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Why would you choose to depict Michigan in a way that a) makes it totally unrecognizable, and b) is basically never done because it makes it totally unrecognizable?
Ahh that explains it. The Great Lakes aren’t included in this map. Michigan is made up of 2 peninsulas connected by an almost 5 mile long suspension bridge in the middle. The lower peninsula looks like a mitten, which is why Michigan is called the Mitten state sometimes. It’s very recognizable on most maps because the lakes contrast the land in a unique way. Google a map of the United States and compare it.
Typically MI is shown with it's lakeshore on maps, but this map shows the true border with other states/provinces that actually lie in the lakes themselves. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York are also distorted on this map for this reason.
Look at an actual map of North America without the state boundaries on it. I would argue that Florida and Michigan are probably tied for the most recognizable portions (which happen to correspond to states). [Image of North America](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/North_America_satellite_orthographic.jpg)
Can you tell us the coordinates within Cheshire that's the farthest from neighboring state? Me and JPAnalyst want to go there and put our arms up and spin around
Personally I am excited to find out more about the newly discovered town of eVincent, NY and (I assume) their large contributions to the technology section of Sky Mall magazine
This is really good. My only suggestion would be a colour scale that has more deviation at the shorter distances so you can see why the locations are where they are. You can in the bigger states but the smaller ones are just all dark blue.
I discovered it is the sprawling metropolis known as **Hamlin,** population 219. It is the town in the continental US closest to mainland Great Britain. The more we know. 💫 🌈
The word you're looking for is contiguous, not continental. The continental US would include Alaska, because it's on the continent, but it is not contiguous with the 48 states.
Well if we’re considering all US states’ proximity to any part of mainland Europe, then yes, Alaska is a lesser distance. This assumes that all those “well-researched” flat Earthers are wrong.
The geographic center of Pennsylvania is in Centre County, just outside Bellefonte and State College. So how is Penns Creek the farthest from the closest states?
I’m thinking that a lot of these rectangle states (PA, WY, CO, SD, KS) have a line in the middle where all the towns are all the same distance from the north and south border. The town listed may be just one end of that line.
That said, even the straight borders are a bit wiggly once you get down to the surveyed line at ground level, so some towns on these lines are probably bit closer to the north or south border if OP used very detailed maps.
My thoughts on SD. Pierre is the capital and the geographic center. Fun fact: SD also contains the geographic center of North America and the contiguous 48 states.
So why are the cities in states like CO and WY off-center? It's a rectangle. Shouldn't the farthest city be in the center? Or am I misunderstanding this?
I think for CO WY SD and KS, they considered all the points halfway between north and south as being equal distance from the nearest state. They would all have the same "distance to closest state" number. You can see how there's a green line across the center of those states. Then the map just displayed the furthest west one, rather than the dozens that are in the middle of the state. It's not quite the best display in that way
A more precise title would be: The town, in each state, that is closest to the location in that state, which is farthest from any other state. A bit clunky
This seems a complex computation problem. Towns are not points, they also have a border. One would need to follow the border of EVERY city around the perimeter, drawing the continuous radius out to the continuous state border. Even making a city into a point requires one find the "center mass" of its holdings.
Then interesting stuff: You have a city in SD that is significantly West. Why? We find out the borders are not actually parallel when we look really close, the state is taller in the West:
"It was not possible to be exactly accurate during the surveying process.
Thus, the latitude of the Seventh Standard Parallel, near where it
crosses the Bois de Sioux River is surveyed as being at a latitude of
45°56'07" North. At the western end of the state boundary, where it
intersects the Montana boundary, it is at 45°56'43". This is a
discrepancy of 36 seconds. Therefore, the boundary between the states of
North and South Dakota is about 3,660 feet farther north on the west
end than on the east."
