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  #1  
Old Posted May 3, 2018, 3:50 PM
ghYHZ ghYHZ is offline
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Geographic Misconceptions

As a follow-on to the recent Geography Quiz….lets hear some of the Geographic Misconceptions or comments you've heard from those who might be a bit Geographically challenged!

Here in the Maritimes…..people think we are a lot further north than we are.

-Halifax is further south than Montreal….and at the same latitude as Genoa Italy on the Mediterranean. (but I don’t think I would want to go for a swim here yet!)

-All the Maritime Provinces of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick…..as well as a good portion of the island of Newfoundland (not a Maritime Province....another misconception!) are south of the 49th parallel which is the US/Canada Border across the west.

-We were in Massachusetts awhile back and staying at a hotel just outside of Boston. Loading up the car on the last morning of our stay the couple parked in the next space noted our Nova Scotia plate: “are you ever far from home……that’s up by Greenland isn’t it?.....how many days will it take you to drive there?” ……. “About 10 hours…….We’ll be across the border at lunch time and home for supper” But I don’t think they believed me. They had Virginia plates……which is roughly the same distance!

Last edited by ghYHZ; May 3, 2018 at 4:07 PM.
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  #2  
Old Posted May 3, 2018, 4:09 PM
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Originally Posted by ghYHZ View Post
Here in the Maritimes…..people think we are a lot further north than we are.
Indeed. There are portions of both NS and NB that are below the 45th parallel, just like southern Ontario.

Regarding your parking lot encounter, I find the geographic ignorance of our American friends knows no bounds. Occasionally you will get surprised however.

I'm just back from a week long conference in Washington DC. The same conference next year is in Honolulu, and there was a booth at the conference promoting the upcoming event manned by a native Hawaiian. I dropped by the booth to get a free chocolate covered macadamia nut and chatted with him for a second. He asked where I was from and when I said Moncton, he knew precisely where that was. Turns out his girlfriend is a fan of Anne of Green Gables and they had travelled to PEI at some point in the past, stopping in Moncton along the way. I thought that was pretty good.......
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  #3  
Old Posted May 3, 2018, 4:25 PM
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Ours are obvious - that we're very far north or not as far east.

We are about the same latitude as Seattle, and closer to Rome than Victoria. Bermuda, the Carribbean, etc are all west of us.

Another is that the island is small. It's 1,110km to drive from southern tip to northern tip, and 917km from east to west. It takes two days (including the ferry, and if you're lucky enough to not be delayed) to drive from St. John's to Halifax. 22 hours minimum if you dont even need to press the brakes going from highway into ferry. Halifax is also roughly halfway if you're driving from St. John's to Toronto. There is a hell of a lot west of us before the rest of Canada.
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  #4  
Old Posted May 3, 2018, 4:39 PM
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I spent part of my younger years living in an Ontario community just east of Ottawa.

Since my parents were from the Acadian Maritimes we had lots of friends and relatives who lived in Atlantic Canada or Quebec (where quite a few Acadians had migrated).

One thing that was very annoying to us was the perception that because we were in "Ontario" that somehow it was really far away - being in Ontario meant we were next to Toronto somewhere. Five hours away.

So we'd get people telling us all the time, who were visiting or had visited Montreal, that they'd love to come see us, but it's too far away and they didn't have time! And yet if they were already in Montreal we were barely over an hour away.

Maybe they just didn't want to come see us...
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  #5  
Old Posted May 3, 2018, 4:49 PM
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One of the better Newfoundland ones I heard was of a fellow on a refueling stop in Gander...making the comment in the airport restaurant that it was ‘cool’ to be eating ice-cream so close to the North Pole. He didn’t realize he was now further south than he had been when leaving London 5 hrs earlier!

