# Some geography fun... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 14, 2015, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641 "2015-10-14T16:13:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/1 "2015-10-14T16:13:14Z")
1. Without looking it up can you identify the fifth largest city in your state? 2. What foreign (not in your country) city is due North, East, South and West of your current address? 3. How near are you from the closest Latitude and Longitude _Even Degree_? 4. Pose one of your own… ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/2 "2015-10-14T17:42:26Z")
1. Without looking it up can you identify the fifth largest city in your state? Probably Bend, OR 1. What foreign (not in your country) city is due North, East, South and West of your current address? Vancouver, BC is north; South is a problem, as there is nothing until Antarctica, so it’s possible that the closest city south would actually be north, back in Canada. West would probably hit Japan and East would likely be in Portugal or the Mediterranean. 1. How near are you from the closest Latitude and Longitude Even Degree? Beats the crap out of me. Oops, I see that Bend is 7th, but I got the first three right. 1. Pose one of your own… ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/3 "2015-10-14T18:02:09Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > … > > 1. How near are you from the closest Latitude and Longitude Even Degree? > > Beats the crap out of me… You might enjoy finding out for yourself at [http://www.confluence.org/](http://www.confluence.org/) As an example my closest “even degree” points are Latitude: 36. Longitude: -87. You can use the little compass at the upper left of your “home spot” to go NESW from your base all around the world! For mine, see [DCP: (visit #2)](http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=36&lon=-87) There’s an old thread dealing with these trivia. I’ll look it up and post it here asap. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/4 "2015-10-14T18:03:36Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > 1. Without looking it up can you identify the fifth largest city in your state? Oh, wow, that’s a toughie. I’m in Illinois. Maybe Peoria? Or one of the Chicago suburbs, Naperville being the obvious one. [quote] > [@](#): > > 1. What foreign (not in your country) city is due North, East, South and West of your current address? Another toughie. Due East will probably be Rome. I don’t have any clue for the other directions. South will be some place in Central America. I’m not entirely sure South America extends far enough west. > [@](#): > > 1. How near are you from the closest Latitude and Longitude _Even Degree_? I’m not entirely sure what the question is. You mean how close am I from the nearest whole number longitude and latitude? I don’t know. I know we’re somewhere around 42N, 90W. And checking my answers: 1. Peoria was #7. But Naperville was #5. Lucked out on that one, but I gave two guesses. I did totally forget about Joliet, though, which was #4, so that wasn’t in my math, and I thought Springfield would be in the Top 5 as well (it’s 6.)My thought was Chicago, Rockford, Aurora, Springfield, Peoria, but that’s #1, #3, #2, #6, #7. 2. Looks like Rome is almost dead on for due East at 41.9N, and Chicago is 41.84N, according to Google, although [this site](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_latitude) has Chicago 41º53’N and Rome at 41º54’N, so I’ll count it as a point to me. Looks like in the other direction (west) it would be Shenyang in China. Going south, either Belize City or Cancun would be the correct answer at 87º11’W and 86º51’, respectively, [according to this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_longitude). Going North, it looks like Thunder Bay or Eureka, Canada. 3. Looks like 42ºN and 87ºW is where we’re at, so I’m a few degrees off on my longitude. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/5 "2015-10-14T18:09:44Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > There’s an old thread dealing with these trivia. I’ll look it up and post it here asap. It’s [Some Geography Trivia Fun: Degree Confluences](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=554045) which was started 02-28-2010, 01:17 PM and has had 72 posts (so far). ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/6 "2015-10-14T18:10:16Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > 1. Without looking it up can you identify the fifth largest city in your state? > 2. What foreign (not in your country) city is due North, East, South and West of your current address? > 3. How near are you from the closest Latitude and Longitude _Even Degree_? > 4. Pose one of your own… 1. not for Virginia, but it’s not my home state. For my home state, Louisiana, I’m pretty sure I can: New Orleans, then Baton Rouge, then Shreveport, then Lafayette, then Lake Charles… so I think it’s Lake Charles. Monroe and Alexandria might be really close. 2. N: Montreal, I think (I live in Arlington VA). Roughly, anyway. Maybe Ottawa. S: Havana? W: Tokyo, maybe? That one’s tough. E: Lisbon, maybe? 3. Don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![WildBlueYonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WildBlueYonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildBlueYonder)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/7 "2015-10-14T23:23:54Z")
