Israel

Israel is a small country, divided between nine graticules from (29,34) to (33,35). The graticules that encompass its major population centers each have their own problems: some are almost entirely in the Mediterranean Sea, others include much of the disputed territories, and still others contain a truly staggering amount of desert. Some even contain all three. Almost all of them include some area in neighboring countries of varying degrees of unfriendliness.

As a result, finding a hash that is reachable and safe can be difficult. It is literally impossible for all four of Israeli's major graticules to come up with reachable hashes on the same day, and virtually impossible for three. There's about a 50/50 chance there will be two reachable hashes, and a 50/50 chance there'll be only one -- though once in a long while, all four graticules are unreachable.

In summary, geohashing in Israel is tough, and all points should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis for political safety. This page will chronicle the politically safe hashes for Israelis on any given day.

Most recent hashes from the standard graticules

• June 24: The Tel Aviv point is in Ofer Forest near Megadim. The Beersheba point is in the forests outside of the Catholic monastery of Beit Jamal, near Beit Shemesh.
• June 25: The Jerusalem point is in the middle of the desert, in the area of (or possibly on) Mount Naama.
• June 26: The Beersheba point is in Rishon Letzion, in a small wooded area off Route 441. The Haifa point is off of Route 87 near Katzrin.

The Alternative Graticule

The alternative graticule map as of 04/04/2009. The implementation can be found here

Some Israelis may prefer to use an alternative algorithm, which defines a polygon that hugs the borders of the state of Israel. An implementation of the algorithm can be found here; red zones define areas that are deemed too dangerous to access. (Geohashers are encouraged to edit the red zones to help other geohashers avoid IDF fire zones, hostile settlements, etc.) In order to calculate safe points that fall within the green zone, but outside of the red zones, the algorithm uses the previous day's exchange rates, as issued by the Bank of Israel. However, even this algorithm has its problems, because many hashes end up in desert areas, and because the standard borders of Israel leave out many areas that are actually safe.

Important:

• You cannot claim achievements for reaching the alternative algorithm's point. It is solely used for the purpose of arranging meetups.
• If you are planning an expedition, make sure you announce it well in advance so that other geohashers will know where you are going. It's not very helpful if one geohasher is attending a standard graticule point while another is attending the alternate graticule point, especially if both are reachable on a given day!

Past expeditions in Israel

• May 28, 2008: Haifa East graticule point was unsuccessfully reached by Ynor
• July 28, 2008: Alternative location cheat in Jerusalem by Lady Pennywhistle.
• March 17, 2009: Yerushalmi and his wife successfully reached the Beersheba graticule's hash point in Kfar Truman.
• April 10, 2009: Yerushalmi and his wife reached the Beersheba graticule's hash point near Kfar Bin Nun.
• April 13, 2009: Yerushalmi and his wife didn't even try to reach the Tel Aviv graticule's hashpoint, but somehow came close anyway.
• June 18, 2009: Yerushalmi tried valiantly to get a Puppet Master Geohash without even leaving his seat. It didn't work.
• June 24, 2009: Rachel had to break off and go back home while on the way to the hashpoint.

Graticules and Participants

Those are the geohash graticules in Israel, plus current users:

• Jerusalem, Israel
  • Lady Pennywhistle lives in French Hill, Jerusalem
  • Yerushalmi and his wife
  • Rachel has most weekends off and wont mind going to a random place.
• Tel-Aviv (Goosh Dan), Israel
  • Dor
  • Vyath
  • Improbable
  • Eyal
  • Bryan A (Moving to this graticule in July)
  • Avish
  • pseudoDust
• Haifa East, Israel
  • Ynor
  • Pr0nto
• Beersheba, Israel

Any other users: Don't just lurk! Add yourselves to the wiki pages, so we can know who's participating and try to arrange meetups!

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• An implementation of the algorithm
• Hebrew explanation of an older algorithm