Obsessively Detailed Map Of Springfield 371
An anonymous reader writes "With all these stories going around about governments' abilities to pinpoint our location via various means, it's quite surprising that one group of people have avoided them for so long. That dastardly family, The Simpsons, have been hidden in Springfield for far too long. Which brings us to the following obsessively detailed map of Springfield. From Jerry Lerma and Terry Hogan: "The mapping of Springfield began in the Spring of 2001 when we realized that no adequate map of Springfield existed either online or in print.""
But in episode... (Score:5, Insightful)
"Due to the many inconsistencies among episodes, the map will never be completely accurate. Although we'd like our map to be as accurate as a map to any imaginary place can be, our main intent is to preserve the comic spirit of Springfield, document its unique identity, and to have some fun at the same time."
IMO they did a great job! (although wasn't the Simpson's house in eyeshot of
Re:But in episode... (Score:5, Interesting)
The nuke plant.
The Springfield brdige.
Kwik-E-Mart
REPOST (Score:5, Informative)
Re:But in episode... (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, I believe Springfield is a network of interconnecting plates which levitate. These plates reconfigure themselves into whatever layout is funniest at any given time, and the whole assembly moves to new locations, which is why Springfield is within an afternoon drive of every major traffic location in the US and Canada, including Hawaii. This does, however, raise questions as to why the Simpsons flew to Australia and Japan.
Although the Simsons' live adjacent to the Nuke plant in one episode, they have a picket fence (not a chain-link and barbed wire fence) accross their back yard with another row of houses behind it in another. In one episode, there's an air view of the area in which the Simspons' discover that everybody in Springfield has a pool except them, but in other episodes, shots of the Flanders' back yard reveals no pool.
In one episode, Moe's is less than a block from the Simpson's house, but at the end of the Flaming Moe's episode, there's a panning shot revealing several blocks of Flaming Moe ripoffs in both directions from Moe's. Sometime's, Moe's is on a corner, sometimes its next to the music store where Lisa got her saxaphone, and in the episode where they hit oil under the school, it was sandwitched between the nuke plant and the school, with nothing else around but a thin chemical haze from the drill site.
All this can easily be explained by the levitating plate theory, since the superior intelligence controlling Springfield simply reconfigures the city into a more amusing and/or ironic layout. I can only assume that Shelbyville, and possibly Capitol City, are also on the plate construct, as they are the only cities at a fixed distance from Springf field, and probably experience the same phenomena.
As for the episode where Homer becomes sanitation director and destroys the city, I believe that the plate design originally included some comparatively pristine wilderness area, which became Springfield Site B when they moved the city.
Yes, I watch WAY too much Simpson's. Yes, I'm also the same person who went equally in-depth explaining plot inconsistencies in all five Star Trek series and Farscape. No, I don't have a girlfriend, if you have to ask.
Re:But in episode... (Score:5, Funny)
A visitor to springfield is going with Homer to the bar.
MMORPG? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:MMORPG? (Score:5, Interesting)
Perhaps a collaborative project where people can submit locations on the map which are compiled together in a single environment. I'd do it, but I'm just a grandiose idea guy.
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Re:MMORPG? (Score:3, Interesting)
There are at least two Simpsons driving games: Hit & Run and Road Rage. We have them both for the kids' gamecube, and they're a lot of fun.
Re:MMORPG? (Score:3, Informative)
Hardly. Each 'level', of which there about three main ones, is just a loop of road with some side roads/shortcuts and houses around them. Unless Springfield is a collection of three loops of road unconnected in any way, the Springfield in that game was not accurate.
Re:MMORPG? (Score:5, Informative)
Even Time magazine has reported this (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Even Time magazine has reported this (Score:3, Funny)
I'll go kill myself quitly in a corner now.
Re:Even Time magazine has reported this (Score:4, Funny)
repeat (Score:5, Informative)
http://slashdot.org/search.pl?tid=&query=spring
Re:repeat (Score:5, Funny)
Re:repeat (Score:3, Funny)
Re:repeat (Score:3, Funny)
O
you ---->
|
/ \
That wooshing sound you just heard? It was you missing the joke.
