Help & Coordinates Guide

How latitude, longitude, and altitude work, and how to get around the globe.

Latitude, longitude & altitude

Every location on Earth — including every bonfire and every city pin on this site — is described using up to three numbers:

Latitude

-90° to +90°

Distance north (+) or south (−) of the Equator (0°). The poles are ±90°.

Longitude

-180° to +180°

Distance east (+) or west (−) of the Prime Meridian (0°, through Greenwich, UK).

Altitude

metres above sea level

Height above mean sea level. Listed for cities where data is available; coastal cities like Qamishli sit near 450 m, while mountain cities like Sanandaj exceed 1,400 m.

Reading a coordinate

A full coordinate looks like 36.191°N, 44.009°E — that's Erbil. The first number is always latitude, the second longitude. Some sources write negative numbers instead of N/S/E/W: -33.513, -70.6 would mean 33.513° south, 70.6° west.

This site stores coordinates as decimal degrees (the WGS84 standard used by GPS, Google Maps, and almost everything else), not the older degrees-minutes-seconds format.

Using the globe

Drag to rotate the globe. Scroll or pinch to zoom.
Click a flame to see who lit it, when, and why — and to play its sound.
Place Bonfire requires a free account, so each fire is tied to a real person. You can also use the Use My Location button in your account when adding a fire.
Show Cities toggles the Kurdish city pin layer described on the cities page. Hover a pin (or tap it on mobile) to see details.
Each visitor can like any fire once by clicking the heart icon in its popup — no account needed.

Keyboard shortcuts

`Space`	Pause or resume auto-rotation
`←` `→`	Rotate the globe left / right
`↑` `↓`	Tilt the globe up / down
`C`	Toggle the Kurdish Cities pin layer
`Esc`	Close any open popup, panel, or modal
`/`	Focus the search box (on pages that have one)

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an account to place a bonfire?

Yes. This keeps each fire tied to a real person and lets you manage your own fires (up to 5 per Nowruz year) from your account page. Viewing the globe, liking fires, and browsing city data never requires an account.

Why can I only place 5 fires a year?

The limit keeps the map meaningful rather than dominated by any one person, while still giving everyone room to mark a few different moments or places each Nowruz.

What does the Kurdish Year next to the countdown mean?

It's the current year on the traditional Kurdish solar calendar, which runs 700 years ahead of the Gregorian calendar and begins each year at Newroz. See About Nowruz for more.

Where does the city data come from?

Population and altitude figures are compiled from publicly available geographic sources and may be approximate, especially for cities without a recent official census. The list is maintained by site admins and can be corrected or extended over time.

I found something wrong or have feedback.

Reach out through your account or check back here — this guide and the data behind it are updated as the site grows.