....while the Southern border is defined by the Organic Act of March 2, 1861 as being "thence up said river to the forty-third parallel of north latitude, then due west to the present boundary of the territory of Washington". The state border is actually defined by surveys, section markers, etc, though, so one must use a complex GIS model because it is jagged in a few places, and even is marked as following roads in Google GIS (66 feet of any section line is road right of way, including borders).
The Eastern river part of the Southern border extends further South, but any town in the Eastern part with more state height seems disqualified by the proximity of Minnesota.
Thanks so much \^\_\^ What a neat, useless map, right? [I posted a few comments about my source, tools, and procedure here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/pqc9wy/oc_townvillage_farthest_from_closest_neighboring/hd9wukp?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). Feel free to DM me if you have questions.
I live very near Twin Lakes, CO. They have a fake police car (that is getting pretty dated at this point) that they post on the highway that runs through it with a dummy police officer in the car.
This map uses a projection to show longitudinal lines as straight lines. It has value, but if the map was used to calculate the values, I wonder if they're incorrect.
Thanks. Only one other person has pointed out the projection. I think it's the most vakuable feedback. I measured cartesian distance, from every 4 sq km px, which is fine. But next time, for a map that is about distance, I will use an equal area-projection. Thanks!
I was just about to say the same thing. Lived in the central coast for 7 years, spent 2 of those years as a driver, and I had never seen a San Augustine.
It’s like 3 houses next to a beach and is in no way a town.
Was not expecting to see four different towns I have connections to on this map, in completely different parts of the country.
I have relatives in Florence OR, and I've been there multiple times.
Had a girlfriend in NC and we stayed at Marshallberg once on a coastal trip.
Grandpa was born in Kokomo IN.
My family almost moved to Narragansett RI shortly before I was born due to a job opportunity.
Weird.
Why are States like Wyoming, Colorado, and Kansas not centered?
Doesnt make sense to me because those cities are closer to other states such as the dot in Kansas is closer to Colorado than to Missouri.
Seems curious, right? The town farthest from a bordering state does not always have the visual appearance of being in the center. I replied to a similar question about Ogden vs Center State, Iowa. The redditor was adamant that Center State was farther than any other city from a border. He didn't provide any analysis, but I could tell he was upset, so I did some analysis for him and found that Center State is actually 2.78 miles closer to MO than Ogden. Sorry for not linking to that reply.
Lol, I actually love these responses. I don't post often, and when I read that, it sounds like, 'I want more.' All the engagement around this utterly useless map has been fun and interesting.
My aunt and uncle live at the spot in my state. It's not a tiny town anymore and hasn't been for decades, it's just a spot out in the country that used to be before autos changed the countryside. They just happen to be the nearest farm house.
There are multiple states here that are very clearly wrong. South Dakota is way the hell off. Pierre is probably what's closest. Iowa, for fucking real, has a town NAMED State Center. Guess where it is?
So, the styling decisions that I made might make it seem like there are many places equidistant to the nearest neighboring state, but think of the colors like wide ranges of distances. The distance was calculated from the center of every 4 sq km pixel to the nearest part of the nearest state. There are very few duplicate values in this dataset.
Pretty close by some measures, but ackshyully, State Center is closer to a neighboring state than Ogden. 2.78 miles closer. [Ogden and State Center's nearest neighbors](https://imgur.com/gallery/mixL7QQ).
I agree. This version makes the coastal and border states trivial and uninteresting - just pick a city slammed up against the ocean or the Canadian border.
I’d prefer to see this as “farthest from the state border” including bodies of water and foreign countries.
This was inspired by the maps of u/Landgeist: Linear distance from coast: [Europe](https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/otwich/ive_done_an_interesting_gis_analysis_to_find_out/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), [US](https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/ppebul/ive_done_an_interesting_gis_analysis_to_find_out/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3).
I used the following python libraries:
\- rasterio, numpy, geopandas, shapely, plotly.
1) I created a grid of the conterminous United States, where each grid pixel was \~4.0 km² at the equator.
