New Year's Eve 2018: Map reveals when world celebrates the start of 2019

Sydney will celebrate New Year's Eve at 1pm GMT on Monday (Image: Getty Images)
A stunning new map reveals when everywhere in the world celebrates the 
start of New Year's Eve.
The interactive graphic charts December 31 parties from the very first firework  in Samoa until the dawn of 2019 on the US atolls of Baker 

and Howland Islands.
And the timings mean die-hard revellers could even cram in the world's 
first and last New Year's Eve parties - but only if they're willing to fly 
558 miles.
Analytics experts at Esri UK have put together the map, plotting the course 
of 2019's arrival in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
Christmas Island and Samoa are the first to see in the new year, with their clocks hitting midnight at 10am GMT on Monday.
From there, New Zealand will welcome 2019 from 11am GMT before most 
of Australia joins the party two hours later.
China says goodbye to 2018 from 4pm GMT, with spectacular firework 
displays expected in Beijing and Hong Kong.
New Delhi will be marking the event from 6.30pm GMT, with Moscow joining 
at 9pm.
And big European cities like Madrid, Paris and Rome will see midnight pass 
a full hour before the Brits.
Americans, meanwhile, have to wait until at least 5am GMT before they 
can celebrate in earnest.

Fireworks light the sky over the Arc de Triomphe in Paris at 11pm GMT 
(Image: X00303)

The map charts celebrations across the globe 
(Image: Esri UK)
And the final flourish will be on outlying islands around the US like Baker 
and Howland at 12pm GMT, although, since no one lives there, it is likely 
to go unheralded.
Jessica Houghton, technical research consultant at Esri UK, explained: 
"The New Year’s Eve map is a fun way of helping explain GMT and shows 
how people around the globe will be celebrating and welcoming in 2019 at different times.
“Esri’s mapping and analytics software is currently used by millions of people around the world to visualise data using interactive maps, providing them 
with key insights and the ability to make the right decision first time."

Fireworks explode near the London Eye (Image: Getty Images)

And Professor Charles Withers, Geographer Royal for Scotland, said it 
was certainly possible to see in the New Year twice thanks to the world's different time zones.
He said: "Because of the division of the world into time zones, and our measurement of the world in terms of longitude, there is a line, 
180 degrees longitude from Greenwich – the International Date Line 
or ‘line of demarcation’ – where consecutive days and dates meet.
"The line has no legal status and, in fact, does not run as a straight line, 
north to south at 180 degrees from Greenwich, but curves in and out to 
reflect different countries’ interests.
"But it is possible to cross it and ‘gain’ a day – or cross in the other 
direction and so ‘lose’ a day.
"And yes, because this is so, you could, with the help of appropriate 
transport, have more than one New Year’s party.”
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https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/new-years-eve-2018-map-13793651