Very nice indeed. I guess this is a spherical projection? That's the best you could do for a continent-sized quiz. It can be disturbing not to have vertical meridians, but I much prefer this to a Mercator projection, especially with a boreal country as Canada.
The design is much cleaner too, all the states are well-drawned. Maybe the lines look a bit too faint, but they are perfect in zoom. The only thing that I could ask for is a wider map (as it is, it stops at about 3/4 of the answer columns' width).
About what seems to be a "four corners" in Mexico, I don't think that's correct. I looked on Google maps, and it seems there is a 1,5km border between Zacatecas and Guanajuato, and no border between Jalisco and San Luis Potosi.
Anyway, this is too well-designed not to be featured.
Cheers! Yeah, I like this a lot more than the Mercator used previously, especially when trying to add Mexico.
For the width, it's actually an issue with the shape of the map. JetPunk limits the size of an svg to 630h x 800w. To make this image as large as possible, it's 630h x 563w. However, the minimum width of the quiz columns is 730, so I haven't seen a way to reconcile the extra 200 px.
As to the Mexican 4 corners... I'm not sure. When I came across it in the SVG, the symmetry of each of the 3 countries having a 4-corners site was so pleasing, I didn't look into it further. Google Maps seems to indicate no border between JC and SLP, but Britannica lists them as bordering each other. I'll look into it further.
Absolutely beautiful torture device - thank you for creating this! Am refreshing your quizzes page once a day in the hope that one day I see a body of water / all borders quiz like this made by you but for the whole world... one can dream!
I might do that (though at the country level, not the state/province level), but I'd really have to nail down which bodies of water to use. Does Italy, for example, border just the Mediterranean Sea, or does it border the Adriatic, Ionian, Tyrrhenian, and Ligurian? And if Sardinia borders the Tyrrhenian on the east, what does it border on the west, just the Mediterranean? Multiply that by the ~200 countries in the world... would require some thinking.
Complete glutton for punishment here, I'll admit! Badly phrased by me earlier, I also meant on the country level rather than state/provision/ sub-division level. Raises so many interesting questions - I like how islands would be included in a 'borders' quiz as you'd have to include e.g. Jamaica / Caribbean Sea....
I imagine you'd have to be somewhat arbitrary again, e.g. is the Caspian Sea included? I think probably for sanity/ size of quiz it would be Italy as just the Med rather than all of those individual sub-divisions of it, but an interesting dilemma to have!
And then you get into the business of all the overseas territories, which create borders between Seas and Countries halfway around the world... (looking at you Pitcairn... and Reunion.. and about half of the Caribbean...)
Oh, and Antarctica. Is it a 'border' if the claimed territories overlap? And what about the areas no country has claimed, does New Zealand border "Terra Nullius" down there? Maybe I should just ignore Antarctica since everyone else does. But by that logic, I should ignore New Zealand, so...
All great points! For what it's worth, I'd ignore Antarctica, but include almost everything else! France bordering Netherlands on Saint Martin / Sint Maarten, Spain bordering Morocco, UK bordering Gibraltar etc. - all would be fair game.
Now I'm starting to think how many seas/coastlines the UK would technically border and my head is starting to hurt!
All right, so I started building this map. I'm breaking down the countries in alphabetical order, and am now up to Ireland, so the UK is still a ways off. Indonesia nearly killed me deciding which seas/straits/bays/gulfs to include and which to blend into a larger body. Walking a tightrope between what's remotely possible and torturing you for putting this idea into my head...
Frustrated I only saw this today! Luckily I know you'll be somewhere in the middle of this mad, mad endeavour. If it helps with motivation, part of your arbritary decision making and 'deal with it' attitude is my favourite thing about your quizzes and maps!
Apologies for putting this insane idea in your head but I can't wait to see what comes out of it...
It's getting close. I just did a test run through it, and found a couple small issues:Missing a couple small borders--uk/spain, france/nederlands,Order of entry matters on a couple borders: saudi/persian, south china sea/vietnam
Here's the preview if you'd like to give it a beta test.
