# Your geographical misconceptions **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 30, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294 "2020-12-30T20:58:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 35
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2021, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/682 "2021-03-03T23:51:28Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > You want interesting? Then let’s give Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and the Dakotas to Canada (Hell, give them to Mexico!) in exchange for Vancouver Island and a strip of coastline so Alaska is actually connected to the rest of the US. Or Baja in the case of a swap with Mexico. Can’t do much about Hawai’i, sadly. No point going half-assed: take all of British Columbia (simple: just rename it American Columbia ;-), a chunk of the Northwest Territories gets annexed to Alaska in exchange for…Greenland (it will take them a while to figure it out). Then we can extend I-5 to go all the way from Mexico to Prudhoe Bay !!! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/683 "2021-03-04T00:36:03Z")
Interesting, but that means we’re still stuck with Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/684 "2021-03-04T02:40:34Z")
Just move those 4 to near Texas then push the whole lot out of the USA. We fought a war to establish for all history that states can’t secede. We never said they couldn’t be banished for bad behavior. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/685 "2021-03-04T03:14:58Z")
The Alaska panhandle is really not that strange a feature. There is a mountain range that makes it essentially inaccessible to BC. No roads cross those mountains until you get up to Haines and Skagway. It does seem kind of odd, though, that Juneau, the capital, is only reachable from the rest of the state by air or boat. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/686 "2021-03-04T13:02:45Z")
You could bring back “54 40 or fight”. 54 40 is/was roughly the latitude of southernmost point of Alaska. [Account Suspended](http://northword.ca/words/historical/fifty-four-forty-or-fight-how-a-us-border-crossing-almost-wound-up-in-the/) ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2021, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/687 "2021-03-04T14:13:25Z")
Not a misconception, but an observation. I first started Driving in Denver Colorado. Most of the streets are on a grid North/South, East/West. And you can often see the Rocky Mountains which are to the West. Between that and that I’m in GIS, I use cardinal descriptions for directions. My Wife is from Pittsburgh. Not a straight street in the city. Confused by three rivers and many bridges. My Wife gives directions by saying left turn/right turn. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/688 "2021-03-05T17:21:02Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > You want interesting? Then let’s give Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and the Dakotas to Canada (Hell, give them to Mexico!) in exchange for Vancouver Island and a strip of coastline so Alaska is actually connected to the rest of the US. Or Baja in the case of a swap with Mexico. Can’t do much about Hawai’i, sadly. I think that the US wins big and Canada loses big in this swap. We already have to put up with one Alberta - why would we want 4 more? ---
**Author:** ![abcdefghij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@abcdefghij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abcdefghij)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/689 "2021-03-05T18:08:42Z")
> [@Bookkeeper](#): > > We already have to put up with one Alberta - why would we want 4 more? Come for the Alberta. Stay for the… Alberta. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2021, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/690 "2021-03-05T20:09:31Z")
Think of the new province as “Southern Saskatchewan.” At least then the province would have some vertical relief. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/5a44JX4wdC8/maxresdefault.jpg "Kinda Flat") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a44JX4wdC8) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/691 "2021-03-07T02:25:00Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Not a misconception, but an observation. I first started Driving in Denver Colorado. Most of the streets are on a grid North/South, East/West. And you can often see the Rocky Mountains which are to the West. Between that and that I’m in GIS, I use cardinal descriptions for directions. > > My Wife is from Pittsburgh. Not a straight street in the city. Confused by three rivers and many bridges. My Wife gives directions by saying left turn/right turn. My wife, like most women, is a little bit geo-directionally challenged compared to the average guy. Not lost; just a little handicapped vs Joe Average. I’m a navigation whizkid. She grew up in Tucson. Which is a basin surrounded by 4 sets of very differently shaped mountains more or less aligned with the cardinal directions. The roads are mostly a grid and between the mountains and the eternal sunshine, figuring out which way in North is not hard. So we get hitched and she moves to Las Vegas to join me where I’ve been living. Years before anyone had GPS or Google maps or whatever. Vegas is largely, though not entirely, gridded like Tucson. She’s lost and it doesn’t get better with experience. Why not? Vegas is in a basin, surrounded by distinctive mountain ranges on all 4 sides. But they’re totally in different places vs Tucson. The close big tall ones are N in Tucson and W in Vegas. The distant flat ones are S in Tucson and E in Vegas. Etc. Her gyros were totally and irrecoverably tumbled. It was funny to watch. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/692 "2021-03-07T10:55:39Z")
If you’re used to knowing North, south, etc. at the drop of a hat, go to Panama. While it’s understandable that I, a person who can get lost in a Sears was consistently lost, my father, who has an excellent sense of direction and never fails to point out **he** was an Eagle Scout whenever I get lost, was equally perplexed. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/693 "2021-03-07T14:53:17Z")
