Maps Mania: Can You Draw America?

Monday, May 13, 2024

Can You Draw America?

a satelitte map of the US on which an idiot has tried to draw the outlines of a few states

This morning I discovered that my geographical knowledge of the United States is ten times worse than I previously thought. Judging by my attempts to draw the outlines of all 50 states onto a blank map of the U.S. my application to the American Geographical Society is probably going to be summarily rejected.

Regular readers of Maps Mania (yes both of you) may remember that in March I posted a link to Huge Quiz's Europe Country Drawing Challenge. In this game players are challenged to draw the borders of European countries on top of a satellite map of Europe. For each country drawn points are awarded based on how much of the drawn area contains the actual named country and how much of the actual country is contained in the drawn area.

In March I discovered that I have a very bad knowledge of basic European geography. Today I learned that my knowledge of American geography is even worse. So far I have attempted to draw ten states in the U.S. State Drawing Challenge. I managed to score 0 points for Maine, Nevada, Montana, and Nebraska. The only two states I have managed to draw with any reasonable accuracy so far are California and Washington.

Due to the costs of using the Google Maps API Huge Quiz periodically restricts access to its games to premium members. This week the Europe Country Drawing Challenge is restricted. However (at the time of writing) the U.S. State Drawing Challenge is available to anyone.

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