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  #1  
Old Posted Jan 5, 2021, 7:20 PM
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Map of nearest big US city to Europe, Asia, Africa

Kind of interesting. Geographical distance is less important in the information age, but it still seems to impact history, some pragmatic things like travel patterns etc.



https://brilliantmaps.com/nearest-major-u-s-city/
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  #2  
Old Posted Jan 5, 2021, 7:52 PM
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I would not have thought Boston was closer to Madagascar than Miami.
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  #3  
Old Posted Jan 5, 2021, 8:06 PM
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Distances would be more obvious if that got away from using the awful distortion of continental sizes using the Mercator world map. Grew up thinking Greenland is near the size of South America when in reality it nearly 8 times smaller.
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  #4  
Old Posted Jan 5, 2021, 9:14 PM
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I know, I remember thinking how huge Greenland must be based on those wall classroom wall maps
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Old Posted Jan 5, 2021, 10:28 PM
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I would like to see a map that only included continental US Cities and another that included cities the size of Anchorage or larger. Just for curiosity.
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  #6  
Old Posted Jan 5, 2021, 10:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 10023 View Post
I would not have thought Boston was closer to Madagascar than Miami.
That's the effect of Boston being so much farther east. The Boston-Madagascar line crosses the equator at a much steeper angle than Miami-Madagascar, meaning the distance you save on longitude (especially over the equatorial bulge) more than makes up for the greater latitudinal distance.

Along a similar line, two US airports had (pre-Covid) direct flights to Johannesburg: JFK and Atlanta. Atlanta is the longer flight, by over 400 miles.
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Old Posted Jan 5, 2021, 10:48 PM
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I believe Maine is the overall closest state to Africa which is mind blowing if you think about it. Makes more sense if looking at a 3D globe, but little sense using a 2D map.
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Old Posted Jan 6, 2021, 2:54 AM
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Originally Posted by ChiSoxRox View Post
That's the effect of Boston being so much farther east. The Boston-Madagascar line crosses the equator at a much steeper angle than Miami-Madagascar, meaning the distance you save on longitude (especially over the equatorial bulge) more than makes up for the greater latitudinal distance.

Along a similar line, two US airports had (pre-Covid) direct flights to Johannesburg: JFK and Atlanta. Atlanta is the longer flight, by over 400 miles.
And Sydney to Dallas is a longer flight than Sydney to NYC (according to that thread about the longest nonstop flights in the world).
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Old Posted Jan 6, 2021, 2:55 AM
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I believe Maine is the overall closest state to Africa which is mind blowing if you think about it. Makes more sense if looking at a 3D globe, but little sense using a 2D map.
I was going to say the same thing.
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  #10  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2021, 2:58 AM
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I head to Africa a lot for work from Austin. I’ve taken both NYC and Atlanta direct and of course Austin London JoBurg. The Atlanta flight at one point was the longest flight in the world. Around 18 hrs. It’s crazy to me that a direct route from Austin to London flies up over Cleveland and then Nova Scotia which takes 4-5 hrs to reach from Austin then it’s only another 3-4 across the North Atlantic / southern tip of Greenland. Maps definitely F things up. Easier to look at a globe. Put pins in destinations and run string between them. The overall take away from my experience is just how inset to the west the southeast coast of the US is. Another glaring example is flying Miami to Brazil where you fly almost as much East as south... leaving Miami you basically follow the outer Caribbean island chain (virgin is etc). It’s a good 10 hr flight to Brazil. Europe is much closer.

Last edited by ATXboom; Jan 6, 2021 at 9:43 PM.
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  #11  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2021, 3:08 AM
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I head to Africa a lot for work from Austin. I’ve taken both NYC and Atlanta direct and of course Austin London JoBurg. The Atlanta flight at one point was the longest flight in the world. Around 18 hrs. It’s crazy to me that a direct route from Austin to London flies up over Nova Scotia which takes 4-5 hrs to reach from Austin then it’s only another 3-4 across the North Atlantic / southern tip of Greenland. Maps definitely F things up. Easier to look at a globe. Put pins in destinations and run string between them. The overall take away from my experience is just how inset to the west the southeast coast of the US is. Another glaring example is flying Miami to Brazil where you fly almost as much East as south... leaving Miami you basically follow the outer Caribbean island chain (virgin is etc). It’s a good 10 hr flight to Brazil. Europe is much closer.
The Houston to Riyadh direct flight goes directly over my house in suburban Wilmington.
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  #12  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2021, 3:09 AM
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Originally Posted by xzmattzx View Post
And Sydney to Dallas is a longer flight than Sydney to NYC (according to that thread about the longest nonstop flights in the world).
Huh?

My google machine says the straightline distance between Sydney and Dallas is 13,800 km, while Sydney to NYC is 16,000 km.

Why would the former be a longer flight?
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  #13  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2021, 4:41 AM
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Originally Posted by Steely Dan View Post
Huh?

My google machine says the straightline distance between Sydney and Dallas is 13,800 km, while Sydney to NYC is 16,000 km.

Why would the former be a longer flight?
Tail winds? Currents?
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  #14  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2021, 5:31 AM
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There is a part of South America that is closer to Canada than it is to Mexico.
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  #15  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2021, 5:38 AM
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Originally Posted by Steely Dan View Post
Huh?

My google machine says the straightline distance between Sydney and Dallas is 13,800 km, while Sydney to NYC is 16,000 km.

Why would the former be a longer flight?
Sydney to NYC isn't even a flight? While DFW to SYD is a horrible terrible flight.
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  #16  
Old Posted Jan 6, 2021, 4:48 PM
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Originally Posted by Antares41 View Post
Distances would be more obvious if that got away from using the awful distortion of continental sizes using the Mercator world map. Grew up thinking Greenland is near the size of South America when in reality it nearly 8 times smaller.
Exactly. Even as a kid I knew it was BS.
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  #17  
Old Posted Jan 13, 2021, 10:00 PM
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Exactly. Even as a kid I knew it was BS.
Yes, let's dispel some of that BS right now.
https://www.natureindex.com/news-blo...size-countries
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  #18  
Old Posted Jan 13, 2021, 10:13 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RC14 View Post
I would like to see a map that only included continental US Cities and another that included cities the size of Anchorage or larger. Just for curiosity.
Anchorage is in the same continent as the rest of the US. It’s just not in the contiguous 48 states.
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  #19  
Old Posted Jan 13, 2021, 10:54 PM
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There is a part of South America that is closer to Canada than it is to Mexico.
Eyeballing it, I'm guessing tip of Brazil?
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  #20  
Old Posted Jan 14, 2021, 1:32 AM
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I think it'd be more interesting if they excluded Honolulu. After all, it doesn't appear Anchorage was counted as a big city. Excluding Honolulu, there'd be a split between Seattle, SF, LA, right?
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