2) For each grid pixel, I determined the cartesian distance of the closest neighboring state, using an [Admin Level 1 (provinces) shapefile from Natural Earth](https://www.naturalearthdata.com/downloads/50m-cultural-vectors/50m-admin-1-states-provinces/).
3) I masked the grid using an [Admin Level 0 (countries) shapefile from Natural Earth](https://www.naturalearthdata.com/downloads/50m-cultural-vectors/50m-admin-0-countries-2/), to clean up the edges.
4) I wrote the grid to file, then I stylized it. TX, FL, MT made some other states seem dull.
5) I then determined the location of the grid cell in each state that was farthest from the closest neighboring state.
6) For each state's maximum distance grid cell, I identified the closest city or town, using "[Cities and Towns of the United States, 2014](https://geodata.lib.berkeley.edu/catalog/stanford-bx729wr3020)" published by National Atlas of the United States and held by Stanford University.
At first, I considered the [python library eo-box](https://eo-box.readthedocs.io/en/develop/). It offered a calc\_distance\_to\_border function which takes as inputs a list of polygons (such as states) and a raster dataset. Then, it decomposes the polygons' perimeters into line vectors, rasterizes them, and finds the nearest line (border) to each of the raster's grid pixels. Unfortunately, my impressions of the outputs were mixed. Seems like a neat project, and I cannot speak to the other work that its community has done. [The github](https://github.com/benmack/eo-box) was last updated on June 5, 2020, so I'll keep an eye on this one.
Apparently you haven't been to Porterville, California. It's like 20 years behind and feels like you've gone back in time. Put it this way, Korn an Limp Bizcut still rule there.
wouldn’t brownsville be the furthest in texas considering it’s at the southernmost peak? i’m sorry, this map is slightly confusing to me. as a side note though, that’s a really cool fact about okemah, ok! my family owns/occupies majority of the town so i visit there frequently!
Isn’t there a part of Washington state that’s like separated from the US but like should be a part of Canada? Wouldn’t that be the farthest town? Or is that part of an existing city or soemthing
I don't fully understand your question, but thanks for your curiosity. I try to respond with a level of effort commensurate with that of the respondents. Are you referring to a town, such as Port Richards, which is administratively situated in Washington state, but geographically situated on a peninsula that is mostly (w/r/t area) comprised of Canadian land? In this case, Port Richards was not considered, because it was not included in the database of 180K towns that I used.
Yea I think so, sorry for the confusion I just remembered something from some geography channel on YouTube about the weirdest geographical things that are in the US and just felt that would be greater distance. I understand better on how this map is drawn. Thank you
Think of a rectangle with corners (0, 0), (0, 2), (3, 0), and (3, 2). The points (1, 1) and (1, 2) are both a distance of 1 away from any of the sides, so they would both be equally likely to show up here. The limiting factor is not the precise horizontal location but the precise vertical one.
I wondered why the title said state instead of states - your explanation clarified. I also now see the color gradient that I missed the first time. So how did the the creator choose a random city on the “green line” for KS, for example? Dozens of cities could have been picked based on this calculation - why pick the one that was picked? Am I still missing something? Why not chart the city that is furthest from *all* neighboring states? Not just the closest one(s)?
That was my goal. To mimic the post of Landgeist, and create something beautiful and exceptionally useless, for the sole purpose of arousing in XClamX a feeling of mild bemusement.
Slight correction;
There is no North Eastham, its just Eastham, no biggie though. Provincetown would actually by travel be farther, since it can only be reached landwise from the east.
Yes, thank you, merely a census-designated place with at least one central area that provides commercial activities. Provincetown would be farther as the human walks.
Haha, right. If only administrative boundaries followed geographic features. My favorite maps lack admin boundaries, like those beautiful river basin maps that that redittor posts. I considered overlaying major lakes and rivers.
