Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with topography

Area of countries: Mountains not included?

takeyourmedicine — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:29:52 -0800

Is topography, relief, or physical terrain taken into consideration when assessing a country's size, or area? The CIA World Factbook just says "Total area is the sum of all land and water areas delimited by international boundaries and/or coastlines." - but I presume countries with extensive mountain ranges could be have substantially larger area than this point to point method indicates. Is there a list that attempts to rank countries in this way?

How can I track myself with GPS and map my every move forever?

crazy finger — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 19:21:57 -0800

How can I best track my every move with GPS and then map it for a website and my personal use? I am a micromanager/microanalyst and I want to use a GPS all the time to track my movements and keep track of where I go and how often I go there. I don't have a tremendously huge budget AND I KNOW NEXT TO NOTHING ABOUT GPS.

Here is my best idea so far: Use a Laptop with a USB GPS like the one that comes with MS Streets and Maps to track my movements by vehicle - the bonus is that I will also have a relatively cheap (~$100) auto navigation system from this. Then, for non-auto travel, I will use a relatively cheaper handheld GPS that can track me while I'm hiking, boating, walking, etc... I can then upload that data and combine it with the vehicle data in some program that does TOPO maps of the entire USA.

I will be traveling a LOT this year, lots of stuff on backroads, dirt roads, hiking trails, canoe trails, bush-whacking, etc... and I want to track every bit of it to put together on a TOPO map of the entire country (since I will be in over 20 states). Ideally, I can also export that data into something like Google Maps and I could even have a setup where the tracks are shown with different intensities based upon amount of traffic - the path to X park will be thin, but the path to the local grocery store will be huge and wide.

So, the actual questions:

1. Is my plan above possible with consumer-level tech at an affordable price?

a. What handheld GPS devices would be best for this (especially in terms of data output for my uses)?

b. Is there good Topo software that covers the entire U.S.A. that doesn't cost a fortune?

c. Has anybody implemented this idea with Google Maps or anything else?

d. Is there software that does all this already out there?

e. Do you have a better plan than mine?

Where can I find a post-global-warming map of the earth?

odinsdream — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 18:43:58 -0800

Where can I find a non-batshitinsane version of this map? Assume: Earth's ice caps melt.

How much would the sea level rise?* As a result of the increased level, what would a map of the world (or specific areas) look like? Has anyone done a serious study of this from a physics perspective? I'm not interested in purchasing one or anything, just interested in seeing more than thumbnails and "artists' renditions."

*I'm just assuming it would rise - wouldn't it?

Ethnic maps?

scazza — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 13:09:02 -0800

1. Are there maps anywhere that show the geographical distribution of ethnicities and religions accross different regions? 2. Or, does a program exist where I could plug in preference for different feilds (example: religion, climate, geography) and it would spit out the closest region to such specifications? I would mostly apply this to Central Asia (the closest I have found is this, which I can't read, nor can I find the source map). I have a very good general idea, I know what exists over a large area of Asia, but specifically where? There has been a confluence of ethnicities and religions established over its history, joining Asian, Turkish, Russian, Islamic, Buddhist, and Hindu cultures. After researching countries individually, having studied the ancient history of the region, I can't get a handle on what actually exists today in specific locations. Kazakhstan, one of the many countries that comprises "Central Asia," reaches from the Caspian Sea to China, from desert to freezing temperatures, so where is what?