Your Statistics Map Displays

[+GrandDaddyDom]

I recently logged (4) caches in Turkey. Two of the caches were found in Asia and two were found in Europe. The four caches are all shown as being in Asia and none in Europe.

[+Lil Devil]

I'm confused. How can one country be on two different continents?

[+HHL]

I recently logged (4) caches in Turkey. Two of the caches were found in Asia and two were found in Europe. The four caches are all shown as being in Asia and none in Europe.

 

97% of Turkey's territory is asiatic.

Have a look there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey#cite_note-NatlGeoAtlas-7

And there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey#cite_note-NatlGeoAtlas-7

 

Hans

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I'm confused. How can one country be on two different continents?

 

Turkey is, and I believe that is the only country considered to be on two continents. It's enough of anomaly that no geographic ontology that I know of considers it to be part of two continents. The UN geopolitical ontology, from which the Groundspeak country/territories list is based only lists it as part of Asia. The maps page uses the google maps api which only defines Turkey as part of Asia as well.

[+terratin]

I'm confused. How can one country be on two different continents?

 

Turkey is, and I believe that is the only country considered to be on two continents. It's enough of anomaly that no geographic ontology that I know of considers it to be part of two continents. The UN geopolitical ontology, from which the Groundspeak country/territories list is based only lists it as part of Asia. The maps page uses the google maps api which only defines Turkey as part of Asia as well.

 

Kazachstan. The boundary between Europe and Asia runs somewhere around Atyrau, I'd guess Russia is partly European as well. The Sinai of Egypt is part of Asia, Panama... and Iceland actually has the European and North American continental plate touching somewhere on the island. I'm sure there are more, but that's all I can think of now.

[+ecanderson]

I recently logged (4) caches in Turkey. Two of the caches were found in Asia and two were found in Europe. The four caches are all shown as being in Asia and none in Europe.

Two were on one side of the Bosphorus Strait, and two on the other. In that neck of the woods, it's considered a defining point between Europe and Asia.

Hey, look on the bright side -- if you didn't have both continents logged before, you do now!

[+ecanderson]

...I'd guess Russia is partly European as well...

Whatever the facts, the folks in St. Petersburg feel they belong there!

Actually, for as long as I've been alive (and it varied a lot before then), the line of demarcation has been the Caucasus crest and the Urals. (Cannot believe I typed 'Urinals' the first time! Old joke from playing the board game Risk back in the 70s)

Edited December 23, 2014 by ecanderson

[+Viajero Perdido]

It's a rounding issue. Turkey is mostly Asia, so for Groundspeak purposes Turkey is Asia. It rounds up to 100%

 

Remember, this is the company that's dumbing down the game to fit into tiny screens and short attention spans. I'm pretty sure they're not going to lift one finger to figure out [if Turkey then if east of Bosporus then...].

[+Harry Dolphin]

I recently logged (4) caches in Turkey. Two of the caches were found in Asia and two were found in Europe. The four caches are all shown as being in Asia and none in Europe.

Two were on one side of the Bosphorus Strait, and two on the other. In that neck of the woods, it's considered a defining point between Europe and Asia.

Hey, look on the bright side -- if you didn't have both continents logged before, you do now!

 

The silly thing is that a friend found a cache in the west side of the Bosporus, but has never cached in Asia. So he now has Asia colored in!

[Keystone]

It's a rounding issue. Turkey is mostly Asia, so for Groundspeak purposes Turkey is Asia. It rounds up to 100%

 

Remember, this is the company that's dumbing down the game to fit into tiny screens and short attention spans. I'm pretty sure they're not going to lift one finger to figure out [if Turkey then if east of Bosporus then...].

If you want to comment on Google's design decisions for their continent maps, consider telling Google directly.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I'm confused. How can one country be on two different continents?

 

Turkey is, and I believe that is the only country considered to be on two continents. It's enough of anomaly that no geographic ontology that I know of considers it to be part of two continents. The UN geopolitical ontology, from which the Groundspeak country/territories list is based only lists it as part of Asia. The maps page uses the google maps api which only defines Turkey as part of Asia as well.

 

Kazachstan. The boundary between Europe and Asia runs somewhere around Atyrau, I'd guess Russia is partly European as well. The Sinai of Egypt is part of Asia, Panama... and Iceland actually has the European and North American continental plate touching somewhere on the island. I'm sure there are more, but that's all I can think of now.

 

In the case of Panama, the UN geopolitical ontology has as it as part of Central America and not as part of any continents. The other Central American countries are defined the same, while all of the Caribbean islands are only included as part of the "Americas" (which includes all of North, South, and Central America as well). It has Iceland as part of Europe. The Russian Federation is, oddly enough, characterized as part of Europe, while Kazakhstan part of Asia.

 

I wondered about Costa Rica after finding a couple of caches there and if it might be considered part of South America (thus giving me finds on 5 continents).