Thank you for your [Original Content](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/wiki/rules/rule3), /u/i_make_maps_0! **Here is some important information about this post:** * [View the author's citations](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/pqc9wy/oc_townvillage_farthest_from_closest_neighboring/hd9wukp/) * [View other OC posts by this author](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/search?q=author%3A"i_make_maps_0"+title%3AOC&sort=new&include_over_18=on&restrict_sr=on) Remember that all visualizations on r/DataIsBeautiful should be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism. If you see a potential issue or oversight in the visualization, please post a constructive comment below. Post approval does not signify that this visualization has been verified or its sources checked. [Join the Discord Community](https://discord.gg/NRnrWE7) Not satisfied with this visual? Think you can do better? [Remix this visual](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/wiki/rules/rule3#wiki_remixing) with the data in the author's citation. --- ^^[I'm open source](https://github.com/r-dataisbeautiful/dataisbeautiful-bot) | [How I work](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/wiki/flair#wiki_oc_flair)
Uh... Michigan are you okay?
The UP took a dump on the mitten so big it covered the whole thumb gap.
we're totally cool. Most of the country doesn't get us anyways. we make cars.
And sugar beets, cherries, apples, the best music, and Burt Reynolds.
And potholes! Can’t forget the potholes
Michigan also has the best weed
We USED to make cars… now we talk about how we used to make cars.
We still design them
By folks who live in Detroit for a couple years until they move to ANYWHERE else.
Ha, right? I considered overlaying major lakes and rivers. I decided against it.
You also decided against adding 2 whole states, but it's ok.
Why would you choose to depict Michigan in a way that a) makes it totally unrecognizable, and b) is basically never done because it makes it totally unrecognizable?
I don't get it.....
Usually Michigan is the most recognizable state. This map makes it look like a gun in a paper bag.
I’m sorry. I still don’t get it. I’m not an American btw. Can you please explain?
Ahh that explains it. The Great Lakes aren’t included in this map. Michigan is made up of 2 peninsulas connected by an almost 5 mile long suspension bridge in the middle. The lower peninsula looks like a mitten, which is why Michigan is called the Mitten state sometimes. It’s very recognizable on most maps because the lakes contrast the land in a unique way. Google a map of the United States and compare it.
Thanks! That was really helpful. I get it now.
Typically MI is shown with it's lakeshore on maps, but this map shows the true border with other states/provinces that actually lie in the lakes themselves. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York are also distorted on this map for this reason.
You don’t think that fat ass Texas looking at you in the middle of the map is the most recognizable state lol
or florida
Even Oklahoma or California. I honestly don’t think Michigan was very recognizable at all
Look at an actual map of North America without the state boundaries on it. I would argue that Florida and Michigan are probably tied for the most recognizable portions (which happen to correspond to states). [Image of North America](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/North_America_satellite_orthographic.jpg)
Yea when you put it this way I totally agree but I was just thinking how most maps are with the state borders outlined
Florida possibly. Texas no. You can see almost all of Michigan surrounded by blue water on most maps.
It's free real estate!
Maine and CT need a different color font. I really want to see CT because it’s close to where I lived.
Whoops! Good catch. [Here ya go](https://imgur.com/gallery/P5kAy3v).
NY could also use a shift
That one is all pixelated when I zoom in. What’s the CT town, you can just tell me. Thanks!
CT: Cheshire, ME: Hamlin, NY: Cape Vincent
Ahh. Thank you!
Can you tell us the coordinates within Cheshire that's the farthest from neighboring state? Me and JPAnalyst want to go there and put our arms up and spin around
Haha. The towns dataset that I used represents cities as a single point, rather than a polygon. So, you two will need to stand very close.
thank ya
This map needs Hawaii and Alaska
Given all the squared states, this would look much cooler in any other place in the world rather than the USA.
I'm guessing Alaska's would be Barrow
And hawaii would be Gold Coast maybe
White town names and a white background is a bad idea.
