Mark Brader:
>> From 36.07481,-112.15567 (a viewpoint on West Rim Drive on the
>> South Rim) to 36.18061,-112.12801 (Tiyo Point, or more precisely
>> the end of the Tiyo Point Road, on the North Rim). Google Maps
>> gives a route of 359 km; my program makes the straight distance
>> between those coordinates 12.024 km; that gives a ratio of 29.86.
Alan Curry:
> In the same part of the world, 36.222134, -113.144522 to 36.157896,
> -113.101963, straight line distance 5 miles (well, 5.027 but it's just a
> matter of fiddling with the endpoints; you can get under 3.5 miles just
> by following the roads to their ends), driving distance 439 miles, ratio
> 439/5 = 87.8
Well, I guess Alan is winning this sheep, but I would like to mention
that I've found one in a completely different place that beats my
version of the Grand Canyon answer.
45.37711,-64.42417 to 45.30805,-64.39213
289 km / 8.07 km = 35.8
This is one where a ferry *would* eliminate most of the distance, but
there happens not to be a ferry (that Google Maps knows about, anyway).
The Google Maps routing is also interesting because it goes almost via
Halifax instead of cutting across directly from Truro to Windsor, which
would only be 253 km -- but that's not an anomaly, it's just trying to
save an estimated 3 minutes on the 4-hour trip by using faster roads!
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | ... "reasonable system" is of course defined as
m...@vex.net | "any one *I've* ever used..." -- Steve Summit