skullaria wrote:
] I did 72% with an average of 80 miles error.
]
] What's your score?

82% with 80 miles error, but it's not a very good test. It's more a test of pattern matching once you've got a fairly good selection of states placed.

skullaria wrote:
] I did 72% with an average of 80 miles error.
]
] What's your score?

[ 92% with avg. 18 miles of error.

That being said, the order of the states is random, and that could affect the difficulty a great deal. If you happened to start off with a lot internal states, and non adjoining ones, you'd have a tougher time than if you happened to get all of the coastal and border states and then only states adjacent to those, etc. My set was somewhere in the middle, but after the first 4 or 5 i got none wrong, because i had a few easy ones, and then a lot of context. -k]

skullaria wrote:
] I did 72% with an average of 80 miles error.
]
] What's your score?

On first try: 88%, 16 miles, 277 seconds. Those New England states always screw me up. That, and trying to exactly place Arkansas or some other inland state without any rivers or other markers for guidance. ;)

Fun test though!

] What's your score?

94% with 12 miles error. I was lucky enough to get some border states first so I got 47 perfect. This would be somthing neat to let my kids at school try.

Palindrome wrote:
] ] What's your score?

88%, 35 miles... This test would be better if the map was blank for each state.

Decius wrote:
] Palindrome wrote:
] ] ] What's your score?
]
] 88%, 35 miles... This test would be better if the map was
] blank for each state.

96%, 5 miles, on the first full run-through. 98%, 4 miles, on the second.

I agree that the map should be blanked after each state. With the current test scheme, your score depends far too much on the order in which the states appear. And the average distance is artificially reduced -- quite dramatically, actually -- by the way in which the map "fills up" as you go along. My average error would have been much higher if I had been asked to place all of the non-coastal states on an otherwise blank map.

However, even a "blank" map should not be without features. It should be a relief map, showing the major rivers, lakes (not just the Great Lakes), and mountain ranges. An overlay of the interstate highway system would also be nice, but that might be going too far.

Even so, it would still be flawed as a "geography" test. For the border states, it basically resolves to a shape match game. You don't have to know anything about which state is where as long as you can line up the ragged coastlines.

The most complete test would not be a "match" game. Starting from the "blank" map, you would draw in the borders of all the states and then label each one of the states. Only then would you be "graded." Your score would be based in two parts: first, on a comparison of the center point for each state -- that is, for example, the distance between the center of Kansas as you drew it, and the center of Kansas as it really is. This is the proper "placement" test. Second, the score would be based on a "shape" test, in which the border of each state as you drew it is compared to the shape of the actual border.

skullaria wrote:
] I did 72% with an average of 80 miles error.
]
] What's your score?

On first try: 88%, 16 miles, 277 seconds. Those New England states always screw me up. That, and trying to exactly place Arkansas or some other inland state without any rivers or other markers for guidance. ;)

Fun test though!

[First try 80% with 87 mile avg. error.....damn the midwest:) I have been cooped up in the lab too long...need to go see more of the world now - Nano]

Nanochick wrote:
] skullaria wrote:
] ] I did 72% with an average of 80 miles error.
] ]
] ] What's your score?
]
] On first try: 88%, 16 miles, 277 seconds. Those New England
] states always screw me up. That, and trying to exactly place
] Arkansas or some other inland state without any rivers or
] other markers for guidance. ;)
]
] Fun test though!
]
] [First try 80% with 87 mile avg. error.....damn the midwest:)
] I have been cooped up in the lab too long...need to go see
] more of the world now - Nano]

98% 4 miles avg (I got my placement of utah slightly off, all other states perfect), then again I have always been obsessed us geography as well as an obsession to visit all states on land (flying does not count) (11 left). It took me 560 secs, but I did not know I was timed till the end.

J.P.

This was suprisingly fun...I was skeptical that I would do well, but I got 92% accuracy with avg error of 11 miles. I kno wthe east coast like the back of my hand, but I knew I would struggle on the midwest states. I actually was very close on them, but it is hard to get them precise when you get them in the beginning and have to eyeball it a little bit.