According to google maps, there seems to be a place called Wang Liao in the sahara desert, i'm not too sure about that - anyone have any explanations why ?
Not sure about this specific place but China has been investing heavily in infrastructure in Africa. So it wouldn't surprise me to see a place named that. posted by dabug at 1:40 PM on August 24, 2011
If you move a decimal point in the longitude you get 23.433324, 121.47732. Which is in Taiwan. This has Wang-liao, Taiwan listed as different coordinates, but it's close. posted by desjardins at 1:41 PM on August 24, 2011 [2 favorites]
I guess by "close" I mean in the same country. It's on the opposite coast of Taiwan. posted by desjardins at 1:43 PM on August 24, 2011
This doesn't necessarily prove anything--it might well be based on the same underlying data as the Google map--but just another data point. posted by flug at 6:08 PM on August 24, 2011
Wang-Liao, Taiwan is at lat 23.433, long 120.15. (Zoom out just a bit and you'll see WangLiao Elementary School, etc.)
This is w-a-y to coincidental to be an actual coincidence. Someone just made a data entry error when typing in lat/long coordinates for Wang-Liao, Taiwan. They typed 12.15... instead of 120.15...
Since no one much uses Google maps or the like in that area of Niger (or even lives or travels there--the entire district of Agadez, Niger, only has 1.3 people per square mile, but most of that is concentrated in the south, while this spot is in the desolate far north), it's just never been noticed/corrected. posted by flug at 6:49 PM on August 24, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by dabug at 1:40 PM on August 24, 2011