And now, have some Lorem Ipsum to keep the lameness filter happy (it might be junk text, but it's not junk characters): Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas blandit lectus a ligula. Proin dapibus. Suspendisse ornare lorem in lorem. Suspendisse pretium purus non pede. Phasellus at orci. Mauris vitae sa
Just tell me... (Score:5, Funny)
missing address (Score:5, Funny)
Re:missing address (Score:5, Informative)
holy crap (Score:2, Funny)
After 1/2 an hour searching (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Just tell me...where's Moe's (Score:5, Informative)
For those interested, it's in between 'Springfild Town Hall' and 'Springfild Junior High School'.
Re:Just tell me...where's Moe's (Score:3, Funny)
Why not a whole telephone book ?!
Re:Just tell me... (Score:5, Funny)
Why? Are you looking for Amanda Hugankiss?
Are the same people... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Are the same people... (Score:4, Insightful)
this place is slowly shifting from "news for nerds" to "news for dorks"
there is a distinction!
-- james
Re:Are the same people... (Score:5, Funny)
there is a distinction!
You're such a geek for pointing that out.
No point... (Score:3, Insightful)
b) Very rarely do we see them actually travel in the city
c) No relation to Old New York, it's all buried below. Anything could be placed anywhere
Not that it'd stop anyone with too much time on their hands, like people replying to this article, like you, and me, heh.
Kjella
Sorry... it's a dupe. Original is better. (Score:3, Informative)
after reading your email, the editors commented (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Sorry... it's a dupe. Original is better. (Score:3, Funny)
Wow... (Score:4, Funny)
simpsons hit n run (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:simpsons hit n run (Score:3, Informative)
i'm sure that the licensee had input into the game's development, but creative freedom had to come in somewhere...even though it is a rip off of another game...so much so they got sued...
Re:simpsons hit n run (Score:3, Informative)
Just a quick fact check, I believe that they were not sued over Hit'N'Run, but "Simpsons's Road Rage".
I'm sure if Hit'N'Run was also sued, someone will point out my mistake, but Road Rage was definitely sued [yahoo.com].
Re:simpsons hit n run (Score:3, Interesting)
So you've never seen the simpsons at all...Springfield itself is moving around, sometimes it's at the ocean, sometimes near the desert or high mountains, the building in springfield are moving, sometimes the simpsons house is next to the quick-e-mart, sometimes next to the power plant, and even the rooms in homers house are changing.
Re:simpsons hit n run (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, as we saw in "Trash of the Titans" (episode 9.22), Springfield's Plan B for dealing with emergencies is to move the whole town 5 miles down the road. Given how many crises seem to pop up there, it's not unreasonable to assume that they've invoked Plan B on a number of occasions.
Re:simpsons hit n run (Score:3, Funny)
As with a lot of TV shows and movies, when you're familiar with Los Angeles you realize how many unintentional Angelisms there are in The Simpsons. LA-based writers forget that a city with an ocean, a desert and mountains seems unusual to a lot of people. Admittedly, while the buildings in LA do move, they don't move as much as they do in Springfield...
Re:make yourself a GPS (Score:4, Funny)
Can you actually create one? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Can you actually create one? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Can you actually create one? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Can you actually create one? (Score:5, Insightful)
Even before that, across the street from their place are sometimes normal houses llike theirs, sometimes the mansion former presidents Bush and Ford lived in, sometimes an empty field leading to the highway, etc.
Hell, even Flander's house isn't stable, in the Stonecutters ep it was the nuclear plant's parking lot.
The Kwicky Mart moves around a lot too.
Like Homer said: "Cartoons don't have to make sense".
Real Springfield (Score:2, Funny)
If they do, I'll be a Moe's.
But almost the same place *does* exist! (Score:3, Informative)
plant!). Springfields (or is it Spring Fields) in
Northern England (just outside Preston). They make
nuclear fuel rods.
(At least they did when I visited to do some consultancy work c.a. 1986).
Interesting place. Particularly the signs with "Danger! you are now entering a criticality evacuation area" , and the constant beep bop
of the alarm. You're supposed to panic if it changes from beep bop to god knows what...
Re:But almost the same place *does* exist! (Score:4, Informative)
The "beep bop" stops... (Score:5, Interesting)
As an aside, a theatre show that my sister worked on (she's a sound and lighting engineer) called for a very deep silence, just as you come into the last act. How do you come up with a silence sound effect? Well, from a minute or two before doors, right the way through, she had some white noise playing through the PA, very quietly but noticeably. Because it was there when you walked into the auditorium, you don't notice it. Then, when you drop it out...
