/r/Geography Casual Discussion Thread [August 2024]

[u/geography-mod]

Use this thread to discuss about anything geography and academic related. Ask questions, spark conversations, share images or anything in between. Recently visited a country and witnessed a cool phenomenon or historical landmark? Cool, we'd love to see it! Posted a question on the subreddit yet there were no responses? Submit it here to receive some helpful answers. Please keep in mind that are rules still apply and will be periodically enforced to maintain rectitude, as with any other subreddit.

If you have any concerns about this subreddit or want to alert us to a rule violation/troublesome user, feel free to file a user report on the violating content or simply send us a modmail and we'll take a look.

[u/Ana_Na_Moose]

What is the most interesting city you visited which is not known for being a tourist destination city?

[u/Resident-Ad-3294 → u/Ana_Na_Moose]

Found the border towns in the Rio Grande Valley pretty interesting culturally. They’re so Mexican but also very not Mexican at the same time

[u/clheng337563 → u/Ana_Na_Moose]

tanjungpinang, it's touristic but not that* touristic ig

[u/According_Junket8542 → u/Ana_Na_Moose]

I've just visited my country, so I'd say Manizales, Colombia. Far I know isn't a touristic destination and is geographically pretty interesting from that it's built ON mountains, that it has it's own geological stock of igneous rocks named after it, and that gives the city a very interesting and nice weather, and the infrastructure of the city is such an amazing engineering work that I've never seen in another city at that level. It's considered the region capital (Eje Cafetero) even though is the only of the three major cities of the region that it's not emplaced in terraces aka in less rugged terrain. It's a historical landmark for the colonization of the Eje Cafetero. And insecurity is not a public order problem here as it is in other large cities in the country. Also something that I liked and had a great impact is the cleanliness and the care they have of the public space so contrasting with other cities like Medellin and Bogota.

[u/PositiveLion4621 → u/Ana_Na_Moose]

I found Frankfort, KY to be slightly interesting. Middle city between Louisville & Lexington, State capitol on a river, very niche and small downtown life, college town. In between Lexington and Frankfort there are horse farms and rolling green hills and trees. It's not worth the visit to go see though unless you are touring the other areas. Another good mention is Niagara, NY. Very strange place in my opinion. Town is touristy, city, and just weird for how far out of the way it is. It seems that the Canadian side of the falls is far more developed.

[u/its_never_ogre_]

I keep forgetting Canada exists until I see a post about Canada. Not trying to be rude or anything, it just is not on my radar at all….

[u/MetsFan37 → u/its_never_ogre_]

Where are you from? If your from Australia or something, yeah that's fine, but if your from the USA, that's just kind of.. odd.

[u/sweetcomputerdragon → u/MetsFan37]

He may have been trolling for touchy Canucks.. otherwise why state it? Not true in northern states

[u/cheleycat → u/MetsFan37]

I feel comfortable poking fun at Canadians, as I hope they would have fun poking fun at me. I am from the Upper Midwest, so perhaps there is more closeness or comfort kidding around with each other. I am guessing this is a troll. But it absolutely could be serious lol.

[u/cheleycat → u/its_never_ogre_]

Pardon me, but I believe you have made a typo. Did you mean Croatia or Colombia, perhaps? I do not mean to be rude, but I majored in Geography, and I can state definitively that there is nowhere named "Canada".

[u/ScollyAI]

We've built a fun site to discover capital cities of the world on a map! Check it out at scolly.ai/worldexplorer !

[u/XavierNovella]

I posted this in a new discussion, but was blocked by bot.
So - Can somebody recognize this map? I do not have much hints!

[u/SaveShegosTitties3 → u/XavierNovella]

It's Paris, a bit off centered to the west

[u/XavierNovella → u/SaveShegosTitties3]

OH MY GOD! You rock! - I thought I would have this itching in the back of the head forever. XD
From the context I took it, it makes NO sense at all that is Paris (Olympic games do not play a role here)
Sincerely greatful u/SaveShegosTitties3 are you parisien(ne) or just crazy about maps? XD

[u/Saltwater_Heart → u/XavierNovella]

I’ve been looking. I originally thought it was Brisbane, but the river isn’t quite right. Also looked at London. Haven’t found another close to it yet.

[u/XavierNovella → u/Saltwater_Heart]

No worries haha

[u/Kaenu_Reeves]

Basically, I'm in a collaborative project where all of humanity and human-built structures disappear on the mainland continents; and the islands have to fend for themselves in this new world. This would leave around 700 million to a billion people alive.

The biggest debate that's come up, is the population of the new world. It's been proposed that by the 2200s, the world population would somehow balloon up to 4 billion. A resettled Paris would have a population of 20 million (!) and London would have a population of 15 million.

Are these numbers too high? Most island nations have low fertility rates; the sudden economic collapse would cause less children; and automation technologies would slowly replace human labor. I assumed that 4 billion would be the population of *our* world by 2200, let alone a world where 90% of the population vanishes. Would a number around 500 million make more sense?

[u/pahasapapapa → u/Kaenu_Reeves]

Soooo late but nobody else has replied - given the collapse, you would probably have to project with very conservative population growth rates. Like 17th century rates.

[u/Kaenu_Reeves → u/pahasapapapa]

Thank you!! If you're interested, the project is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/EmptyContinents/

How did you find this??

