to know what direction to head.

You're assuming that some of the survivors know how to do that? I bet if you got a group of 40 odd people, and asked who knows how to judge their longitude using the sun and a watch, you'd be met with a lot of puzzled faces.

Unless Ray Mears was among the survivors.

But he'd have probably made something from some twigs, tree bark, wild boar skins, polar bear hide and a toothpick and used them to escape the island and the magnetic fields.

ZiabR

DamoElDiablo wrote:

You're assuming that some of the survivors know how to do that? I bet if you got a group of 40 odd people, and asked who knows how to judge their longitude using the sun and a watch, you'd be met with a lot of puzzled faces.

Unless Ray Mears was among the survivors.

But he'd have probably made something from some twigs, tree bark, wild boar skins, polar bear hide and a toothpick and used them to escape the island and the magnetic fields.

Hehe aye, Ray Mears is some man for one man.

dan_y

if only macgyver had been on the plane - the show would've ended in the pilot.

Agamemnon

Sayid and Desmond are both ex-military (and Dessie's a sailor as well) so you'd think they would know how to work out where the island is. Locke and Kate are skilled in tracking so they should have some orientation skills as well.

Maybe the techniques used to work out where they are wouldn't work on the island for the same reason they island can't be seen from the outside - the island is cloaked/out of temporal sync/whatever.

Anyway, knowing where they are was pretty useless up to now because they had no way of communicating with the outside world. Maybe they'll make a proper effort to find out now that they have a phone.

duridian

If one of the A-team was there, then they would have found a gas welding rig by now and converted Roger's old hippy van into an improvised submarine by welding on metal bits from the hatch which got blown up last season and bits from the two crashed planes (maybe propellers or something like that).

abelard

dan_y wrote:

...the show would've ended in the pilot.

yuck! (sorry)

ZiabR

dan_y wrote:

if only macgyver had been on the plane - the show would've ended in the pilot.

Clearly he would have built a new plane out of seaweed, rocks, sand and a coconut

MOH

Meh, it was just a thought. I'm sure Arzt could have found a way of doing it. Particuarly if Nikki asked him nicely.

Something else struck me though - Naomi knows exactly where they are. But no one's asked her. Wouldn't you be expect someone after three months to be curious and ask where they were, how far off course they were, questions like that?

ZiabR

MOH wrote:

Meh, it was just a thought. I'm sure Arzt could have found a way of doing it. Particuarly if Nikki asked him nicely.

Something else struck me though - Naomi knows exactly where they are. But no one's asked her. Wouldn't you be expect someone after three months to be curious and ask where they were, how far off course they were, questions like that?

But does Naomi really know where they are? I mean she said she flew into a storm cloud and when the storm cleared she could see the Island. I am not 100% sure she actually knows where the Island is and kinda found it by fluke.

Mitch Connor

logik wrote:

But does Naomi really know where they are? I mean she said she flew into a storm cloud and when the storm cleared she could see the Island. I am not 100% sure she actually knows where the Island is and kinda found it by fluke.

they were told to search particular co-ordinates, she can't be far from there. She may not know exactly where they are, but she should have a damn good idea!

ZiabR

Tauren wrote:

they were told to search particular co-ordinates, she can't be far from there. She may not know exactly where they are, but she should have a damn good idea!

But how do we know her instruments were actually working over the Island or even close to the Island. Her last known location may now be infact miles away from where she is now.

MOH

logik wrote:

But how do we know her instruments were actually working over the Island or even close to the Island. Her last known location may now be infact miles away from where she is now.

Even if that's true, she still thinks she knows where they are.

So I think that if they think that she thinks she knows where they are, they'd want to know where she thinks they are.

ZiabR

MOH wrote:

Even if that's true, she still thinks she knows where they are.

So I think that if they think that she thinks she knows where they are, they'd want to know where she thinks they are.

Haha i have trouble reading that :P, but yes i know what your getting at.

Bard

Didn't she say her ship was 12 nautical miles (or "clicks", as Patchy puts it) away from the island?

Leon11

duridian wrote:

If one of the A-team was there, then they would have found a gas welding rig by now and converted Roger's old hippy van into an improvised submarine by welding on metal bits from the hatch which got blown up last season and bits from the two crashed planes (maybe propellers or something like that).

Killaqueen!!!

I expect (or hope, at least) some answers from Naomi next episode. There was a lot happening in that last one so I think it's just a matter of fitting things in. How many more episodes are there anyway? Is it one more, and then the season finale?

ZiabR

Killaqueen!!! wrote:

I expect (or hope, at least) some answers from Naomi next episode. There was a lot happening in that last one so I think it's just a matter of fitting things in. How many more episodes are there anyway? Is it one more, and then the season finale?

I am not sure if she will be in LOST at all for the rest of this season at least. I hope she can shed some light on what is going on.

Bartronilic

Arzt already told them/figured it out? Because he knew when monsoon season would it.

ZiabR

Bartronilic wrote:

Arzt already told them/figured it out? Because he knew when monsoon season would it.

What?