Why bother when... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Why bother when... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Why bother when... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Why bother when... (Score:4, Insightful)
The only thing I don't like about current episodes are all the gratuitous celebrity cameos. That's one thing the early episodes got right (have the celebrities play someone besides themselves).
This ROCKS. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:This ROCKS. (Score:3, Funny)
Even if it's not entirely accurate... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Even if it's not entirely accurate... (Score:3, Funny)
Pshaw! Pshaw, I tell you! (Score:2)
Bah. I think they just started doing it once came out because they needed a map for the game. [simpsonsroadrage.com]
Get me two tickets to the state Springfield is in! (Score:5, Funny)
Cheers,
IT
Re:Get me two tickets to the state Springfield is (Score:3, Interesting)
mitch
Re:Get me two tickets to the state Springfield is (Score:3, Interesting)
Remember, the show essentially posited that its not animated, but rather enacted by a real family. As such, wherever the 'real' family is located/from, the show they act in may be in a different location.
hey.... (Score:5, Interesting)
oh look, Google! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:oh look, Google! (Score:4, Informative)
It's scary that I knew that.
Re:oh look, Google! (Score:2)
State? (Score:2)
Re:State? YES (Score:2)
Re:State? YES (Score:2)
Re:State? YES (Score:3, Informative)
They don't only "almost" say it - in episode 248 they do say it. It's Kentucky.
In another episode there's a line about something being "south of the border", and Bart says "you mean Tennessee?" Which also supports the Kentucky answer - not that it needed to be, as again, it's specifically said in episode 248. But some people believe that episode to be entirely apocryphal - certainl
Re:State? YES (Score:5, Informative)
No, they don't. They tell you where the actors playing "The Simpsons" live, but not where the show takes place. Let's see what SNPP [snpp.com] has to say about it:
In the first airing of [BABF19], "Behind The Laughter", the narrator gave Springfield's location as Northern Kentucky. For the second and later airings, this changed to Southern Missouri. Neither of these are admissible locations for Springfield, for the many reasons listed later in this document.
What's the explanation? This episode is not canon. It portrays the show not as a cartoon created by Matt Groening, but as a live-action sitcom originally written by Homer and starring his own family. None of what happens is part of the main Simpsons continuity... just like any Halloween Special.
new Slashdot game (Score:5, Funny)
Pick a day of the year. Perhaps your birthday. On that day of the year, you submit the aformentioned Simpson's site to Slashdot, and lets see how long the editor's memory lasts before they consider this 'news' and include it in Slashdot.
Re:new Slashdot game (Score:2, Funny)
1...2...3... GTA Springfield! Hit and what? (Score:4, Funny)
I would love to make this a GTA3 map... mod characters, there is a great GTA modding community, damn fine programmers too.
Well, back to the map (they haven't got routing or landmarks sorted out, but I guess they are working on it)
It is now on Yahoo! Maps :-) (Score:3, Funny)
Springfield, MA [mapquest.com]
Re:It is now on Yahoo! Maps :-) (Score:2)
I was just going to say myself; that looks a hell of a lot like Springfield MA, to me
Are you sure it's not... (Score:3, Funny)
Springfield, IL [mapquest.com]
Springfield, MO [mapquest.com]
Springfield, OH [mapquest.com]
Springfield, OR [mapquest.com]
Springfield, FL [mapquest.com]
Springfield, MI [mapquest.com]
Springfield, NJ [mapquest.com]
Springfield, PA [mapquest.com]
Springfield, TN [mapquest.com]
or how about Springfield, USA [mapquest.com]?
This text here is solely to get by the lameness filter. It won't let me post the above because of the minimum average line length filter; however, if I put it all on one line it automagically inserts line breaks and *still* kills the minimum average line length filter. Trying to put some line-widifiers down here
Only bridge? (Score:4, Interesting)
From the episode "Bart's Comet"
http://www.snpp.com/episodes/2F11.html
I see at least three bridges.
Dear Slashdot editors: It's really fucking simple (Score:5, Funny)
So, if I may be so bold as to suggest the following before posting slashdot stories from now on...
1. Find two or three of the most relevent keywords, you know, the kinds of words likely to repeat themselves in multiple submissions.
2. Go to google. You can find google at www.google.com. Here is a hyperlink to www.google.com [google.com]. Here is a definition of the word "hyperlink". [m-w.com]
3. Assuming you haven't forgotten the important keywords from step 1, proceed to step 4. Otherwise, return to step 1. If this is the third or fourth time reaching step 3, you might want to consider finding a paper and pencil. If you already had a paper and pencil, then you might want to consider using them to write down the keywords.
