With a little help from XML.com and the Google Maps API, I’ve mapped the 4 potential locations of the Lost island.

Two assumptions:

  1. The Lost numbers are coordinates

    2. In this case, I’m using them as decimal representations of actual longitude and latitude

  2. We can’t know what hemisphere or side of the international dateline the coordinates reference

    3. Hence, four possible locations for the island

A couple of apologies as well:

  1. The map is too wide

    2. If I had the time or the energy, I’d fix the dateline issue. As it is, I’ve got to show the entire earth with the points split into two pairs. I’d love to have it show them all in a cluster hanging out around the international dateline and the equator.

  2. The map is too bland

    3. I’d love to style the pop-up info windows and add some cute text, but postion will have to do for now.

And since I’m into the whole two-item ordered list thing tonight, here are my future Lost mapping plans:

  1. A detailed map of the island

    2. I’d like to map the Lost island itself, but I need a reference island that’s got a good deal of detail on Google maps. Suggestions? All coders and Losties are welcome to the party.

  2. Geeky production map

    3. I’d also like to map actual shooting locations in Hawaii as seen on the show. Again, I’d need a ton of help from motivated fans, but we could do it.

You know what, here’s two more points, just because I’m punchy:

  1. The island is moving

    2. Goofy theory of mine. I swear I’m stealing this from The Prisoner or Nausicaa or some other source, but that damn island isn’t staying in one place.

    Or maybe I’m thinking about the coordinate possibilities too much.

  2. The island is stuck in a time warp and hence is hidden

    3. The whole bermuda triangle angle. Weak, but still a theory.

I’m seriously done Lost-blogging for the night.

If anyone wants to offer assistance on creating and mapping the two map projects I mentioned above, let me know in the comments.

Wait! I also have 2 questions:

  1. Googlemaps & WordPress

    2. Anyone know how to get a map to display directly in a blog post or page using WordPress?

  2. Lost Wiki

    3. Is anyone already running a Lost Wiki with a mapping component? I don’t want to re-duplicate efforts.

I’m done for real now.

UPDATE: New blog post that includes the map inline and a permanent page on the site.