Geographic oddities

[SacTownAndy]

Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, Reno are further west than LA/San Diego.

[MolsonExport]

Edinburgh of the Seven Seas is regarded as the most remote permanent settlement on Earth, being 2,173 kilometres (1,350 mi) from the nearest other human settlement, on Saint Helena.


wikipedia

[jbermingham123]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Are you counting Hudson Bay as part of the Atlantic Ocean?

Yes. I know its technically a shallow, low-salinity estuary on top of continental crust, but then again so is the Baltic Sea

[Yuri]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Those cities are not really close by North America or Europe standards. Santiago is nearly the same distance from São Paulo as New York is from Mexico City. But there are plenty of mid-size cities around Santiago that Americans generally aren't aware of, hence the misconception that Santiago is isolated.

Ok, but megacities are rare everywhere but in Asia. Three in North America, four in South America. Seattle or Denver or Atlanta or insert the name are not close to NY, LA or MEX either.

Santiago is just normal in this regard. Like San Francisco in North America.

I’d say Manaus is an outlier. 2.2 million inh., surrounded by the thick Amazon forest and it’s only accessible by plane or boat. The highway that links it to Porto Velho (and from there to the rest of the country) is 1,000 km long, but it’s just a dirt road with no traffic whatsoever.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by yuriandrade

Ok, but megacities are rare everywhere but in Asia. Three in North America, four in South America. Seattle or Denver or Atlanta or insert the name are not close to NY, LA or MEX either.

Santiago is just normal in this regard. Like San Francisco in North America.

San Francisco is nowhere near as distant from other metropolitan areas of a million or more residents as is Santiago.

According to Google Maps. right now by car San Francisco is a 2 hour drive to Sacramento and a 3.5 hour drive to Fresno. San Francisco to Los Angeles is a 6.25 hour drive. SF to San Diego is 8.33 hours. SF to Las Vegas is 9.33 hours. SF to Portland is 10.75 hours. SF to Salt Lake City is 11.75 hours, and to Phoenix it's 12.33 hours.

While obviously not all these places are global hotspots, they are all metros of a million or more and can be reached from San Francisco more quickly than the closest such metro to Santiago can be--Santiago to Cordoba, Argentina is a 13.5 hour drive. Santiago to Rosario, Argentina is 15.5 hours. Santiago to Buenos Aires is 17.5 hours.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by craigs

While obviously not all these places are global hotspots, they are all metros of a million or more and can be reached from San Francisco more quickly than the closest such metro to Santiago can be--Santiago to Cordoba, Argentina is a 13.5 hour drive. Santiago to Rosario, Argentina is 15.5 hours. Santiago to Buenos Aires is 17.5 hours.

Mendoza, Argentina is a 1.4M person metro, and is around 100 miles from Santiago as the crow flies, but because you have to go up and over the freaking andies to drive between the two, gmaps says it's over a 5 hour drive.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by craigs

San Francisco is nowhere near as distant from other metropolitan areas of a million or more residents as is Santiago.

According to Google Maps. right now by car San Francisco is a 2 hour drive to Sacramento and a 3.5 hour drive to Fresno. San Francisco to Los Angeles is a 6.25 hour drive. SF to San Diego is 8.33 hours. SF to Las Vegas is 9.33 hours. SF to Portland is 10.75 hours. SF to Salt Lake City is 11.75 hours, and to Phoenix it's 12.33 hours.

While obviously not all these places are global hotspots, they are all metros of a million or more and can be reached from San Francisco more quickly than the closest such metro to Santiago can be--Santiago to Cordoba, Argentina is a 13.5 hour drive. Santiago to Rosario, Argentina is 15.5 hours. Santiago to Buenos Aires is 17.5 hours.

Mendoza, Argentina, is a +1M metro that is roughly a 5 - 6 hour drive from Santiago.

Bottom line is that Santiago is not "isolated" but it's also not as close to the South American megacities as was stated. The nearest megacity to Santiago is Buenos Aires, which are as far from each other as New York and Chicago.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Mendoza, Argentina is a 1.4M person metro, and is around 100 miles from Santiago as the crow flies, but because you have to go up and over the freaking andies to drive between the two, gmaps says it's over a 5 hour drive.

Ah, didn't see that metro. Fair enough. Even still, Santiago is still more isolated than SF.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

^ sounds like the ainu in japan.




wouldnt it be nice if america had a gulf stream to keep things temperate? instead we get arctic blasts!

we just need to start a big fan over the gulf. i swear i can smell the gulf when the winds start blowing straight north from that rank sea in spring and i suddenly find myself in the rumbling subtropics.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Mendoza, Argentina is a 1.4M person metro, and is around 100 miles from Santiago as the crow flies, but because you have to go up and over the freaking andies to drive between the two, gmaps says it's over a 5 hour drive.

Another nearby city that just misses the 1M cutoff is Valparaíso, Chile. Santiago to Valparaíso is a similar distance as Chicago to Milwaukee or New York to Philadelphia.

[ChiSoxRox]

Dallas-Fort Worth are due east of San Diego.

Portland, Maine is south of Portland, Oregon. (So is Bangor.)

