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Share Most Canadians live south of Seattle and other mental map surprises on LinkedIn “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. a map of the location of a plane. New York, west of Santiago? Reno, west of LA? Edinburgh, west of Bristol? Yes, yes and yes. If you don’t believe it, check a map. (Credit: Lionel Page, David Pogue, and Liam Dutton, all via Twitter) 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 For instance, Canada, especially from an American perspective, is often used as shorthand for “north.” (It’s in their national anthem, anyway.) But upon closer inspection, that fails both geographically and demographically. Canadians are not spread out evenly across Canada. The vastness of the country’s north, and indeed of its geographic center(s), is virtually empty. If anything, Canadians are “southerners” because most of them live in their country’s “Deep South,” close to the U.S. border. The eastern part of that border dips well below the 49th parallel, where we find large metropolises like Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal, and Québec City. Three often-cited yardsticks describe the lopsidedness of Canada’s demography: Top Stories 00:30 01:00 How the nearly indestructible tardigrade can bring vaccines and medicine to AfricaThe key to feeling happier about the future: Mental time travelScience claims a “god’s-eye view” of reality. This is fictionHow Rome’s terrible 7th king led to the RepublicA new Earth-sized, volcanic planet is a good candidate for harboring lifeWant to lose weight? Try eating like a pig Berkeley professor explains gender theoryHow heavy hydrogen reveals the dark UniverseUitwaaien: The simple Dutch cure for stressQuantum nothingness might have birthed the Universe Want to lose weight? Try eating likea pig 90% of Canadians live within 100 miles (160 km) of the U.S. border. More than 70% of Canadians live below the 49th parallel. More than 60% of Canadians live south of Seattle. a map of the united states with a red marker. Canada, True North? The country extends as far south as Barcelona or Rome (bottom line). Almost no Canadians live on the latitude shared by Oslo, Stockholm, and Saint Petersburg (top line). (Credit: Simon Kuestenmacher, via Twitter) Using the 49th parallel as shorthand for the entire U.S.-Canada border is another MMO. Zoom in on the western part of Lake Erie, and you’ll find Canada’s southernmost speck of dry land: tiny Middle Island, just south of the larger Pelee Island, which is Canada’s southernmost inhabited place (and far enough south to produce wine). No fewer than 13 U.S. states are entirely to the north of Middle Island, and a further 14 partially so, including Utah, Nevada, and California. Draw that parallel through Middle Island all the way across the Atlantic and we find — again, counterintuitively — that the southernmost point of Canada is roughly equilatitudinal with Barcelona and Rome. a map of the united states with red, blue, and white lines. Canada is further south (either fully or partially) than more than half of all U.S. states. (Credit: SAS Blogs) MMOs go global MMOs go much further than Canada’s surprising southernness. Did you know that Reno is farther west than Los Angeles? You’re surprised because Nevada is east of California. But it’s true: The border between both states only partially goes north-to-south. Just past Reno, it turns to the southeast, hence the seemingly strange positioning of both cities. There’s a similar strangeness about the fact that Atlanta, the capital of Georgia, is in fact to the west of Detroit, Michigan. Another surprise: New York City is well to the west of Chile’s capital Santiago. Across the pond, Brits find it hard to believe that Edinburgh, Scotland is west of Bristol, in England’s southeast.