4. Now, with those words you've remembered (or written down) from step 1, go into the text box in the middle of that www.google.com webpage. Type in the following:
Slashdot Keyword1 Keyword2 Keyword3
5. If these [google.com] are your search results, hit back on your web browser, and then type in the following:
Slashdot Keyword1 Keyword2 Keyword3
ONLY THIS TIME, replace the three keywords with the words that you remembered, or copied down, from step 1.
6. Finally, have a look at some of the results to see if a slashdot story has already been posted on the submission you've just gotten. If there is a story, do not post the submitted story unless there is some information in the new submission that makes it somehow more relevent.
Good luck, God speed, and don't forget to vote Republican.
Re:Dear Slashdot editors: It's really fucking simp (Score:4, Funny)
Or they could actually read Slashdot. Their choice.
Great.... (Score:3, Funny)
From the article: (Score:5, Funny)
Now those are some geeks. Adequate for what??
Wikipedia (Score:5, Funny)
Patriot Act (Score:5, Funny)
Does nobody have a PS2? (Score:3, Informative)
Oblig Comic Book Guy Reference (Score:3, Funny)
Georeferencing information??? (Score:3, Interesting)
-russ
Grand Theft Auto (Score:3, Funny)
Re:old! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:old! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:old! (Score:5, Interesting)
Why has taco not touched slashcode to make real improvements for almost 5 years?
a simple modification to make the editor's side of the system to require a pull up query of all stories based on keywords in the headline would kill 90% of the dupes.
I know that slashdot is and never has claimed to be a journalism site, but the amount of dupes is getting way out of hand.
how about no ONE editor can publish a story but requires a second editor to approve the first approval?
Re:old! (Score:3, Insightful)
What I've always thought would be the easiest way of checking for Dups is to compare the URLs in an article to the URLs in previous articles. (ignoring ones that point to the main site index pages like http://www.nytimes.com/) The the URL has bee
Re:old! (Score:4, Insightful)
And your addiction to slashdot grows.
Slashdot wouldn't be nearly as addicting (and hence not as popular) if it were the type of site you think want. If you care so much, go read the New York Times technical section or something. If you get sick of the well written "real news", I bet we see you back here, making another snarky post.
Re:I'm sorry. So what? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I'm sorry. So what? (Score:5, Funny)
*wink*
Re:I'm sorry. So what? (Score:3, Insightful)
I fail to see how you could possibly find nearly anything on
Re:I'm sorry. So what? (Score:5, Interesting)
The Simpsons are funny if you are the kind of person to understand and like the jokes. You don't have to like them. But others do for the humor, for the political and social critics na dfor many more reasons. Sure, it's fictional. But what is not ficitonal in one or another way today? The Simpsons bring fans together and make them DO something together.
So you can define this work as a way to waste your time or you can see it as a way to honor a piece of work that has brought and continues to bring people together.
That is the reason why I think this project is plain cool.
As a service to our readers (Score:5, Funny)
True. Even the type that Slashdot attracts can't read everything posted here. As a community service, here's some more news, should a reader have missed it the first 10**6 times around (
- holy cr*p. A meteor's going to smash into the Earth
- Bill Gates and anyone who looks like him is evil, evil, evil
- in Soviet Russia, the tin foil hat wears you
- there's a floating point bug in the Pentium processor
- Google's issuing an IPO
- Perl is illegible line-noise
- Python is for weenies
Hope I didn't miss anything.
If this doesn't get me some karma. I don't know what will.
Re:As a service to our readers (Score:5, Informative)
Anyway, here are some more:
- Natalie Portman is really hot.
- Don't click on goatse.cx. Just don't.
- Emacs kicks vi's ass.
- Gentoo kicks ass.
- Natalie Portman is really hot.
- Slashdot is getting lame.
- Macs kick the crap out of PCs.
- BeOS kicks ass.
- Everything you can do with your computer I can do with my Commodore 64.
- Linux isn't hard; you're just stupid.
- Natalie Portman is really hot.
- KDE sucks.
- GNOME sucks.
- GNAAA: they're trolls.
- Maria Sharapova is really hto.
Re: The most repeated story on Slashdot? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:duuupe (Score:2, Offtopic)