One thing that immediately jumps out is that this is highly vulnerable to differences in how municipalities are defined and subdivided depending on the country. Sometimes the "city" is defined as...
One thing that immediately jumps out is that this is highly vulnerable to differences in how municipalities are defined and subdivided depending on the country. Sometimes the "city" is defined as a very specific area surrounded by a much larger tapestry of contiguous suburbs that are virtually indistinguishable from the city itself, but which are not counted toward the displayed boundary. Elsewhere, the boundary contains the whole metro area, or depends on some ancient regional definition that doesn't match where the buildings are, making the city appear larger. This can skew the comparisons.
As an example try comparing London vs Tokyo (this will be displayed in the environs of London). Both cities will appear to have a similar size.
Then try Tokyo vs London (displayed in the environs of Tokyo). Two things will immediately become obvious:
The boundary of Tokyo is nonsense for this purpose
The metro area of Tokyo is actually far larger than the metro area of London
I feel that way about San Francisco vs. the San Francisco Bay Area. There are 100+ municipalities in the area spread across multiple counties, but they're almost all living cheek to jowl with no...
I feel that way about San Francisco vs. the San Francisco Bay Area. There are 100+ municipalities in the area spread across multiple counties, but they're almost all living cheek to jowl with no open space between them. What is a city in that context?
Having grown up in a "top 20s" town with no metropolis in the US, I am quite used to the actual city boundaries vs that area. Then I moved to Houston where it's exemplified in an awkward way, but...
Having grown up in a "top 20s" town with no metropolis in the US, I am quite used to the actual city boundaries vs that area.
Then I moved to Houston where it's exemplified in an awkward way, but also brought back down to the technical city limits as Houston has incorporated many smaller towns into its official lands.
Basically, most people don't really understand the actual technical boundaries of a city, as we often drive/ride easily past limits with very little to distinguish the change.
Look at Sydney: nobody thinks Katoomba (to the west) is part of Sydney. I wouldn't even count Penrith, although that's at least defensible.
One thing that immediately jumps out is that this is highly vulnerable to differences in how municipalities are defined and subdivided depending on the country.
Look at Sydney: nobody thinks Katoomba (to the west) is part of Sydney. I wouldn't even count Penrith, although that's at least defensible.
In keeping with the thread a while back about neat little websites, I just stumbled on this and thought Tildes would enjoy it. I enjoy challenging my perception of relative physical city size (not...
In keeping with the thread a while back about neat little websites, I just stumbled on this and thought Tildes would enjoy it. I enjoy challenging my perception of relative physical city size (not population).
Speaking of relative city sizes - not population - a fun city to compare things to is Timmins Ontario. Population is a bit over 45K, but the city is physically bigger than any of the other ones...
Speaking of relative city sizes - not population - a fun city to compare things to is Timmins Ontario. Population is a bit over 45K, but the city is physically bigger than any of the other ones I've tested, including London, Tokyo, LA.
Holy moly! I had no idea Timmins' legal area was so huge! Looking at it on Satellite View, it seems like this is the case of some highly optimistic future civic planning rather than the result of...
Holy moly! I had no idea Timmins' legal area was so huge! Looking at it on Satellite View, it seems like this is the case of some highly optimistic future civic planning rather than the result of sprawl though.
Seems like it matches the first city name they can find and does not respect states. For example a small-ish city in Colorado is ignored and instead it uses a microscopic town in Iowa instead.
Seems like it matches the first city name they can find and does not respect states. For example a small-ish city in Colorado is ignored and instead it uses a microscopic town in Iowa instead.
How is this supposed to work? I can write in a city, try to click on it, but it does nothign. And it won't allow me to enter anything on the second part. The about button just tells you about it....
How is this supposed to work? I can write in a city, try to click on it, but it does nothign. And it won't allow me to enter anything on the second part. The about button just tells you about it. Does this only work on a select few browsers (I am on a mac and tried firefox and safari).
Yeah, it's a very simplistic design pulling from some city name API and there's a few errors. That's a really weird one though given the fame of each version.
Yeah, it's a very simplistic design pulling from some city name API and there's a few errors. That's a really weird one though given the fame of each version.
One thing that immediately jumps out is that this is highly vulnerable to differences in how municipalities are defined and subdivided depending on the country. Sometimes the "city" is defined as a very specific area surrounded by a much larger tapestry of contiguous suburbs that are virtually indistinguishable from the city itself, but which are not counted toward the displayed boundary. Elsewhere, the boundary contains the whole metro area, or depends on some ancient regional definition that doesn't match where the buildings are, making the city appear larger. This can skew the comparisons.
As an example try comparing London vs Tokyo (this will be displayed in the environs of London). Both cities will appear to have a similar size.
Then try Tokyo vs London (displayed in the environs of Tokyo). Two things will immediately become obvious:
I feel that way about San Francisco vs. the San Francisco Bay Area. There are 100+ municipalities in the area spread across multiple counties, but they're almost all living cheek to jowl with no open space between them. What is a city in that context?
Having grown up in a "top 20s" town with no metropolis in the US, I am quite used to the actual city boundaries vs that area.
Then I moved to Houston where it's exemplified in an awkward way, but also brought back down to the technical city limits as Houston has incorporated many smaller towns into its official lands.
Basically, most people don't really understand the actual technical boundaries of a city, as we often drive/ride easily past limits with very little to distinguish the change.
Look at Sydney: nobody thinks Katoomba (to the west) is part of Sydney. I wouldn't even count Penrith, although that's at least defensible.
Very fair comment, though I just noticed that switching to satellite view is a quick work-around to sanity check if the boundary is accurate.
In keeping with the thread a while back about neat little websites, I just stumbled on this and thought Tildes would enjoy it. I enjoy challenging my perception of relative physical city size (not population).
Speaking of relative city sizes - not population - a fun city to compare things to is Timmins Ontario. Population is a bit over 45K, but the city is physically bigger than any of the other ones I've tested, including London, Tokyo, LA.
Holy moly! I had no idea Timmins' legal area was so huge! Looking at it on Satellite View, it seems like this is the case of some highly optimistic future civic planning rather than the result of sprawl though.
It's a funny city - so much of that space is just emptiness. They're really prepared for the future boom though.
Perhaps it has something to do with the mining?
Seems like it matches the first city name they can find and does not respect states. For example a small-ish city in Colorado is ignored and instead it uses a microscopic town in Iowa instead.
Wow this is great. It confirms what I've been hearing for years - my Canadian city of Calgary is the sprawliest of sprawling cities.
Timmins laughs at Calgary's sprawl; twice the size, 1/32 the population.
Tiny Timmins - how could you??
Threw Calgary in on top of my old sprawling stomping ground of Dallas and they are about the same, as is Calgary and Denver.
Houston isn't that different, though I'm somehow not surprised that sprawl is the thing in a state with (what I understand) doesn't do urban planning
How is this supposed to work? I can write in a city, try to click on it, but it does nothign. And it won't allow me to enter anything on the second part. The about button just tells you about it. Does this only work on a select few browsers (I am on a mac and tried firefox and safari).
Seems like it's down now - on mobile for me. No results load. Previously it prompted cities in a list after you typed something in.
Gothenburg brings up some tiny city in Nebraska with no way of selecting the one in Sweden?
Yeah, it's a very simplistic design pulling from some city name API and there's a few errors. That's a really weird one though given the fame of each version.
There's nothing at all for Stockholm, just an error.