Proud Geek

Take a moment and imagine the Canadian cities of Quebec City, Montreal, and Toronto. Does your mind conjure up images of snow, heavy winter coats, car tires spinning in heavy snow, and in general being so far north that you’re within spitting image of the Arctic Circle?

Now think of Seattle. Lots of rain, no ice, very little snow (except on gorgeous Mt. Rainer), heavy on the coffee intake, lots of bridges and very few snow tires …

Would it surprise you if I told you Seattle is located more north than Toronto, Montreal, and even Quebec City? See the red line on the map below showing where Seattle is in relation to the three Canadian cities (click on the map to enlarge):

In fact, Toronto is so far south that it’s nearly on par with Detroit and Chicago. (And in fact, if you head south from Detroit, you’ll end up in Canada!)

Oh, you knew all these? Ok, grump grump, I’m not talking to YOU, I’m talking to the person behind you …

For millions of immigrants, Ellis Island was where they first stepped upon the United States, after swinging by the island upon which the Statue of Liberty stood. (Yes, the Statue of Liberty does NOT stand on Ellis Island.) And just about everyone’s grandma and grandpa knew that Ellis Island is in New York. After all, every immigrant there knew that they would be stepping into a part of New York City — onto Ellis Island — when they step off the boat.

But is Ellis Island really a part of New York? Not really.

A first look at a map shows that Ellis Island is on the New Jersey side of the border.

However, from the beginning, New York had taken possession of Ellis Island, and New Jersey allowed it. In 1834, the two states entered into a compact recognizing that New York would have exclusive jurisdiction over Ellis Island.

However, beginning around 1890, the Federal government began to expand Ellis Island through landfill on all sides so that it could operate its immigration station there. Between 1890 and 1934, the Federal government poured so much landfill that the island ended up being 9/10th artificial land. That is, the original island area was only one-tenth the size of the entire “new” Ellis Island — everything else was artificial land.

New Jersey eventually filed claim to the “new” portions of Ellis Island, claiming that all of the additions were outside the boundaries of the compact and therefore a part of New Jersey. New York disagreed, and the two states actually duked it out in front of the Supreme Court in 1998. Rudy Giuliani, then Mayor of New York City during this dispute, famously claimed that his father, an immigrant from Italy, never intended to go through New Jersey.

The end result? The Supreme Court agreed with New Jersey, and said that the new additions were all part of New Jersey. If you look at the map below, the green shaded area is where the original island boundaries were — and therefore a part of the state of New York. Just approximately 5 acres were New York’s. All other portions of the island — or approximately 31 acres — were New Jersey’s. Only the Main Building was almost wholly in New York; all the other buildings were entirely or mostly in New Jersey. The two states ended up deciding to share claims to Ellis Island.

Since 1954, no immigrants have gone through Ellis Island. The entire island is Federal property anyway (although the land is shared by both states), and the Federal government operates the museum and maintains all of the buildings there.

Much ado over so little? Maybe not.

It’s a little-known fact that there is a 17-square-mile area of Kentucky that’s totally isolated from the rest of the state. How did this happen?

The southwestern border between Tennessee and Kentucky was set to follow latitude 36°30′ — a straight horizonal line with the Mississippi River on the western end and Kentucky Lake on the eastern end. When the border was established, surveyors had incorrectly estimated that the border would meet the Mississippi River just once. However, the Mississippi River actually flows south past latitude 36°30′, then loops back north, and then loops around again and flows down past latitude 36°30′ once again.

As you can see in the picture, the end result is that this 17-mile-square portion of Kentucky — called the Kentucky Bend — is surrounded by the Mississippi River (and the State of Missouri) on three sides, and Tennessee on the fourth side. The only way to get to this portion of Kentucky is via a small Tennessee country road. Just seventeen people live there, according to the 2000 Census.

Tennessee tried to claim this land as its own, but then eventually dropped its claim by the late 1800’s. Mark Twain wrote about this area in his book, Life on the Mississippi.