1. Without looking it up can you identify the fifth largest city in your state? Is this your way of finding out where we all live? 😛 5th largest Det GR Lansing A tie between Jackson Kazoo and BC…OH! Flint instead!! 1. What foreign (not in your country) city is due North, East, South and West of your current address? Sault St Marie-N Havana?-S Milwaukee maybe-W That city across theDetroit bridge -OH Windsor! 3) How near are you from the closest Latitude and Longitude Even Degree? Have no idea. Maybe a couple miles or maybe 30 miles… 1. Pose one of your own… Why hasn’t North Dakota seceded from the US Or even the UP of Michigan? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/8 "2015-10-14T23:29:56Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > 1. Without looking it up can you identify the fifth largest city in your state? > 2. What foreign (not in your country) city is due North, East, South and West of your current address? > 3. How near are you from the closest Latitude and Longitude _Even Degree_? > 4. Pose one of your own… 1. Not in the US. The term “state” does not really apply here. We don’t even have 5 cities! 2. North – Playa Giron, Cuba, East – some tiny spot named Ti Desdunes, Haiti, South – Santiago, Panama, West – X-Hazil Sur, Mexico 3. Nearest would be 19N 81W… which is 37.36km away from home [according to this website](http://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/latlong.html) that calculates distance between two GPS coordinates. 4… Pose one of my own… DUnno ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/9 "2015-10-15T10:12:19Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > 1. Without looking it up can you identify the fifth largest city in your state? > > Probably Bend, OR I’d have guessed either Gresham or Hillsboro. Portland, Eugene, and Salem are the three largest, of course. > [@](#): > > 1. What foreign (not in your country) city is due North, East, South and West of your current address? > > Vancouver, BC is north; South is a problem, as there is nothing until Antarctica, so it’s possible that the closest city south would actually be north, back in Canada. West would probably hit Japan and East would likely be in Portugal or the Mediterranean. I know for a fact that both Ottawa and Montreal are due east of Portland. Also Beaverton, where I live, since it’s west of Portland. The part of Europe due east is in northern France, although I don’t know if any cities there are along that line. South is probably some city in southwest Asia, maybe the Persian Gulf area, after going past the south pole and back north. > [@](#): > > 1. How near are you from the closest Latitude and Longitude Even Degree? > > Beats the crap out of me. Without looking it up, I know Portland is about halfway between 45 and 46 N. So which you are closest to may depend on where in the city you are. Don’t remember our longitude, 120-something W. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/10 "2015-10-15T11:29:31Z")
**1) Without looking it up can you identify the fifth largest city in your state?** My guess would be Macon or Savannah (though it could be one of the smaller cities in the Atlanta metro area, like Sandy Springs or Alpharetta). **2) What foreign (not in your country) city is due North, East, South and West of your current address?** (ETA: I just realized this asked for cities. See, it’s early. I’ll think about this later and come back to answer it then) Canada, I’m going to guess Morocco (possibly Portugal, but I think Atlanta sits far enough south that going due east puts you over Africa, not Europe), Cuba, and most likely China. \*\* 3) How near are you from the closest Latitude and Longitude _Even Degree_?\*\* I have absolutely no idea. **4) Pose one of your own…** Eh. It’s too early to think of something. Maybe later. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/11 "2015-10-15T11:48:28Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > 1. Without looking it up can you identify the fifth largest city in your state? > 2. What foreign (not in your country) city is due North, East, South and West of your current address? > 3. How near are you from the closest Latitude and Longitude _Even Degree_? > 4. Pose one of your own… 1. What is a state? 2. Going for largish ones: Biarritz, Andorra la Vella (I would have thought somewhere in Italy, but the border sort of slopes southeast from here), Oran (Algeria), and apparently Boston. 3. Greenwich’s meridian is attaway (points east); any place where it crosses a highway is marked with an arch. I have no idea what my exact latitude and longitude are. 4. What named sea body is closest to you? (To me, the Bay of Biscay aka Cantabrian Sea). ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/12 "2015-10-15T11:51:49Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > …4) What named sea body is closest to you? (To me, the Bay of Biscay aka Cantabrian Sea). Gulf of Mexico ---
**Author:** ![Stana\_Claus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stana_claus/32/13874_2.png) [@Stana\_Claus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stana_Claus)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/13 "2015-10-15T12:50:32Z")
1. Clarksville, TN 2. Not many cities on my meridians. N hits the woods of Ontario, Canada. E hits the deserts of Algeria. S catches the western tip of Cuba before hitting Honduras, Nicaragua, then Costa Rica. And W lands somewhere on the coast of Japan. 3. I am just south of 36 N, and midway between -84 and -85 W. 4. If you dug straight down through the center of the earth, where would you come out (your antipode)? Bet you it’s not China! Mine is in the Indian Ocean, 1000 miles away from the nearest land. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/14 "2015-10-15T14:14:59Z")