Interesting, I'm not solid on Mexican geography (part of the reason I made this quiz). The map I worked off of had San Luis Potosi bordering Coahuila, and thus the two of them separating Zacatecas and Nuevo Leon, but Google Maps disagrees. It's on my to do list now!
Wow, this is really something. I'm pleased that I managed to do as well as I did, but there's plenty of room for improvement. I'm not sure I have the mental fortitude to try again any time soon though. Anyway, this is quite the quiz, excellent effort!
Not quite as annoying as you might think. Basically using Excel, just perfect the type in for each individual state/province/body of water, then use concatenation to assemble them into one large regex for each answer which allows them to be entered in any order, and include that regex as part of the answer import.
I mean 212/307 on my first try isn't bad at all. I know Canada and States pretty well, but not Mexico. I guess I havet to practice Mexico's geography before trying this one again.
Huge thank you for making this! One of my favourite quizzes so far. I appreciate your work.
Teeeeeechnically it borders on Killiniq Island (against Kativik, QC) because the water changed the shape of the island and a TINY bit of Nunavut is now on the Ungava peninsula.
Also, no, sadly, no four-corners in Mexico; there's 1870 meters of Zacatecas separating Jalisco and San Luis Potosí.
Next comment will have the abbreviations for you in case you are curious.
If you're going to say the quiz really does ask *all* first-level subdivision borders, you really ought to include the US territories. Not including them is a reasonable decision, but warrants a note to that effect imo. I did spend a minute trying a few of them to no avail.
Also I'm not entirely sold on including Lake St Clair and not Lake of the Woods or Lake Champlain. The Great Lakes seem fair game, but I question whether St Clair is really the next most important lake.
Also also for some reason my brain refused to actually type all the four-corners borders, it just went "yes that's a 4-corners", moved on to the next thing, and never came back. grr.
The Newfoundland-Nunavut border is not in the correct alphabetical position in the answer grid. It should come between the New Brunswick borders and the New Hampshire borders.
That would be the case if it were "New Foundland". Spaces are sorted above letters, so all "New " names will come before "Newark." Put them in excel and try it yourself.
I think that Nunavut borders Quebec. In Google Earth, if you zoom in really closely near where Nunavut and Newfoundland border, and follow the Quebec/Nunavut line you can see that it clearly passes through a touch of green on some random tiny islands and is therefore a land border and not temporary sea ice. Google Earth isn’t exactly the best source, and thus it may just be alignment issues or old images but I think it’s worth looking into.
I agree... unfortunately it has too many answers to be featured, but I'm nominating it anyway. Also spotlighting it and it will be on the front page on 22 December. Fantastic, fantastic work.
The design is much cleaner too, all the states are well-drawned. Maybe the lines look a bit too faint, but they are perfect in zoom. The only thing that I could ask for is a wider map (as it is, it stops at about 3/4 of the answer columns' width).
About what seems to be a "four corners" in Mexico, I don't think that's correct. I looked on Google maps, and it seems there is a 1,5km border between Zacatecas and Guanajuato, and no border between Jalisco and San Luis Potosi.
Anyway, this is too well-designed not to be featured.
For the width, it's actually an issue with the shape of the map. JetPunk limits the size of an svg to 630h x 800w. To make this image as large as possible, it's 630h x 563w. However, the minimum width of the quiz columns is 730, so I haven't seen a way to reconcile the extra 200 px.
As to the Mexican 4 corners... I'm not sure. When I came across it in the SVG, the symmetry of each of the 3 countries having a 4-corners site was so pleasing, I didn't look into it further. Google Maps seems to indicate no border between JC and SLP, but Britannica lists them as bordering each other. I'll look into it further.
I might do that (though at the country level, not the state/province level), but I'd really have to nail down which bodies of water to use. Does Italy, for example, border just the Mediterranean Sea, or does it border the Adriatic, Ionian, Tyrrhenian, and Ligurian? And if Sardinia borders the Tyrrhenian on the east, what does it border on the west, just the Mediterranean? Multiply that by the ~200 countries in the world... would require some thinking.