I can’t imagine feeling detached and isolated like this. Even the mailing address is in Tennessee, not Kentucky. Who knows how law enforcement is set up — is it the responsibility of the sheriff from the same Kentucky county that this Bend area is part of, or from the nearest Tennessee county? Confusing. I wish the Kentucky Bend population well!

I’ve always been fascinated by maps. Don’t know if it’s a geek thing or not. I love finding “weird” things through maps, and now with Google Maps and Yahoo Maps, the world awaits me - sort of.

A treaty sets the western half of the border between Canada and the United States at the 49th Parallel. The border follows the 49th Parallel - actually a latitude coordinate - in a straight line from roughly north of Minneapolis, MN to all the way out just past Washington State into the middle of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Once in the Strait, the boundary loops south and then west, so that Vancouver Island stays within Canada’s boundaries. Other than that, everything north of the 49th Parallel is Canada’s, and everything south of that is the United States’.

Simple? Not really.

In several places, the ruler-straight border creates strange mapping results. At least three practical enclaves /exclaves were created — little “islands” of property belonging to the United States but almost entirely surrounded by Canada and/or accessed only through Canada. (Well, Alaska lies north of the 49th Parallel, but, well, that’s different because, well, um, it didn’t become a state till much later, um, or it wasn’t part of the United States till after …)

The first and perhaps most well-known out of these exclaves is Point Roberts. Where the USA-Canada border reaches the Strait of Juan de Fuca west of Washington State, it actually crosses one more land peninsula jutting off the mainland north of Seattle before the border actually reaches the middle of the Strait.

Point Roberts, WA is a small community of just over 1,000 people a mere 22 miles south of Vancouver, BC. Over land, the only way to reach Point Roberts is through a single road from Canada. Of course, one can take a boat from Point Roberts to the rest of Washington State. There’s only one school for kindergarten through second grade students; older students must take the bus up into Canada, around the bay, and then back into Washington State. I think after 9/11 they had to take a ferry or boat to school, but then they were able to use the bus once again once border crossings were less chaotic.

Two other exclaves are caused by the razor-straight 49th Parallel, this time at the eastern end. The 49th Parallel border runs through (and actually begins its eastern end in) the Lake of the Woods, shared by the USA (Minnesota) and Canada (Manitoba and Ontario). But the 49th Parallel border actually skims two peninsulas jutting from Canada into the Lake of the Woods. As a result, a few square miles of unpopulated, forested land is owned by the USA, even though on the map it looks like it’s part of Canada. The larger one is named Elm Point; the other is unnamed.

Interestingly enough, when viewed via Google Map’s “Map” view, it looks like the 49th Parallel international border doesn’t cut through any peninsulas in the Lake of the Woods:

But switching to the “Hybrid” view shows a different story:

Ah-ha, the two enclaves (or exclaves, whatever) clearly show up in the hybrid view.

I can’t wrap this up unless I point out one more enclave / exclave: the Northwest Angle. Many years ago, the Canadian / USA border was set at the very northwestern tip of the Lake of the Woods, and then it would run due south to the 49th Parallel then directly west. Due to ignorance of geography by the early mappers and developers of the then-young United States, it was not realized till later that the border running south from the northwestern border of the lake would set apart a good-sized chunk of land from Canada. About 140 people live there, according to the 2000 Census. For a good idea of what life’s like there, read the book, In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien.

Enough for now! More later.

Another example showing how useful Google My Maps can be — this time in drawing and shading shapes and areas. And yes, this example also makes a point.

The National Wildlife Federation recently released a report, “The Gardener’s Guide to Global Warming” (PDF file). Deep in this report is a list of states (including the District of Columbia) that could see their state flowers and/or trees soon leave or become extinct because global warming has already been shifting growing zones markedly northward.

I created a Google MyMap showing each state that could lose its state flower and/or tree. Orangish yellow areas show each state that could lose its state flower; green areas show each state that could lose its state tree; and purple areas show each state that could lose BOTH its state flower and tree.

