2999: Bad Map Projection: The United Stralia

2024-10-16T20:57:15Z

Truffula: Add note about Tasmania being unnamed and often omitted from maps

{{comic
| number = 2999
| date = October 16, 2024
| title = Bad Map Projection: The United Stralia
| image = bad_map_projection_the_united_stralia_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x651px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = This projection distorts both area and direction, but preserves Melbourne.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GIANT AUSTRALICAN SPIDER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is the eighth comic in the series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]] displaying Bad Map Projection #102: The United Stralia. It follows [[2951|#45: Exterior Kansas]], released about three and a half months earlier. In this addition to the Bad Map Projections series, Randall has blended two different countries-- the United States of America and Australia-- into one. The primary joke is the naming of this conglomeration as a "map projection;" it does not quite fit the definition properly, and, additionally, describes a fanciful place which does not actually exist, and thus would be nearly-worthless for navigating either Australia or the USA. {{cn}}

The blending was done by roughly combining the shapes of the two countries, with American states becoming subdivisions of Australian states. Cities from both countries are present on the map, e.g. Perth, AU and Los Angeles, USA. Alaska and Hawaii aren't included, likely because the 48 contiguous US states better match the shape and size of Australia.

The Australian states are labeled with their full names, but the American states are only labeled with their postal abbreviations. And Idaho is not labeled at all.

The title text makes a joke that this map does not preserve area or direction (typically, a map projection sacrifices one to preserve the other), but does preserve the city of Melbourne as a feature located on the map, near the actual location of Melbourne, Florida. There are other city names shared between the US and Australia, but they're not located at similar geographic locations; e.g the location of Melbourne in the comic is based on the instance in Queensland, not California.

On the map, the [[wikipedia:States and territories of Australia|states and territories of Australia]] are depicted with black lines, while the [[wikipedia:States of the United States|U.S. states]] and cities of both nations are marked with gray.

From west to east, the Australian states and territories contain the following U.S. States; the positions of Australian cities on the map are also listed:

[[wikipedia:Western Australia|Western Australia]] contains the following U.S. states:
*Arizona
*California
** [[wikipedia:Perth, Australia|Perth]] appears on the California coast, about halfway between [[wikipedia:Los Angeles|Los Angeles]] and [[wikipedia:San Francisco|San Francisco]]. It is unclear what happened to [[wikipedia:San Luis Obispo, California|San Luis Obispo]], which is similarly geographically positioned.
* Colorado
* Idaho
* Montana
* Nevada
* New Mexico
* Oregon
* Utah
* Washington
* Wyoming

[[wikipedia:Northern Territory|Northern Territory]] contains the following U.S. states:

* Illinois
* Iowa
* Kansas
* Michigan ([[wikipedia:Upper Peninsula|Upper Peninsula]])
* Minnesota
** [[wikipedia:Darwin (Australia)|Darwin]] is positioned in northwestern Minnesota.
* Missouri
* Nebraska
* North Dakota
* South Dakota

[[wikipedia:South Australia|South Australia]] contains the following U.S. states:

* Arkansas
* Louisiana
** [[wikipedia:Adelaide, Australia|Adelaide]] is located in the [[wikipedia:Mississippi River delta|Mississippi River delta]] region of Louisiana.
* Oklahoma
* Texas

[[wikipedia:Queensland|Queensland]] contains the following U.S. states and territories:

* Connecticut
* Delaware
* District of Columbia
* Indiana
* Kentucky
* Maine
* Maryland
* Massachusetts
* Michigan ([[wikipedia:Lower Peninsula|Lower Peninsula]])
* New Hampshire
* New Jersey
* New York
* North Carolina
** [[wikipedia:Brisbane|Brisbane]] is located on the coast in southeast North Carolina. It is unknown what happened to [[wikipedia:Wilmington, North Carolina|Wilmington]], which is similarly geographically positioned.
* Ohio
* Pennsylvania
* Rhode Island
* Tennessee
* Vermont
* Virginia
* West Virginia

[[wikipedia:NSW|New South Wales]] contains the following U.S. states:

* Alabama
* Georgia
** [[wikipedia:Canberra|Canberra]], and presumably the rest of the [[wikipedia:Australian Capital Territory|Australian Capital Territory]], is located in southeastern Georgia.
* Mississippi
* South Carolina
** [[wikipedia:Sydney, Australia|Sydney]] is located along the coast of South Carolina, near the location of [[wikipedia:Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]].

[[wikipedia:Victoria, Australia|Victoria]] and [[wikipedia:Tasmania|Tasmania]] combine to make up the U.S. state of Florida, which is now divided into two non-contiguous parts. As a result Tasmania, which has a [[wikipedia:Omission of Tasmania from maps of Australia|history of being omitted from maps of Australia]], is displayed but not named. [[wikipedia:Melbourne|Melbourne]] is located in the southeast corner of Victorian Florida. Alaska and Hawaii, the two non-[[wikipedia:Contiguous United States|contiguous states]] of the United States, do not appear in the projection. Other major geographic distortions include:
* The U.S. now has two [[wikipedia:Quadripoint|quadripoints]], with the intersection of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico joining the existing [[wikipedia:Four Corners|Four Corners]].
* Indiana has a border with Arkansas.
* Alabama and Mississippi have lost Gulf Coast access, as Florida has a border with Louisiana.
* Missouri has a north-south border with Oklahoma.
* [[wikipedia:Miami, Florida|Miami]] is separated from the lower 48 states, as it is now located in the non-contiguous Tasmanian Florida.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Above the map, in 3 paragraphs:
:Bad map projection #102:
:[In larger letters than the first or the third paragraph]: The United Stralia
:A 50/50 US/Australia blend

[A map whose left side looks like that of Australia and whose right side looks like that of the United States, with Tasmania swapped out for a supposed island that looks like South Florida. The modified subdivisions of Australia are bordered with black with their names also black, while those of the United States are bordered with the same grey the city names are written with, with the US state abbreviations being a brighter one]:

[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]
[[Category:US maps]]

{{comic discussion}}

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2999: Bad Map Projection: The United Stralia