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.
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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
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
Timmins laughs at Calgary's sprawl; twice the size, 1/32 the population.
Tiny Timmins - how could you??