(Click on the map to see the actual Google MyMap)

Oh boy. When I heard about the Chicago Spire being planned and how it’d be the tallest building in the U.S., I then looked up the tallest buildings in the world. I had to wade through a whole slew of different types of “tallest” buildings and structures. And even for inhabitable buildings, there are different rankings depending on whether they have antennas, spires, or other architectural details on top. But, in summary …

Top Three Tallest Buildings in the World (by architectural detail):

These rankings include aesthetically-pleasing spires and other detail on top of these buildings, but not TV / radio / telephone antennas.

1. Taipei 101 - Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan) - 1,671 ft, 101 floors
2. Petronas Tower #1 (tie) - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 1,483 ft, 88 floors
2. Petronas Tower #2 (tie) - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 1,483 ft, 88 floors
4. Sears Tower - Chicago, USA - 1,451 ft, 108 floors

Within the United States, the Empire State Building is #9, at 1,250 ft and 102 floors. World Trade Center #1 and #2, if still standing today, would have been #6 and #7 (1,368 ft and 110 floors).

Top Three Tallest Buildings in the World (including antenna / pinnacle):

When including antennas and pinnacles, these rankings change:

1. Sears Tower - Chicago, USA - 1,729 ft
2. Taipei 101 - Taipei, Republic of China (Taiwan) - 1,671 ft
3. John Hancock Center - Chicago, USA - 1,500 ft

The Petronas Towers fall to #4 (tie, 1,483 ft), and the Empire State Building is next at #6 (1,472 ft). Interestingly enough, World Trade Center #1, if still standing today, would have been #2 (1,724 ft).

Top Three Tallest Buildings under construction:

Two of buildings currently under construction would be significantly higher than the tallest buildings standing today.

1. Burj Dubai - Dubai, United Arab Emirates - over 2,651 ft (final height is “secret”, might be over 3084 ft)
2. Freedom Tower - New York City, USA - 1,776 ft
3. Shanghai World Financial Center - Shanghai, China - 1,614 ft (note: this would not be as high as some of the highest buildings standing today)

The Chicago Spire building is still in the planning / approval stages. It would be 2,000 feet and 150 stories — or #2 in the world and #1 in the USA. Various other buildings and towers in the planning / design stage will be much higher, even higher than the Burj Dubai building.

I don’t know if it’s a Proud Geek thing, but I love geography. I love superlatives — the world’s tallest mountains above sea level (most of us know that Everest is the tallest, many of us know that K2 is the second highest, but probably very few of us — I didn’t — know that Kangchenjunga is the third highest), ranking all oceans by size (the Pacific Ocean is first, of course, but did you know that it’s larger than all of the Earth’s land area combined), and so on.

The list of the longest tunnels in the world is an interesting mix of superlatives. For railways, it’s 33.5 miles (in Japan), and the Channel between England and Italy [duh me, it's France] comes second at 31.1 miles. An even longer one — at 35.5 miles — is under construction in the Alps. For cars, the longest one is a mere 15.2 miles, and is situated somewhere in Norway. I always thought the Channel also had vehicular tunnels — oops, looks like I thought wrong.

A tunnel between Russia and the USA, currently in discussion, could eclipse these records. Designed for railway transport as well as vehicles, it would run approximately 64 miles — or nearly twice the length of the longest railway tunnel and more than quadruple the length of the longest vehicular tunnel. It’d run below the two Diomede Islands, surely bringing an economic boost to these islands. (One is owned by Russia, and the other — separated by only two miles of water — is owned by the USA.)

Right now, it seems a bit too pie-in-the-sky — and it looks like this would not become reality. But if the Russia-USA tunnel does get built, wow … Imagine being able to drive from Washington to Moscow! Taking an express train from New York City to London! Now I need to figure out how many days both trips would take.

Here’s a map I drew, based on my own predictions of what the tunnel’s route may be, in conjunction with CNN’s map (both maps of which I suspect will be rather inaccurate).

(Click on the image for a larger version)