[xzmattzx]

Originally Posted by jbermingham123

Yes. I know its technically a shallow, low-salinity estuary on top of continental crust, but then again so is the Baltic Sea

But isn't Hudson Bay part of the Arctic Ocean?

[MolsonExport]

Although not geographically apparent, Hudson Bay is for climatic reasons considered to be a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean.

Hudson Bay is often considered part of the Arctic Ocean; the International Hydrographic Organization, in its 2002 working draft[7] of Limits of Oceans and Seas defined the Hudson Bay, with its outlet extending from 62.5 to 66.5 degrees north (just a few miles south of the Arctic Circle) as being part of the Arctic Ocean, specifically "Arctic Ocean Subdivision 9.11". Other authorities include it in the Atlantic, in part because of its greater water budget connection with that ocean

wikipedia

[BillM]

The northeast corner of Brazil is midway between Key West, Florida and Cape Town, South Africa.

Freetown, Sierra Leone is midway between Cape Town, South Africa and St John's Newfoundland

And three more that blew my mind:

Algiers, Algeria is closer to the northern coast of Alaska than it is to Cape Town, South Africa.

The Straits of Gibraltar is closer to Edmonton, Alberta than it is to Cape Town, South Africa.

Vancouver, British Columbia and Miami, Florida are about the same distance from Istanbul, Turkey.

[Steely Dan]

Chicago is at the same degree of longitude as Pensacola, FL.

The florida panhandle extends much further west in reality than it does in my mental map.

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Edinburgh of the Seven Seas is regarded as the most remote permanent settlement on Earth, being 2,173 kilometres (1,350 mi) from the nearest other human settlement, on Saint Helena.

Remember how for the longest time, SSP was in agreement that only if your city could boast of a statue of a guy on a horse, could it also boast of being a great city? I think it's time to set a higher standard for our SSP globetrotters... Only if you can post pictures you personally have taken of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas (although Jamestown, St Helena will do if you fill out a special waiver) can you boast of being a truly great world traveler.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Chicago is at the same degree of longitude as Pensacola, FL.

The florida panhandle extends much further west in reality than it does in my mental map.

that sounds pretty weird. st. louis and palermo share the 38th parallel. unlike palermo the jury is out on my fig tree after the late arctic blast.

[Yuri]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Mendoza, Argentina, is a +1M metro that is roughly a 5 - 6 hour drive from Santiago.

Bottom line is that Santiago is not "isolated" but it's also not as close to the South American megacities as was stated. The nearest megacity to Santiago is Buenos Aires, which are as far from each other as New York and Chicago.

But that's my point: Chicago is as far from a megacity (NY) as much as Santiago is (BA).

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by yuriandrade

But that's my point: Chicago is as far from a megacity (NY) as much as Santiago is (BA).

but it seems very odd to me to speak of "city isolation" exclusively in terms of distance from MEGACITIES™.

chicago is not particularly close to any 20M+ metros (790 miles driving distance to NYC is by far the closest), but it is surrounded by an entire constellation of medium sized metros that you can easily drive to in a half-day or less. it's a different story with santiago and the way the andes cut it off from cities on the other side of the range.


driving distances of 1M+ metro areas within 400 miles of chicago:

milwaukee: 92 miles
grand rapids: 178 miles
indianapolis: 185 miles
detroit: 283 miles
st. louis: 297 miles
cincinnati: 298 miles
louisville: 298 miles
cleveland: 346 miles
columbus: 359 miles

[Yuri]

Originally Posted by craigs

San Francisco is nowhere near as distant from other metropolitan areas of a million or more residents as is Santiago.

According to Google Maps. right now by car San Francisco is a 2 hour drive to Sacramento and a 3.5 hour drive to Fresno. San Francisco to Los Angeles is a 6.25 hour drive. SF to San Diego is 8.33 hours. SF to Las Vegas is 9.33 hours. SF to Portland is 10.75 hours. SF to Salt Lake City is 11.75 hours, and to Phoenix it's 12.33 hours.

While obviously not all these places are global hotspots, they are all metros of a million or more and can be reached from San Francisco more quickly than the closest such metro to Santiago can be--Santiago to Cordoba, Argentina is a 13.5 hour drive. Santiago to Rosario, Argentina is 15.5 hours. Santiago to Buenos Aires is 17.5 hours.

Santiago is within 4:30 flight from 4 megacities (Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Lima).

Within this radius there are Cordoba, Rosario, Mendoza (ARGENTINA); Assuncion (PARAGUAY), Montevideo (URUGUAY), Porto Alegre, Florianópolis, Curitiba, Londrina, at least 5 metro areas inside São Paulo macrometropolitan area, Ribeirão Preto, Belo Horizonte, Campo Grande (BRAZIL), Santa Cruz de la Sierra, La Paz (BOLIVIA); Arequipa (PERU). 20 cities aside the 4 aforementioned megacities.

And considering +500,000 urban areas, in Brazil alone you have at least extra 10-12 more cities inside this radius.

Santiago might be located in a difficult geography, but aside Amazon basin and its central heart, South America is not a population desert for no means.