Tsuchida Station: Sign Post project (fun with cartography)

Blurb: Now that the major parts of our renovation(s) are done and we settled in, turning our attention to “improving the campsite“ with yard, garden(s) and more decorative outdoor projects including this directional sign post, with weather station on top, aligned with the compass cardinal points.

Hoping it becomes an object of interest for the neighborhood kids, as well as when friends can come visit down the road, they can make/add a sign.

If curious, measured exact distance from our front yard to a specific point (hospitals, hideout, parks, museums) notable from my rambles rather than from “city center to city center” – then figured out azimuth from the geo-coordinates.

Made a Google Earth project with candidate locations, still plenty to add in leisure times using leftover scrap wood from the construction, a bit of milk paint, and loads of memories / all mounted on a decommissioned tree from my wife the arborist. (the unadorned board in the middle-ish is showing *exact* West & East)

Combining memories, leftover floorboards, milk paint, quasi-Shodo, and various amateur cartography skills, added the first few signs today… More to come >> Will need another pole for the whole list.

worksheet with places, geo-coordinates and compass azimuth

Places: Current working list with latitude and longitude and compass points (is the azimuth?) denoted here – Referenced to exact special points in each of these places, often hospitals, peers, homes, hideouts and so on. More to come… Ran out of paper but still have more pencil.

If you have questions about any of the locations, feel free to ask, will eventually explain in more detail for the permanent record. Also suggestions welcome, though I probably already know :-)

Process: First i planned the location in a google earth project, figured out geo-coordinates (degrees, minutes, seconds &/or 4 decimal points out) and distance right from our front yard to a specific landmark.

screenshot of project in process – each place has a story (not surprisingly)

Then figured out the compass direction using this tool {noting someone shared this with me when i inquired months back, thanks).

i.e. 133.9833 E 34.6968 N (Tsuchida Station) to 32.6014 E 25.7401 N (Valley of Kings Egypt) is 297º25’35” on the compass

the Moab ones are a gift for some friends, Noto needed kanjj (now painted by Ryoko)
Process: cut the boards, a couple coats of “milk paint”, the the lettering (in one breath) and then clear coat, drill holes

Post (mounted in cement) has a weather station on top, also adjusted to proper cardinal points. Measures temperature, dewpoint, humidity, UV, rainfall, wind direction, barometric pressure etc., transmits to a display panel inside the parents’ house and then onto the Internet.