I imagine you'd have to be somewhat arbitrary again, e.g. is the Caspian Sea included? I think probably for sanity/ size of quiz it would be Italy as just the Med rather than all of those individual sub-divisions of it, but an interesting dilemma to have!
Oh, and Antarctica. Is it a 'border' if the claimed territories overlap? And what about the areas no country has claimed, does New Zealand border "Terra Nullius" down there? Maybe I should just ignore Antarctica since everyone else does. But by that logic, I should ignore New Zealand, so...
Now I'm starting to think how many seas/coastlines the UK would technically border and my head is starting to hurt!
Apologies for putting this insane idea in your head but I can't wait to see what comes out of it...
Here's the preview if you'd like to give it a beta test.
Curiosity, did you choose your name from the band, or the Roald Dahl novel?
Huge thank you for making this! One of my favourite quizzes so far. I appreciate your work.
Also, no, sadly, no four-corners in Mexico; there's 1870 meters of Zacatecas separating Jalisco and San Luis Potosí.
Next comment will have the abbreviations for you in case you are curious.
AB Alberta
BC British Columbia
MB Manitoba
NB New Brunswick
NL Newfoundland & Labrador
NS Nova Scotia
NT Northwest Territories
NU Nunavut
ON Ontario
PE Prince Edward Island
QC Québec
SK Saskatchewan
YT Yukon Territory
US:
AK Alaska
AL Alabama
AR Arkansas
AZ Arizona
CA California
CO Colorado
CT Connecticut
DC District of Columbia
DE Delaware
FL Florida
GA Georgia
HI Hawaii
IA Iowa
ID Idaho
IL Illinois
IN Indiana
KS Kansas
KY Kentucky
LA Louisiana
MA Massachusetts
MD Maryland
ME Maine
MI Michigan
MN Minnesota
MO Missouri
MS Mississippi
MT Montana
NC North Carolina
ND North Dakota
NE Nebraska
NH New Hampshire
NJ New Jersey
NM New Mexico
NV Nevada
NY New York
OH Ohio
OK Oklahoma
OR Oregon
PA Pennsylvania
RI Rhode Island
SC South Carolina
SD South Dakota
TN Tennessee
TX Texas
UT Utah
VA Virginia
VT Vermont
WA Washington
WI Wisconsin
WV West Virginia
WY Wyoming
AGS Aguascalientes
BC Baja California
BCS Baja California Sur
CAMP Campeche
CHIS Chiapas
CHIH Chihuahua
COAH Coahuila
DF Distrito Federal (sometimes CDMX)
DGO Durango
EDOMEX México (or just MEX)
GRO Guerrero
GTO Guanajuato
HGO Hidalgo
JAL Jalisco
MICH Michoacán
MOR Morelos
NL Nuevo León
NAY Nayarit
OAX Oaxaca
PUE Puebla
QROO Quintana Roo (also sometimes QR)
QRO Querétaro
SLP San Luis Potosí
SIN Sinaloa
SON Sonora
TAB Tabasco
TAMPS Tamaulipas
TLAX Tlaxcala
VER Veracruz
YUC Yucatán
ZAC Zacatecas
1. Manitoba/Nunavut/Saskatchewan/NWT form a four-corners scenario like the one between Colorado/Utah/NM/Arizona.
2. Include James Bay (the one sticking out the bottom of Hudson Bay).
Also I'm not entirely sold on including Lake St Clair and not Lake of the Woods or Lake Champlain. The Great Lakes seem fair game, but I question whether St Clair is really the next most important lake.
Also also for some reason my brain refused to actually type all the four-corners borders, it just went "yes that's a 4-corners", moved on to the next thing, and never came back. grr.
Also 90% of Mexico
This discrepancy is actually my main driving factor for never trusting the borders found on google maps.