The last weekend of February means that it’s the Oscar Sunday. For GeoGeeks movies are not only about the suspense and story line but also about geographies. The map created by Victor van Werkhooven, Dutch photographer and designer, shows the settings of all of the films that won Best Picture at the Academy Awards between 1929, the year the Oscar was first awarded, and 2013. The author comments on how to identify the main location of the movie:
“What constitutes the “main” location of a film is very much arbitrary, and is based on either personal viewing experience or whatever IMDb or Wikipedia claims. If 60% or more of a film is set in one area, that’s the area that gets the label. If no area can claim that amount of screen time, I’m going for whichever area has the most significant impact on the plot, or is the one most people will remember the film for (again: very much arbitrary).”
What is clear looking at the map is that Academy Awards are extremely biased towards the USA and Europe. No Best Picture Oscar has been ever given to a movie made in South America and Australia. On the other hand New York is the city with definitely most of the winning films.
Enjoy the Oscar ceremony tonight!
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The Japanese love drones. They legalized drone flying back in 2015 when the United States was still dilly-dallying with the rules and regulations. They don’t need you to be registered with the aviation authority or fill any paperwork to fly a drone as long as you are in a safe fly zone. Their prime minister has been pretty vocal about his support for UAVs. And all their electronic shops are stocked with an impressive variety of toy drones.
So, it was only a matter of time before something as awesome as this happened in Japan: The country now has an interactive drone museum in the city of Osaka, and the admission is free!
The state-of-the-art Drone Museum Horie is run by Skyasky drone pilot school, and has on display 16 drones manufactured in Japan and abroad. From miniature toy drones that weigh only 18gm to commercial and industrial UAVs that can lug a 10-liter tank for agriculture crop-spraying, drone enthusiasts can expect to find all sorts of flying machines here.
Apart from the rare, classic drones on display, popular brands like DJI, Parrot, and AERO G LAB are available for sale as well. The best part? You can try them out before you buy! The two-story museum building has a 10-meter-high ceiling and offers visitors a hands-on drone handling experience. The expert staff at the museum promise to prep visitors in a manner that even beginners can steer a UAV securely. There’s even a drone which can be controlled through hand gestures alone!
The learning booth at the museum conducts safety seminars to educate visitors about drone laws and apprise them with areas where flying drones is prohibited. The museum authorities hope that keeping the facility free will make drones even more popular among common people. And we hope we can plan a biz-leisure trip to Japan soon and visit this amazing institution!