Last edited by ghYHZ; May 3, 2018 at 5:08 PM.
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  #6  
Old Posted May 3, 2018, 6:04 PM
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Originally Posted by ghYHZ View Post
on a refueling stop in Gander
They still do those?
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  #7  
Old Posted May 3, 2018, 6:48 PM
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They still do those?
These is actually an Emirates A380 at Gander right now (May 3)

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/...430Z/OMDB/CYQX
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  #8  
Old Posted May 3, 2018, 6:57 PM
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Well the most obvious one is that you have to travel north to get from Windsor to Detroit
In Vancouver Granville Island is not an island, and False Creek is not a creek. And this gets the tourists fooled often with Vancouver not being located on Vancouver Island.
And more locally when i tell Vancouverites that im from Castlegar, they ask how it is "up there", when were no farther north than North Vancouver.
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  #9  
Old Posted May 3, 2018, 5:02 PM
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Misonception: That Winnipeg is categorically a Western City, when in fact it is closer (1518 kilometres) to Toronto than to Vancouver (1871 kilometres)
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  #10  
Old Posted May 3, 2018, 5:37 PM
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Originally Posted by MolsonExport View Post
Misonception: That Winnipeg is categorically a Western City, when in fact it is closer (1518 kilometres) to Toronto than to Vancouver (1871 kilometres)
Wait...what? I've always thought Winnipeg was smack dab in the middle between Toronto and Vancouver. I've done the drive between southern Ontario and Winnipeg a dozen times all three ways, and it was always verging on 24 hours.

Just checked on Google Maps:

Via northern Ontario: 2,079 km
Via northern Michigan-Wisconsin: 2,032 km
Via Detroit-Chicago-Minneapolis: 2,236 km (though that's the fastest way due to the interstate highways)

Winnipeg to Vancouver: 2,294 km
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  #11  
Old Posted May 3, 2018, 5:43 PM
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Originally Posted by rousseau View Post
Wait...what? I've always thought Winnipeg was smack dab in the middle between Toronto and Vancouver. I've done the drive between southern Ontario and Winnipeg a dozen times all three ways, and it was always verging on 24 hours.

Just checked on Google Maps:

Via northern Ontario: 2,079 km
Via northern Michigan-Wisconsin: 2,032 km
Via Detroit-Chicago-Minneapolis: 2,236 km (though that's the fastest way due to the interstate highways)

Winnipeg to Vancouver: 2,294 km
You're using different metrics, both equally valid (both having their own pros and cons)... distance as the crow flies, versus driving distance.

I'm not even sure which I'd pick, they're both good.

From Quebec, St. John's is further than Florida using your metric, which is why I've never been to the former in my life, and have no personal ties whatsoever to anyone there, etc.; but it's closer to Quebec using MolsonEx's metric, which is why both of them share a bunch of characteristics (flora, fauna, geography, cultural habits rooted in climate, etc.) that aren't shared with Florida.

Another good example would be whether Windsor, Ontario is closer to Detroit than it is to London/Hamilton/Toronto. I think the only right answer is "it depends".
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  #12  
Old Posted May 3, 2018, 6:14 PM
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Originally Posted by lio45 View Post
Another good example would be whether Windsor, Ontario is closer to Detroit than it is to London/Hamilton/Toronto. I think the only right answer is "it depends".
Windsor is most definitely closer to Detroit than London/Hamilton/Toronto by any objective standard - right across the river from Detroit vs hundreds of km away from the other cities.
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Old Posted May 3, 2018, 6:17 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rousseau View Post
Wait...what? I've always thought Winnipeg was smack dab in the middle between Toronto and Vancouver. I've done the drive between southern Ontario and Winnipeg a dozen times all three ways, and it was always verging on 24 hours.

