February 1, 2008

Americans can plot their geography skills with new Web site

"Most Americans don't have a great conception of geography, and this Web site can help people relate where they live to another place," says Sorin Adam Matei, an associate professor of communication. He studies how communication technologies - the Internet, wireless access and cell phones - affect how people interact with their geographic environments.

The map designed by Matei and programmed by Chris Miller, an assistant professor of library science at Purdue, can be found at www.alterpode.com. When a user types in an American city, such as New York City, a marker appears on a map of North America. If the marker is clicked, a map of transatlantic locations found alongside the first one shows the longitudinal correspondent of New York City. That is in Central Asia: Kizyl-Kaya, Turkmenistan.

Other examples include Boulder, Colo., which would be next door to Naples, Italy and Jackson, Miss., would not be far from Jerusalem, Israel. Paris would be somewhere near Eureka, Mont., which has a population of 1,028 and elevation of 2,566 feet.

"The site theoretically overlaps the westernmost point of continental U.S. over the westernmost point of continental Europe," Matei says. "Any location you choose in America is automatically calculated for the European, Middle East or North African space. Whatever the distance of your American location from the West coast will be translated into a transatlantic location that is just as far from the westernmost point in Europe and the same distance from the pole."

He says the site will surprise most Americans, who believe America is comparable in scale to Europe, both in terms of East-West span and distance from the North Pole.

"In fact, 80 percent of Americans and about two thirds of the U.S. continental landmass, when translated into transatlantic places, are below Rome," he says. "If America were teleported to the same longitudes as European countries, it would be a Mediterranean-Middle Eastern-North African confederation. Its northernmost continental points would barely touch southern Germany, while its southernmost points would be lost in Saudi Arabia and the Sahara Dessert. The corresponding point for its easternmost location would be somewhere in Central Asia, well east of the Aral Sea, in Kazakhstan."

Matei, whose background is in mass media, history and geography, says he is concerned that people, especially young Americans, lack a basic understanding of world geography. A 2005 National Geographic-Roper study reported that only 37 percent of Americans ages 18-24 can find Iraq on a map and that 20 percent believe Africa's largest country, Sudan, is located in Asia.

"Young Americans today are one of the greatest consumers of technology, and this is one communication tool that may encourage them to improve their knowledge of geography," Matei says. "Communication technologies are often blamed for isolating people, but this is an online activity that encourages people to take more of an interest in the world around them."

Matei continues to update the site, as well as use it in his classes.

Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, (765) 494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Source: Sorin Adam Matei, (765) 494-7780, smatei@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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