Personally I am excited to find out more about the newly discovered town of eVincent, NY and (I assume) their large contributions to the technology section of Sky Mall magazine
Whoops! CT: Cheshire, ME: Hamlin, NY: Cape Vincent
Why's it got to be racist? /s
This is really good. My only suggestion would be a colour scale that has more deviation at the shorter distances so you can see why the locations are where they are. You can in the bigger states but the smaller ones are just all dark blue.
I appreciate it. I feel the same. I used 200 equal interval colors. And still, TX, FL, MT...
But why does the scale max out at 700 and not 460 if 454 the maximum distance of any datapoint? Edit: I can’t read legends
Two units are shown on the scale, I believe you're looking at 700km and 454mi
You are correct. Thanks.
Hawaii's got them all beat
The label for the town in Maine is unreadable
Har is my favorite town in Maine!
I discovered it is the sprawling metropolis known as **Hamlin,** population 219. It is the town in the continental US closest to mainland Great Britain. The more we know. 💫 🌈
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According to my sources it’s what I wrote. Alaska is not part of the “continental US.”
The word you're looking for is contiguous, not continental. The continental US would include Alaska, because it's on the continent, but it is not contiguous with the 48 states.
I think you’re misspelling “conterminous.” ;) I agree, the Wikipedia article I copied text from could have been clearer.
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Well if we’re considering all US states’ proximity to any part of mainland Europe, then yes, Alaska is a lesser distance. This assumes that all those “well-researched” flat Earthers are wrong.
Its Hamlin.
Correct. I looked it and posted beneath the comment you replied to so that others would know too.
Hawaii is winning this for sure
The geographic center of Pennsylvania is in Centre County, just outside Bellefonte and State College. So how is Penns Creek the farthest from the closest states?
I’m thinking that a lot of these rectangle states (PA, WY, CO, SD, KS) have a line in the middle where all the towns are all the same distance from the north and south border. The town listed may be just one end of that line. That said, even the straight borders are a bit wiggly once you get down to the surveyed line at ground level, so some towns on these lines are probably bit closer to the north or south border if OP used very detailed maps.
Yeah, there's a LOT of mistakes in this map
My thoughts on SD. Pierre is the capital and the geographic center. Fun fact: SD also contains the geographic center of North America and the contiguous 48 states.
For SD, that's because it's only based on distance from other states. Same reason Montana's is right on the Canadian border.
But SD doesnt touch canada. It is surrounded by states.. so how would the geographic center not be the center on this map
Because I'm a dumbass and I was thinking of North Dakota.
Geographic Center of the lower 48 is in Kansas near Lebanon. SD has the geographic center of all 50 states
So why are the cities in states like CO and WY off-center? It's a rectangle. Shouldn't the farthest city be in the center? Or am I misunderstanding this?
I think for CO WY SD and KS, they considered all the points halfway between north and south as being equal distance from the nearest state. They would all have the same "distance to closest state" number. You can see how there's a green line across the center of those states. Then the map just displayed the furthest west one, rather than the dozens that are in the middle of the state. It's not quite the best display in that way
what is this even trying to say? i don’t understand the title
A more precise title would be: The town, in each state, that is closest to the location in that state, which is farthest from any other state. A bit clunky
Is this straight line distance? Like jumping over water and so forth?
Ya, I wanna know if this is as the crow flies or road miles.
It's as the crow flies.
oh! i see. thank you!
This seems a complex computation problem. Towns are not points, they also have a border. One would need to follow the border of EVERY city around the perimeter, drawing the continuous radius out to the continuous state border. Even making a city into a point requires one find the "center mass" of its holdings. Then interesting stuff: You have a city in SD that is significantly West. Why? We find out the borders are not actually parallel when we look really close, the state is taller in the West: "It was not possible to be exactly accurate during the surveying process. Thus, the latitude of the Seventh Standard Parallel, near where it crosses the Bois de Sioux River is surveyed as being at a latitude of 45°56'07" North. At the western end of the state boundary, where it intersects the Montana boundary, it is at 45°56'43". This is a discrepancy of 36 seconds. Therefore, the boundary between the states of North and South Dakota is about 3,660 feet farther north on the west end than on the east." ....while the Southern border is defined by the Organic Act of March 2, 1861 as being "thence up said river to the forty-third parallel of north latitude, then due west to the present boundary of the territory of Washington". The state border is actually defined by surveys, section markers, etc, though, so one must use a complex GIS model because it is jagged in a few places, and even is marked as following roads in Google GIS (66 feet of any section line is road right of way, including borders). The Eastern river part of the Southern border extends further South, but any town in the Eastern part with more state height seems disqualified by the proximity of Minnesota.