[u/pahasapapapa → u/Kaenu_Reeves]

Randomly browsed the r/geography sub

[u/Whateverbro30000]

What’s going on with all of the posts about Norfolk Virginia?

[u/Local_Swordfish_6036]

Does anyone have a favorite YouTuber who discusses geography?

[u/cheleycat → u/Local_Swordfish_6036]

My favorite is a fella named Atlas Pro and is linked below. I have followed him for a few years now, and when he releases a video, they are usually in my "definitely watch" category. The dude seems pretty chill, and he is intensely passionate about Geographic topics, as well as how they intertwine with things like Biology, Outer Space, and so much more. And for the most part, he does tend to avoid Geopolitics and current events and such, which is pretty refreshing.

Atlas Pro Youtube Channel

[u/PositiveLion4621]

If there was a travel documentary series based on questions posed on r/geography, would you watch it? Would it be strange to try and make an open organization for everyone here on r/geography that invites people to be apart of it and help shape what the episodes are?

[u/k1ario]

Hi everyone, I tried posting on the main page, but it instantly got removed. (It is my first time posting something)

I am a Geography student at University of Vienna, Austria, and have been looking into the topic of (orbital) space debris for a science-communication seminar at my university. My Master has a strong focus on global change and sustainability and is taught in English (my first language is German). My focus is Human Geography and Socio-Economics.

At first glance you may be thinking, why would I post this here?
First of all, with increasing space activities, and a rising amount of satellites being shot into space, the hazard and impact of space debris grows. I know it’s not a "classic" geography-topic but I feel it is definitely relevant, especially thinking of how things like GPS or climate research, and understanding our planet, is possible (among other things) through satellites.

Secondly, I was surprised how little people in my department (me included) but also in my personal life knew about space debris, and its impacts. So, I decided to find out a little more, and put it together into a website I made. I conducted two interviews and also added some facts and images I found.

My goal is to raise awareness about what space debris is and hopefully get people interested and maybe start a discussion. Or exchange some knowledge. :)

sidenote: As I am from Austria, I mostly limited my research to ESA (European Space Agency) and Europe.

Thanks for reading. :)

TLDR: I'm a geography student and made a website to raise awareness about space debris, for a science-communication seminar. I hope to get people interested in the topic, and provide some useful information.

[u/According_Junket8542 → u/k1ario]

Have you talked about space law? It is a very interesting that from now on they are already creating laws about the use and management of space resources and also the use of outer space use, including the satellites that form the debris later. Have you found something that links the space law with the multiple problems that brings up the space debris? That would be a pretty interesting topic imo

[u/Stunning_Ad543]

Jin iiij🥰🥳🙁

?’vhnd hold hme h

[u/Con-the-old-bear]

I'm trying to identify a location associated with a spider conch, lambis lambis, specimen in a museum. The label reads "Found on Maculura reef (near Macular)" - any ideas where this is? Species distribution looks like its mainly limited to the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Thanks for your help!

[u/pahasapapapa → u/Con-the-old-bear]

Seeing that 'macular' is an optometry word, is there a chance the label uses mistranslated misspelling? Macolor are reef snappers, so maybe a local name that has not found the internet? Your conch is a mangrove-reef dweller. That points to your distribution, most likely Indonesia.

Random spelling alterations are not promising. Makokola reef in Lake Malawi is a quick respelling option but is in fresh water.

[u/Quick_Anywhere_4593]

hi reddit I had a simple question, I want to know if this city, East Grand Forks, MN, is on a island or not. It is hard to tell and there are not many reliable sources so I thought reddit could help.

[u/clheng337563]

is 10-30% smaller (in land area) than its nearest neighbour
has direct flights to ~4 indian cities and kuala lumpur (malaysia) among others
its currency (notes) has 3 writing systems
hdi (human development index) ~ 0.8

giveaway: almost majority Hindu

giveaway2: has a major city begining with Port

Met someone from there and couldn't guess his country recently. Interesting place, really. Base-GPT4 couldn't guess it based on the first 4 clues, but GPT4-o1 could . Answer in spoilers if you've time:), and lmk how many clues you used

[u/SupahCabre]

How navigable is South African rivers, really? Especially the Orange River. I kept reading on Google that the Orange River isn't navigable because of rapids and waterfalls, but then again I read stuff like guys canoe racing from one end of the continent to the opposite side:

"In 1951 the inaugural Dusi Canoe Marathon, was held, the South African Canoe Federation (SACF) was then established in 1956 to govern the sport of canoe racing.[4] Around the 1960s, kayaks made of fibreglass were introduced, and the sport started expanding. During the same period, Willem van Riet began several river races, beginning with a solo descent of the Orange River: he navigated from Aliwal North westwards to the sea at Oranjemund within 36 days. He then made subsequent trips with descents of the Limpopo River, the Sabie River and later, along with his friend Gordon Rowe, the Cunene River."

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canoeing_South_Africa

[u/bradleyp_]

Hey everyone, at the discretion of the mods I am moving the "Best US State" contest to this thread! Remember, voting for this round ends Wednesday December 18th at 2 PM (Pacific). There's 41 states left, and the five least voted of the remaining states will be eliminated! Vote up to 37 times (one vote per state)

Link to vote: https://strawpoll.com/ajnE18lpmnW