How well do you know Europe?

[Rick F]

Try your hand at European geography.

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/country ... -drop.html

I didn't do too well...

29/44 = 66%
296 mile avg error

Those small coutries are the worst!

[Rick Denney]

Try your hand at European geography.

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/country ... -drop.html

I didn't do too well...

29/44 = 66%
296 mile avg error

Those small coutries are the worst!

Yes, those small countries are difficult. I missed San Marino and Luxembourg (which the software started me on and thus I had to place it on the empty continent within 100 miles). I doubt many Americans could locate American cities out in the middle of nowhere within 100 miles.

But I knew the Vatican was in Rome which is a little more than halway down the Italian peninsula, and that Leichtenstein is between Switzerland and Austria, that Monaco is on the Riviera, and that Andorra is in the Pyranees. I got lucky getting those close enough. For someone who went to school a long time ago, I really had to bend my brain around Belarus, which was never on any map that I saw in school, and which came up before the surrounding countries. The various bits of the former Yugoslavia, fortunately, had recognizable shapes and coastlines.

So, I got 42 of 44, but I think I benefitted from the software giving them to me in a helpful order (I got a different order when I tried it a second time, so it must randomize). 8 miles average error, whatever that means.

Rick "who has never been there but who is a map freak" Denney

[corbasse]

Didn't do too bad, but the mouse stopped working with Albania It ended up somewhere in the Atlantic and seriously affected my final score.
Even got all those former USSR an Yugoslavian states right

[Philip Jensen]

That was fun!

39/44 or 89% avg error 136 miles.

I looks like they start in random order. Macedonia was rough, I had nothing else placed in the in the area yet - just a big white area. Just missed it, same with Lichtenstein.

Philip "likes maps - and will ask for directions!" Jensen

[Rick Denney]

Didn't do too bad, but the mouse stopped working with Albania It ended up somewhere in the Atlantic and seriously affected my final score.
Even got all those former USSR an Yugoslavian states right

Okay, time for the test of locating American cities, heh, heh.

I may have missed a couple of those European countries, but I once drew a map of the U.S. by drawing each state, starting from the west, with no helpful outline, for a British family trying to place themselves (we had struck up a converstation at a burger shack in Niagra Falls when they were trying to name all the states and kept getting stuck around 45 or so). Of course, I had the advantage of having actually driven in all of them, heh, heh.

Rick "who hopes Europeans do better on this little test than Americans" Denney

[corbasse]

Okay, time for the test of locating American cities, heh, heh.

I may have missed a couple of those European countries, but I once drew a map of the U.S. by drawing each state, starting from the west, with no helpful outline, for a British family trying to place themselves (we had struck up a converstation at a burger shack in Niagra Falls when they were trying to name all the states and kept getting stuck around 45 or so). Of course, I had the advantage of having actually driven in all of them, heh, heh.

Rick "who hopes Europeans do better on this little test than Americans" Denney

I'm still of a generation (probably the last ) which had to learn a lot of geography (worldwide), so big US cities hopefully wouldn't be a problem. That is, apart from the coordination on a big, blank continent without any other features to help you. (If this test on Europe had started me of with Moldavia, somewhere in the middle of the main bulk of the central continent, I would have had a hard time getting within 100 miles too. )

[UDELBR]

I'd be curious to see the average American's score on this test. The World's perception of Americans' knowledge of world geography and history is pretty dismal; just curious to match perception with hard test scores.

[Stefan]

I suck at eastern europe, so I only got a 32

Stefan

[Joe Baker]

Actually, a much more equivalent US game:

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm
Go down to

• "Place the State - Advanced"

and click

• "click to play"

Be warned, though: the tolerance is 50 miles, not 100, and it doesn't leave the states, once placed, on the map for help placing subsequent states, so I did about the same percentage with this game as I did with Europe (about 68%, no prize-winner in geography am I), though my average error was in the teens.
____________________________
Joe Baker, who has various gaps in his education, one of which is geography

[corbasse]

Actually, a much more equivalent US game:

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm
Go down to

• "Place the State - Advanced"

and click

• "click to play"

Did the intermediate (which is very similar to the European one)
5 errors, 34 miles average error, but it took me 551 seconds.....
At the capitals game mentioned above I sucked soo badly I quit after a few tries But then, how many of you can place Ljubljana?

[finnbogi]

Same here. I did quite well in the intermediate game, managed to locate 48 out of 50 (I messed up my first two: Kentucky and Nebraska) in 350 seconds, with an error of 10 miles. I got 70% of the state capitals, which isn't bad since I hadn't heard of some of these cities.

In the European test I got 43 out of 44 (misplaced my first Central-European one: Slovakia) in 250 seconds with an error of 11 miles.

[Rick Denney]

RICK DENNEY!

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/USA_Caps_1.html

Here ya go! Not exactly what you wanted, but it has the same soothing voices as the ones that guided us through the
Europe puzzle . . . and that's worth something. Right?

They could have made it a bit more interesting by leaving the state names off the map.

I got 50 of 50, of course. I did have to think a bit for Maine and for South Carolina, due to CRS. But the trackpad on my laptop was still the main reason it took 285 seconds. But I confess that I teach classes for the Feds, and that puts me in state capitals pretty frequently.

Rick "who has been in every state capital except Cheyenne, Montpelier, and Augusta" Denney

[Rick Denney]

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm
Go down to

• "Place the State - Advanced"

Be warned, though: the tolerance is 50 miles, not 100, and it doesn't leave the states, once placed, on the map for help placing subsequent states, so I did about the same percentage with this game as I did with Europe (about 68%, no prize-winner in geography am I), though my average error was in the teens.

You have to have outstanding visual skills to get 100% on the advanced game. I score 86%, with 11 mile average error. I'd have cut that in half if they had shown a fiew major rivers, at least.

If you get an interior state early in the intermediate game, you run into the same problem. I missed Missouri by about 60 miles, but once it was there everything else was easy. The Mississippi River defines many state boundaries.

If you want to really embarass yourself, try the Africa games. I was barely able to eke out 50%, and many of the names I did not recognize at all. It's been too long since school--things change to fast down there. In Asia I was okay except for all those ex-Soviet republics.

Rick "who will now have to work late tonight, thank you very much" Denney

[Rick Denney]

At the capitals game mentioned above I sucked soo badly I quit after a few tries But then, how many of you can place Ljubljana?

Ljubljana was one of the ones that stumped me.

I got about 85% of the European capitals, including several by process of elimination.

But try the Asian capitals game--that will embarass anybody ('cept maybe Chuck).

Rick "who didn't even attempt the African capitals game" Denney