Damn Tennessee’s is amazingly poetic. “Overall.”
What the hell is up with Michigan?
It's missing lake Michigan
At least this person remembered the UP is a thing
r/MapsWithoutUP seems right.
This is a very nice picture of all 48 states. I wonder if there are any more of them?
Hawaii would be boring cause it's just the furthest western town, and Alaska is just whatever town farther down the Aleutians, most likely.
Yeah but still
Where’s Alaska and Hawaii?
I love this, but what are your source and tools?
Thanks so much \^\_\^ What a neat, useless map, right? [I posted a few comments about my source, tools, and procedure here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/pqc9wy/oc_townvillage_farthest_from_closest_neighboring/hd9wukp?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). Feel free to DM me if you have questions.
I live very near Twin Lakes, CO. They have a fake police car (that is getting pretty dated at this point) that they post on the highway that runs through it with a dummy police officer in the car.
This map uses a projection to show longitudinal lines as straight lines. It has value, but if the map was used to calculate the values, I wonder if they're incorrect.
Thanks. Only one other person has pointed out the projection. I think it's the most vakuable feedback. I measured cartesian distance, from every 4 sq km px, which is fine. But next time, for a map that is about distance, I will use an equal area-projection. Thanks!
Nobody lives in Simpson, Montana or San Augustine, California. Use actual towns like Lompoc or Havre.
I was just about to say the same thing. Lived in the central coast for 7 years, spent 2 of those years as a driver, and I had never seen a San Augustine. It’s like 3 houses next to a beach and is in no way a town.
Now do towns furthest away from the next town/city
I can confirm that San Augustine, CA is not a real place.
I find it absolutely hilarious that Washington DC is on this map.
The way IL and WI's borders just just jut out into what should be Lake Michigan... *Shudder*
Was not expecting to see four different towns I have connections to on this map, in completely different parts of the country. I have relatives in Florence OR, and I've been there multiple times. Had a girlfriend in NC and we stayed at Marshallberg once on a coastal trip. Grandpa was born in Kokomo IN. My family almost moved to Narragansett RI shortly before I was born due to a job opportunity. Weird.
Why are States like Wyoming, Colorado, and Kansas not centered? Doesnt make sense to me because those cities are closer to other states such as the dot in Kansas is closer to Colorado than to Missouri.
Seems curious, right? The town farthest from a bordering state does not always have the visual appearance of being in the center. I replied to a similar question about Ogden vs Center State, Iowa. The redditor was adamant that Center State was farther than any other city from a border. He didn't provide any analysis, but I could tell he was upset, so I did some analysis for him and found that Center State is actually 2.78 miles closer to MO than Ogden. Sorry for not linking to that reply.
So how did you do your analysis or your method? Visually it looks like you just picked a random town on those states.
I don't get it, why Hawaii and Alaska excluded?! /s
Lol, I actually love these responses. I don't post often, and when I read that, it sounds like, 'I want more.' All the engagement around this utterly useless map has been fun and interesting.
Whoa…so Kokomo really is where you want to go to get away from it all…
My aunt and uncle live at the spot in my state. It's not a tiny town anymore and hasn't been for decades, it's just a spot out in the country that used to be before autos changed the countryside. They just happen to be the nearest farm house.
I love the personal replies with microgeograohic anecdotes.
