When you get your calculator, 15 meters is 591 inches, 49 feet, or 16 yards.
But that’s a simple and rather cheeky answer that’s not satisfying and won’t help you gauge how long that distance is.
So how do you get the most definitive answer?
Applying practical and visual skills using items with corresponding lengths can help you estimate how long is 15 meters. And to help you out, this article explores 9 objects to compare with distances of 15 meters.
Let’s go.
9 Common Things to Help You Estimate 15 Meters Distance
1. 20 Walking Steps
Interestingly, you can use your walking steps to estimate how long 15 meters is. That’s so, so long as you’re healthy, not aged or a child, and make the average human size of 5 feet and 9 inches.
According to the University of Iowa, the walking step of an average-sized person is 2.5 feet, meaning you need 20 steps to reach a distance of 15 meters. The walking distance will total 15.24 meters, which is slightly off the mark, but what a way to estimate such a distance!
Furthermore, you can gauge many other challenging distances without measuring tools with this knowledge.
However, make sure not to confuse walking steps with strides! For steps, keep your feet together and lift one, say, the right foot, leaving the left behind. Now measure the distance from the toe of your left foot to the toe of your right foot to get your walking step length. As for stride length, you only need to make two steps as described. And that gives another alternative to determine how long 15 meters is, as a stride length is double a step length.
2. Semi-trailer
A trailer is a long container on wheels at the rear end while the other end is supported by a vehicle, often a truck or tractor, which pulls it. They are used to transport heavy or large amounts of cargo over long distances and are common on highways.
A semi-trailer is just half a trailer, and they’re, in fact, the most common. While the vehicles are used to transport goods, you can use them as reference items. They’re usually 15 meters long, so visualizing one will give you a perfect estimate.
3. Hollywood Sign
The Hollywood sign is an American landmark that towers above Los Angeles. The landmark overlooks Hollywood and is one of the country’s cultural icons.
The Hollywood sign stands 13.7 meters tall, which is only 1.3 meters off our mark, meaning visualizing the landmark will give you a rough idea of how long 15 meters is.
4. Three Standard Canoes
A canoe is small, narrow, and light watercraft with both ends tapered to a point. An operator uses a paddle to propel the water vessel forward during various activities such as whitewater, racing, fishing, or even recreational.
A standard canoe which is the most common is usually 16 feet. If you imagine three placed in a row length-wise, they add up to 48 feet or 14.68 meters. They may not measure 15 meters exactly, but a slight difference won’t get you beat up when you reference three canoes for such a distance.
5. Five Typical Kayaks
Imagine a narrower and smaller canoe, and you have your kayak. The kayak has similar uses to a canoe, although the operator now uses double-edged paddles to propel it forward.
As you might already know, kayaks are found in Oceans, so if you’re a coastal resident or have visited the coast, chances are you’ve seen them. If so, you can use it for other purposes, particularly estimating distances. The most common kayaks are about 3 meters long, meaning to visualize 15 meters, you need to imagine five placed end-to-end.
6. Ten Professional Pool Cues
A pool cue is a sporting equipment for striking cue balls in different games, including pool, billiards, snooker, and carom billiards. These games are popular worldwide, so you must have seen this stick-like equipment on TV or live in pubs and restaurants.
Professional players and most individuals often opt for professional pool cues, and are usually about 1.5 meters long. To get an estimate of how long 15 meters is, you need to arrange or visualize 10 sticks in a row to achieve the mark. Imagining such a scenario can be daunting, but at least you get the idea.
7. Three Diving Boards
A diving board is a board that projects over the swimming pool from which swimmers dive into the water.
Diving boards make some of the most reliable reference objects, as a regulatory body determines their sizes. According to the requirements, a diving board should be 4.87 meters long, so you’ve to imagine three placed end-to-end to estimate a length of 15 meters.
8. One-and-a-half School Bus
School buses are a common sight on our roads as even when they’re not carrying students they are on other school-related activities. That’s why they make one of the easiest-to-find length reference objects.
On average, a full-size school bus measures 10.6 meters long. And to make it easy to understand how long 15 meters is, imagine one and a half arranged in a row. Alternatively, you can visualize two school buses and then imagine cutting a quarter of the total length.
9. Ten Queen-sized Mattresses
Queen mattresses are the most popular in the market as they fit well in master bedrooms, and probably there’s one lying in your house.
These mattresses have standard widths of 1.5 meters, meaning you need to imagine 10 placed in a row width-wise to equal a distance of 15 meters.
