# Surprising or just plain weird geography trivia (a follow-up thread) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 20, 2014, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-or-just-plain-weird-geography-trivia-a-follow-up-thread/707745 "2014-12-20T15:56:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-or-just-plain-weird-geography-trivia-a-follow-up-thread/707745/1 "2014-12-20T15:56:22Z")
Among the many tantalizing and thought-provoking posts in [Geographical oddities (another thread)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=743169) (which was started 12-10-2014, 05:11 PM by **Amateur Barbarian** ) there is [this post:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17992252&postcount=185) > [@](#): > > #185 Today, 05:30 AM > Mean Mr. Mustard > > Not a big-league oddity, but I was surprised to learn that, in driving from Detroit to Philadelphia, once you hit Pittsburgh you’re only halfway there. > mmm Let’s add to that one (here) anything that strikes you as “Wow! I never thought of that” sorts of things that go beyond just garden variety oddities into the truly hard to believe. It’s up to you, of course, what falls in that category of trivia. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-or-just-plain-weird-geography-trivia-a-follow-up-thread/707745/2 "2014-12-20T17:50:30Z")
As an example of some of the gee-whiz stuff you can uncover at [The Degree Confluence Project](http://www.confluence.org/index.php) – by referring to [this North America map’s page](http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/na.htm) and [this Tennessee map’s page](http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/usstates/tnlatlog.htm) I found: > [@](#): > > Latitude/Longitude: (Absolute Locations) > Nashville: (capital city) 36º 17’ N, 86º 77’ W and rounded that to \*\* 36°N 87°W\*\* or [5.6 miles (9.0 km) SW of Bellevue (Davidson), Williamson, TN, USA Approx. altitude: 209 m (685 ft)](http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=36&lon=-87) which makes better sense if viewed on [this map (if zoomed out sufficiently) 🙂](http://www.mapquest.com/?q=36.0,-87.0) **{For reference the next “confluence” near my place is [this one](http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=36&lon=-86)}** Anyway, using that as a starting point and going due N, S, E, and W to find the first non-USA point in each direction I learned: N: [DCP:](http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=50&lon=-87) 26.0 km (16.1 miles) S of Aroland, ON, Canada [Official MapQuest - Maps, Driving Directions, Live Traffic](http://www.mapquest.com/?q=50.0,-87.0) Latitude: 50. Longitude: -87.Thunder Bay, Unorganized, ON Canada **NE of Thunder Bay** S: [DCP: (visit #1)](http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=21&lon=-87) 18.1 km (11.2 miles) WSW of Alfredo V. Bonfil, Quintana Roo, Mexico [Official MapQuest - Maps, Driving Directions, Live Traffic](http://www.mapquest.com/?q=21.0,-87.0) Latitude: 21. Longitude: -87. QR Mexico **SW of Cancun** E: [DCP: (visit #2)](http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=36&lon=-6) 20.6 km (12.8 miles) S of Cabo Trafalgar (Cape), Andalucía, Spain [Official MapQuest - Maps, Driving Directions, Live Traffic](http://www.mapquest.com/?q=36.0,-6.0) Latitude: 36. Longitude: -6.Barbate, AndalucíA Spain **SW of Barbate** W: [DCP: (visit #13)](http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=36&lon=140) 2.4 km (1.5 miles) SW of Nakayara, Yawara-mura, Ibaraki-ken, Kantō, Japan [Official MapQuest - Maps, Driving Directions, Live Traffic](http://www.mapquest.com/?q=36.0,140.0) Latitude: 36. Longitude: 140.常総市, 関東地方 Japan **S of Joso NE of Tokyo** I’m not advocating this amount of work to locate those surprising geography trivia things, but it is fun! ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-or-just-plain-weird-geography-trivia-a-follow-up-thread/707745/3 "2014-12-20T20:11:58Z")
Arkansas and Illinois are only about 60 miles apart. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-or-just-plain-weird-geography-trivia-a-follow-up-thread/707745/4 "2014-12-20T20:18:13Z")
If it weren’t a borderline privacy matter, it might be fun to find which Doper lives: 1. closest to his/her state’s geographical center 2. closest to his/her state’s population center 3. closest to his/her state’s high point (what are some others in that vein?) See [Where Are the Geographic Centers of Each US State?](http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa120699a.htm) for that first item ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-or-just-plain-weird-geography-trivia-a-follow-up-thread/707745/5 "2014-12-20T20:19:36Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Arkansas and Illinois are only about 60 miles apart. And Arkansas is even closer to Kansas. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-or-just-plain-weird-geography-trivia-a-follow-up-thread/707745/6 "2014-12-20T20:41:10Z")
Atlanta, Georgia is on the same latitude as Casablanca, Tunisia. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-or-just-plain-weird-geography-trivia-a-follow-up-thread/707745/7 "2014-12-20T21:03:18Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > And Arkansas is even closer to Kansas. 🙂 And only differing by an “ **Ar** ” ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-or-just-plain-weird-geography-trivia-a-follow-up-thread/707745/8 "2014-12-20T21:06:30Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > And only differing by an “ **Ar** ” 😃 There IS a God! ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surprising-or-just-plain-weird-geography-trivia-a-follow-up-thread/707745/9 "2014-12-20T21:28:34Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Atlanta, Georgia is on the same latitude as Casablanca, Tunisia. That’s really, really surprising. I’ve spent, like, 35 years of my life believing that Casablanca was a city in in Morocco.