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Language: en

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This is Notre-Dame in Paris,

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one of the most famous sights in the city.

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But I'm not here for the view from the top

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or for the flying buttresses, or even for religion.

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I'm here for something just outside it.

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If you look down from the top and stand just outside the main entrance,

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you will find a marker on the floor

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called Point Zero.

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Point Zero is the place from which all distances

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in France are measured from.

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Now, I'm filming all the way out here, by the way,

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because once one person starts taking video of it,

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it starts to attract tourists in the same way that

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artisanal French bread attracts pigeons.

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That's a visual metaphor for you there.

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France isn't the only country with a Point Zero;

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a lot of countries in the developed world have them.

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There'll be a marker or a monument somewhere in the capital city

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that says "this is where the numbering starts from".

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The UK though...

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...uh, no, we don't have one, neither does the US.

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I mean, the UK does have Charing Cross in London,

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but only some roads are measured from there.

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And the US, well, you do have a marker in Washington, D.C.,

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but, well, no one uses it for anything.

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Most US states restart their numbering when a road enters their territory.

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And, here in Paris, though, you have a marker that isn't really used anymore

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in these days of GPS and satellites.

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But what you have is a relic of a past time,

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a marker that simply says "this is where we started from".

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This is back when we had all the triangulation

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and manual calculations needed to actually map something,

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back when it was longhand.

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This is where it all began.

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That's Point Zero and that is something you might not have known.

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