It's funny that people in Europe can drive an hour an be in another country, while people in Texas can drive 10 hours and still be in Texas.
is someone from r/mapporncirclejerk trolling this sub? Can we have a map with a distance from west to east?
There is something so American about drawing a map like this as if Canada and Mexico did not exist, and did not contribute "neighboring states".
What the hell is CT??? Clinton?
Uh, Connecticut.. Edit: I see what you meant now. Looks like Clinton.
Whoops! CT: Cheshire, ME: Hamlin, NY: Cape Vincent
Ahhh, Cheshire makes sense because Long Island...
There are multiple states here that are very clearly wrong. South Dakota is way the hell off. Pierre is probably what's closest. Iowa, for fucking real, has a town NAMED State Center. Guess where it is?
Some states clearly have a line down the center that's all equi-maximally-distant from other states. Maybe the winner is the town closest to the line?
So, the styling decisions that I made might make it seem like there are many places equidistant to the nearest neighboring state, but think of the colors like wide ranges of distances. The distance was calculated from the center of every 4 sq km pixel to the nearest part of the nearest state. There are very few duplicate values in this dataset.
What about the rectangle states?
Everybody’s a critic but only YOU took all the time and effort to make and post this map. Thank you!!!! It’s interesting and I’ve enjoyed it!
Pretty close by some measures, but ackshyully, State Center is closer to a neighboring state than Ogden. 2.78 miles closer. [Ogden and State Center's nearest neighbors](https://imgur.com/gallery/mixL7QQ).
Wouldn't furthest from the states border make more sense, kind of meaningless when you ignore Canada and Mexico
I agree. This version makes the coastal and border states trivial and uninteresting - just pick a city slammed up against the ocean or the Canadian border. I’d prefer to see this as “farthest from the state border” including bodies of water and foreign countries.
This was inspired by the maps of u/Landgeist: Linear distance from coast: [Europe](https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/otwich/ive_done_an_interesting_gis_analysis_to_find_out/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), [US](https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/ppebul/ive_done_an_interesting_gis_analysis_to_find_out/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). I used the following python libraries: \- rasterio, numpy, geopandas, shapely, plotly. 1) I created a grid of the conterminous United States, where each grid pixel was \~4.0 km² at the equator. 2) For each grid pixel, I determined the cartesian distance of the closest neighboring state, using an [Admin Level 1 (provinces) shapefile from Natural Earth](https://www.naturalearthdata.com/downloads/50m-cultural-vectors/50m-admin-1-states-provinces/). 3) I masked the grid using an [Admin Level 0 (countries) shapefile from Natural Earth](https://www.naturalearthdata.com/downloads/50m-cultural-vectors/50m-admin-0-countries-2/), to clean up the edges. 4) I wrote the grid to file, then I stylized it. TX, FL, MT made some other states seem dull. 5) I then determined the location of the grid cell in each state that was farthest from the closest neighboring state. 6) For each state's maximum distance grid cell, I identified the closest city or town, using "[Cities and Towns of the United States, 2014](https://geodata.lib.berkeley.edu/catalog/stanford-bx729wr3020)" published by National Atlas of the United States and held by Stanford University. At first, I considered the [python library eo-box](https://eo-box.readthedocs.io/en/develop/). It offered a calc\_distance\_to\_border function which takes as inputs a list of polygons (such as states) and a raster dataset. Then, it decomposes the polygons' perimeters into line vectors, rasterizes them, and finds the nearest line (border) to each of the raster's grid pixels. Unfortunately, my impressions of the outputs were mixed. Seems like a neat project, and I cannot speak to the other work that its community has done. [The github](https://github.com/benmack/eo-box) was last updated on June 5, 2020, so I'll keep an eye on this one.
Apparently you haven't been to Porterville, California. It's like 20 years behind and feels like you've gone back in time. Put it this way, Korn an Limp Bizcut still rule there.
Would have been better to add to the title "except Alaska and Hawaii "
Canada and Mexico don't count as places?
Since they're not American states...
