Point Nemo was first discovered by survey engineer Hrvoje Lukatela in 1992. In 2022, Lukatela recalculated the coordinates of Point Nemo using OpenStreetMap data as well as Google Maps data in order to compare those results with the coordinates he first calculated using Digital Chart of the World data.

The area is so remote that—as with any location more than 400 kilometres (250 mi) from an inhabited area—sometimes the closest human beings are astronauts aboard the International Space Station when it passes overhead.