Just checked on Google Maps:

Via northern Ontario: 2,079 km
Via northern Michigan-Wisconsin: 2,032 km
Via Detroit-Chicago-Minneapolis: 2,236 km (though that's the fastest way due to the interstate highways)

Winnipeg to Vancouver: 2,294 km
Yeah, I used "as the crow flies" numbers to be as objective as possible. I would think that driving makes Winnipeg closer or farther to Toronto than Vancouver...I have done the drive numerous times to Vancouver, and while driving through most of Saskaberta is swift (especially in Sask...the road is as straight as an arrow), the BC part is very winding and up-and-down. On the other hand, that part along the North Shore of Lake Superior is extremely winding.
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  #14  
Old Posted May 3, 2018, 7:32 PM
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Originally Posted by MolsonExport View Post
Misonception: That Winnipeg is categorically a Western City, when in fact it is closer (1518 kilometres) to Toronto than to Vancouver (1871 kilometres)
Except you should be comparing Winnipeg's distance to Halifax, not Toronto. Toronto isn't eastern Canada to a Maritimer. It's central Canada.
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  #15  
Old Posted May 3, 2018, 7:41 PM
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Originally Posted by isaidso View Post
Except you should be comparing Winnipeg's distance to Halifax, not Toronto. Toronto isn't eastern Canada to a Maritimer. It's central Canada.
Exactly! Using the great circle mapper distances:

Winnipeg to Victoria is 1181 miles
Winnipeg to St. John's is 2008 miles

So Winnipeg is certainly west of centre!
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  #16  
Old Posted May 3, 2018, 7:48 PM
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Originally Posted by ghYHZ View Post
Exactly! Using the great circle mapper distances:

Winnipeg to Victoria is 1181 miles
Winnipeg to St. John's is 2008 miles

So Winnipeg is certainly west of centre!
It's true, but Winnipeg is near the centre of Canada's westernmost (way up in the Yukon) and easternmost (Cape Spear) points. People just don't think of Canada's north when they see the sign near Winnipeg saying you're standing at the centre of the country.

Winnipeg is near the centre of the horizontal red line, but nowhere near the centre of southern Canada.

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Old Posted May 3, 2018, 8:03 PM
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Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker View Post
It's true, but Winnipeg is near the centre of Canada's westernmost (way up in the Yukon) and easternmost (Cape Spear) points. People just don't think of Canada's north when they see the sign near Winnipeg saying you're standing at the centre of the country.

Winnipeg is near the centre of the horizontal red line, but nowhere near the centre of southern Canada.

You missed that whole top bit of the country. Baker Lake is the closest to the geographic centre. If you run a line straight down. it comes in about 1/2 way between Winnipeg and Kenora.
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  #18  
Old Posted Jul 4, 2018, 5:07 AM
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Originally Posted by MolsonExport View Post
Misonception: That Winnipeg is categorically a Western City, when in fact it is closer (1518 kilometres) to Toronto than to Vancouver (1871 kilometres)
Yes but why are you stopping at Toronto? Toronto's not really an eastern city either. You should be going to St. John's. Moreover, how is Winnipeg not a western city? That's like saying that despite all of our population in Canada being concentrated in the south, we're all living in the north. Sure, if you're starting at the equator.
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  #19  
Old Posted Jul 4, 2018, 11:03 AM
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Everyone at work was convinced that Niagara Falls is southwest of Toronto.

When in fact, it's a little south east of Toronto. When we were driving down Woodbine I pointed out the silouette of the Hilton hotel and observation tower etc, and they didnt believe me until I showed them on Google maps.
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Old Posted Jul 4, 2018, 5:00 PM
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Originally Posted by Spocket View Post
Yes but why are you stopping at Toronto? Toronto's not really an eastern city either. You should be going to St. John's. Moreover, how is Winnipeg not a western city? That's like saying that despite all of our population in Canada being concentrated in the south, we're all living in the north. Sure, if you're starting at the equator.
In terms of longitude, Canada goes from 52.4 degrees west to 141.1 west (Yukon). The midpoint is 96.8.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ints_of_Canada

Winnipeg is at 97.1, so just slightly west of the middle.

Of course when people say that Winnipeg is a Western Canadian city it's not because they did this sort of math. They mean that it's part of Western Canada, which is defined by geography, society, and history. It's in the newest part of Canada that only opened up for large-scale settlement with the introduction of the railways.
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