> [@Stana\_Claus](#): > > 1. If you dug straight down through the center of the earth, where would you come out (your antipode)? Bet you it’s not China! Mine is in the Indian Ocean, 1000 miles away from the nearest land. Good one! Using the link above (in my reply to **Chefguy** ) and clicking on the “antipode” I see I’d be in the Indian Ocean to the west of Australia and hard pressed for anything to stand on! [http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=-36&lon=93](http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=-36&lon=93) Looks like we’d both be swimming for a while to get to dry land. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/15 "2015-10-15T14:25:55Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > … > 4) What named sea body is closest to you? (To me, the Bay of Biscay aka Cantabrian Sea). The Caribbean Sea is about 50 meters away from me. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/16 "2015-10-15T14:35:31Z")
> [@WildBlueYonder](#): > > … > 4) Pose one of your own… > > Why hasn’t North Dakota seceded from the US > Or even the UP of Michigan? 😃 Just now seeing I didn’t respond to your Item 4. I have no idea! But I’m now curious if there’s a specific reason or just speculation involved. Please enlighten me on this one. Because, according to [this map](http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/us.htm) you’d have to explain the intervening problems of Wisconsin and Minnesota before joining up with the UP. 🙂 Does the answer you’re looking for have to do with oil and/or Fargo? ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/17 "2015-10-15T16:54:49Z")
1. Using province, instead of state… London, Ontario? Will probably be wrong. 2. Nothing in any foreign country is north of me! 😉 East looks like Oswego, NY. West to Lexington, MI. South to “North East, PA” 😃 3. At the moment, about 50 km from the one near Hagersville. Oh, and the correct answer to #1 is “Brampton.” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/18 "2015-10-15T18:08:20Z")
Since modifying the OP is something I don’t know how to do yet, and since this subtopic hardly needs a new thread of its own, I’m hoping the idea will spark a few replies. If you look at [Mean center of the United States population - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_center_of_the_United_States_population) you can see that > [@](#): > > US Census ------------ County -------------------------Location description ------------Decimal coordinates > 2014 (estimated) — Wright County, Missouri — 5.5 miles southwest of Plato.— 37.458905°N 92.307766°W Plato, Missouri is near the current center of US Population. The new trivia bit to deal with is “how far are you from that Center of Population?” Use whatever technique or guesswork you can to approximate your answer. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/19 "2015-10-15T18:10:05Z")
1. Without looking it up can you identify the fifth largest city in your state? Guessing Dayton…looking it up…Wow Dayton is 6th behind Akron. 2. What foreign (not in your country) city is due North, East, South and West of your current address? North - Windsor South - Havana (yeah, pretty darn close after checking) East - I don’t know, Paris? (Nope, much too far North, surprisingly) West - Tokyo (Eh, it’s a little far south, but not too bad) 3. How near are you from the closest Latitude and Longitude Even Degree? No idea. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641/20 "2015-10-15T18:43:19Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Since modifying the OP is something I don’t know how to do yet, and since this subtopic hardly needs a new thread of its own, I’m hoping the idea will spark a few replies. > > If you look at [Mean center of the United States population - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_center_of_the_United_States_population) you can see that > > Plato, Missouri is near the current center of US Population. > > The new trivia bit to deal with is “how far are you from that Center of Population?” > > Use whatever technique or guesswork you can to approximate your answer. You might find [Calculate distance and bearing between two Latitude/Longitude points using haversine formula in JavaScript](http://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/latlong.html) useful to do the math for you, and it has a Google Map to show you the result. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-geography-fun/734641.md?page=2)