Right. Most people have the idea that Panama runs north-south, when it actually runs east and west. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/694 "2021-03-07T18:47:23Z")
I had a Mormon missionary tell me that the Latter-Day Saints invented “cities with streets in a grid”, and I told him that I’d have to look that up, but that I agreed that it’s worthy of being deemed a modern miracle. I have a great sense of direction, and my family assumes it’s innate. Even though I’ve explained that I work at it. I always keep track of which way North is, and how to get to where we’re going. Oh, and how to get back to where we were. I especially do this inside complicated buildings. It’s handy that, after we get shuffled to four different government offices in a sprawling complex, I can say “Wait, if we take the stairs in that corner, we’ll come out right near the car.” _Super power!_ This is a huge difference between me and my wife. I’m making maps in my head, while she has no interest in keeping track of where she is. Makes driving with her on trips a lesson in patience. Now, if she has a GPS, she’ll get home okay. She’ll _“Turn Left in… One Quarter… Mile.”_ But she’ll have no idea why. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/695 "2021-03-07T19:42:09Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I had a Mormon missionary tell me that the Latter-Day Saints invented “cities with streets in a grid”, and I told him that I’d have to look that up, but that I agreed that it’s worthy of being deemed a modern miracle. **Modern** miracle? What an insult to [history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_plan). > By 2600 BC, Mohenjo-daro, major cities of the Indus Valley Civilization, were built with blocks divided by a grid of straight streets, running north–south and east–west. … > > The tradition of grid plans is continuous in China from the 15th century BC onward in the traditional urban planning of various ancient Chinese states. … > > Perhaps the most well-known grid system is that spread through the colonies of the Roman Empire. The archetypal Roman Grid was introduced to Italy first by the Greeks, with such information transferred by way of trade and conquest. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/696 "2021-03-07T21:38:53Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > If you’re used to knowing North, south, etc. at the drop of a hat, go to Panama. While it’s understandable that I, a person who can get lost in a Sears was consistently lost, my father, who has an excellent sense of direction and never fails to point out **he** was an Eagle Scout whenever I get lost, was equally perplexed. Lived there too. So did then-future wife. > [@Colibri](#): > > Right. Most people have the idea that Panama runs north-south, when it actually runs east and west. The arrangement of the country wasn’t too bad once you got clued in once. What buffaloed me for the first 3 or 4 months was driving in Panamá City. This was pre-invasion, before a lot of the really old areas got wrecked. Also pre- any of the _autopistas_ and the explosive growth of recent years. Anyhow, I’d be exploring along on an unfamiliar semi-major road confident of my general location within the city and my general direction of travel. Then suddenly I’d come upon an intersection that I recognized as being several miles away from “here” and I recognized the cross street as running the direction I thought I’d been going on my street. WTF Batman; did we just go through a wormhole? Nope; just been _Ciudad de Panamá_-ified. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/697 "2021-03-07T21:48:33Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Anyhow, I’d be exploring along on an unfamiliar semi-major road confident of my general location within the city and my general direction of travel. Then suddenly I’d come upon an intersection that I recognized as being several miles away from “here” and I recognized the cross street as running the direction I thought I’d been going on my street. WTF Batman; did we just go through a wormhole? Nope; just been _Ciudad de Panamá_ -ified. 😉 It still happens to me after living here for 30 years.😉 The traffic patterns used to be haphazard. There were not stop lights, and trying to take a left turn off a busy street was a nightmare. Now the have rationalized traffic a bit, with stoplights at a lot of intersections. However, they often don’t permit left turns, and you may have to go a long way past your intersection before you have a chance to turn around. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/698 "2021-03-07T21:54:33Z")
That’s fascinating! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/699 "2021-03-07T22:24:52Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Right. Most people have the idea that Panama runs north-south, when it actually runs east and west. One of my exes was born and raised near Panama City. He told me that from his childhood home, he’d go north-west to see the sunset over the Atlantic Ocean, and south-east to see the sunrise over the Pacific. And the summers weren’t nearly as bad as those in NYC. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/700 "2021-03-07T22:26:29Z")
That’s true. It never gets to 100 degrees here like it does even in New York. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2021, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294/701 "2021-03-07T22:46:50Z")
The whole northern half of Indiana is on a grid. Out in the country you can drive north or south for a few miles, until you get to a jog. Turn on the crossroad for a bit until the curvature of the planet is adjusted for, then turn back north or south again. In contrast, Georgia roads are just a big messy spider web of interconnected pavement. Not a nice orb web, either- they’re like a two-dimensional black widow’s nest. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294.md?page=34) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-geographical-misconceptions/929294.md?page=36)