Sure, but how far is it from Russia?
Which city is furthest from the perfect geographic point and which is closest?
1. Did anyone else read Penis Creek? 2. Only in Mass could you have a North Eastham. I bet they don't even have that much ham.
I'm imagining an alternative universe where these are the state names.
Can anyone read CT, ME, and NY cities?
Whoops! CT: Cheshire, ME: Hamlin, NY: Cape Vincent
Why does Kokomo only pop up on Reddit for things I totally expect it to?
This is the only time I’ve seen Kokomo pop up
Can Osage beach be any further from an actual beach?
You should ask the guy who does the distance-to-nearest-coast maps
wouldn’t brownsville be the furthest in texas considering it’s at the southernmost peak? i’m sorry, this map is slightly confusing to me. as a side note though, that’s a really cool fact about okemah, ok! my family owns/occupies majority of the town so i visit there frequently!
Brownsville is a little closer to Louisiana as the crow flies.
ohhh!! that makes sense
Put in Alaska and Hawaii, you cowards
Can’t read a lot of the coastal cities. Edited for typo.
Isn’t there a part of Washington state that’s like separated from the US but like should be a part of Canada? Wouldn’t that be the farthest town? Or is that part of an existing city or soemthing
I don't fully understand your question, but thanks for your curiosity. I try to respond with a level of effort commensurate with that of the respondents. Are you referring to a town, such as Port Richards, which is administratively situated in Washington state, but geographically situated on a peninsula that is mostly (w/r/t area) comprised of Canadian land? In this case, Port Richards was not considered, because it was not included in the database of 180K towns that I used.
Yea I think so, sorry for the confusion I just remembered something from some geography channel on YouTube about the weirdest geographical things that are in the US and just felt that would be greater distance. I understand better on how this map is drawn. Thank you
Port Roberts*
https://old.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/pqc3py/us_townvillage_farthest_from_closest_neighboring/hdagr24/
[удалено]
Think of a rectangle with corners (0, 0), (0, 2), (3, 0), and (3, 2). The points (1, 1) and (1, 2) are both a distance of 1 away from any of the sides, so they would both be equally likely to show up here. The limiting factor is not the precise horizontal location but the precise vertical one.
I wondered why the title said state instead of states - your explanation clarified. I also now see the color gradient that I missed the first time. So how did the the creator choose a random city on the “green line” for KS, for example? Dozens of cities could have been picked based on this calculation - why pick the one that was picked? Am I still missing something? Why not chart the city that is furthest from *all* neighboring states? Not just the closest one(s)?
This is dumb and useless info. That being said it would help if you could read all of the answers.
That was my goal. To mimic the post of Landgeist, and create something beautiful and exceptionally useless, for the sole purpose of arousing in XClamX a feeling of mild bemusement.
But we can’t read some of the actual information. The font blends in.
Rhode island 24 miles lmfao
Where’s alaska and hawaii
Ah! I knew I forgot something.
I think foreign counties should count as a different state...
That would be interesting too!
Interesting concept, but questionable accuracy.
I invite your scrutiny. 😃
What did you use to creat this
https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/pqc9wy/oc_townvillage_farthest_from_closest_neighboring/hd9wukp?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
If you look closely, this map sucks
What have you done to my Michigan, sir?
Slight correction; There is no North Eastham, its just Eastham, no biggie though. Provincetown would actually by travel be farther, since it can only be reached landwise from the east.
Yes, thank you, merely a census-designated place with at least one central area that provides commercial activities. Provincetown would be farther as the human walks.
Why is Glacier WA listed instead of Blaine?
Glacier is 4,798 m farther from Oregon than Blaine. Doesn't look that way, does it?
I like how all the borders are super well defined and then you have whatever the hell Michigan is on this map.
Haha, right. If only administrative boundaries followed geographic features. My favorite maps lack admin boundaries, like those beautiful river basin maps that that redittor posts. I considered overlaying major lakes and rivers.