Geeky Information Technology Places to Visit – The London Eye

This series of posts reflects my inner geek.  It chronicles a number of information technology (IT) related “tourist attractions” that I would love to visit before I die.  Some of them are simply far away locations that I dream of making it to and others will be locations that I would need some assistance obtaining access to.  Please feel free to add your own via the comments block below.

Today’s destination is the most visited paid attraction in London! It is the London Eye, also known as the Millennium Wheel.  This was the largest Ferris Wheel on the planet for the Millennial Celebration and a technology wonder!

Wikipedia does great justice to this topic.  It reports that:

“The Merlin Entertainments London Eye (known more simply as The London Eye, and also known as the Millennium Wheel), at a height of 135 metres (443 ft), is the largest Ferris wheel in Europe, and has become the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom, visited by over three million people in one year. At the time it was erected, in 1999, it was the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, until it was surpassed by the Star of Nanchang (160 m) in May 2006, and then the Singapore Flyer (165 m) on 11 February 2008. However, it is still described by its operators as "the world’s tallest cantilevered observation wheel" (as the entire structure is supported by an A-frame on one side only).”

Besides always wanting to go to London myself, this attraction is a certified technology and information systems human wonder.  Please give the the Wikipedia site a read.   It really does describe this attraction very well, especially its glass engineering and fly-by-wire control systems.  Considered by many to be an architectural as well as Engineering marvel.  It is beautiful, tech heavy, and really high – everything that a true information professional, or geek, would love.

From the official London Eye Website:

“At 135m, The Merlin Entertainments London Eye is the world’s largest cantilevered observation wheel. It was conceived and designed by Marks Barfield Architects and was launched in 2000. It has already won over 75 awards for national and international tourism, outstanding architectural quality and engineering achievement and has now welcomed over 36 million visitors.”

The official site also has a cool learning section with neat facts like:

“The London Eye can carry 800 passengers per revolution – equivalent to 11 London red double-decker buses.”

If you want to see even more pictures, be sure to check out About.com’s London Eye Photo Gallery!

So where do you want to visit that is related to your interest in The Information Age and Information Technology?  Do you want to see where people worked, like this article, or where objects are?  Together we could make a terrific list.  Please add below.

That is my Information Technology Thought of the Day (ITTOD) for February 10, 2010 by Scott Coughlin.

Image Credit: to55er’s Blog

Special Thanks to Dan Sung’s Blog entry, Six excellent ideas for a geek bank holiday weekend, regarding tourist sites in England, that gave me the idea for this article.

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