Most Canadians live farther south than Seattle, and Atlanta is farther west than Detroit. If this surprises you, here are some other facts to help…

[Michie]

The 49th parallel is often used as a synonym for the border between the U.S. and Canada. However, more than 70% of Canadians actually live south of this line. (Credit: Unofficial Networks)

Reject your Mental Map Oversimplifications

• Wait: New York is west of Santiago, Chile on South America’s west coast?
• And Canada extends as far south as California, Barcelona, and Rome?
• These are just two examples of Mental Map Oversimplifications (MMOs), and there are plenty more.

Most Canadians live south of Seattle,” my editor Alex writes. “You probably knew this, but have you ever done a map on that?” I’m pretty sure I have, some years ago on the Strange Maps Facebook page. As I try to locate that particular post, it gets me thinking about other examples of this phenomenon.

Other examples include the counterintuitive fact that Canada extends as far south as California, and the equally unexpected fact that New York City, on the east coast of North America, is actually located to the west of Chile’s capital Santiago, on South America’s west coast.

Just a few articles ago, I wrote about the original sin of cartography: We expect maps to tell us the truth, but they can’t help lying to us. The examples above don’t fit in that mold. These misconceptions are not the maps’ fault — they’re on us. Why? Because we suffer from Mental Map Oversimplification (MMO). That’s not a real thing like a personality disorder; I just made it up. But it’s still true.


We don’t scrutinize maps. We skim them, remembering what is simple and useful for our understanding of the world rather than what is precise and complex.

True North, strong and free​

Continued below.

Most Canadians live south of Seattle and other mental map surprises

Common geographic misconceptions, what I call Mental Map Oversimplifications (MMOs), often contradict actual geographical facts.

bigthink.com

 

[Gnarwhal]

I never realized how far east the South American continent is relative to North America until I met my wife and learned about her mom's frequent trips home to Ecuador. It was so bizarre to me that the flights from NYC to Guayaquil were shorter than if she had flown out of Sacramento, I assumed the latter was closer. Really Mexico is the only country south of the border that's closer to CA, all of the Central and South American countries are closer to NY which must be why immigrants from those countries prefer the east coast.

The 70% of Canadians below the 49th blows my mind hole again. I mean, there are fewer Canadians than Californians and it's crazy to think most of them live in Ontario and Quebec. Just further fuels my dream of invading Canada with an American Catholic army, expelling the secularists and liberals and forming a new Canada built on Catholic principles and values.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

I was surprised to see Atlanta further west than Detroit. I had to check it on the map.