45X90 points

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45X90 points are the Earth's four points that are halfway between the poles, the equator, the Prime Meridian and the International Date Line. They are one of the Earth's significant coordinate intersections including the poles and intersections between the three prime lines.

The most well-known and frequently visited such point is 45°0′0″N 90°0′0″W / 45°N 90°W / 45; -90 in the town of Rietbrock, Wisconsin (and unincorporated community of Poniatowski, Wisconsin). A Geographic Marker sign has been placed there by the Marathon County Park Commission. With the rise in personal GPS devices, the sign was amended to clarify that the actual 45x90 point is actually approximately 1063 feet (324 m) away in a field behind the sign; the location of the marker was chosen because of its proximity to the road.

The point has become a bit of a pop culture phenomenon thanks to Gisecki's Tavern in the tiny cluster of establishments in Poniatowski. They once sold 45X90 t-shirts and registered visitors as members of the 45X90 Club. Since 2006, the Wausau/Central Wisconsin Convention & Visitors Bureau has been the holder of the official "45X90 Club" registration book. The book is on loan from the Gisecki family.^[1] Upon becoming a member of the "45X90 Club", the Wausau/Central Wisconsin Convention & Visitors Bureau will give new members a commemorative coin. The point even has a web page devoted to it.

The only other 45X90 point on land is 45°0′0″N 90°0′0″E / 45°N 90°E / 45; 90 in a desolate region of northwestern China in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region near the Mongolian border, some 240 km northeast of Ürümqi. The only known visitors to this point were Greg Michaels, an American, and Ru Rong Zhao, a taxi driver from the closest town of Qitai. They visited this point on April 13, 2004 and documented the visit on the Degree Confluence Project (DCP). Their visit shows that there is no monument or any physical sign that recognition has been given to this location.

The two southern hemisphere 45X90 points, 45°0′0″S 90°0′0″W / 45°S 90°W / -45; -90 and 45°0′0″S 90°0′0″E / 45°S 90°E / -45; 90 are in the southern Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean, respectively.

[edit] See also

• Degree Confluence Project (DCP)
• 45th parallel north
• 45th parallel south
• 90th meridian east
• 90th meridian west

[edit] External links

• The 45th Parallel, Poniatowski, Wisconsin
• Visit to the 45X90 point in Wisconsin (DCP)
• Visit to the 45X90 point in northwestern China (DCP)

[edit] Notes

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