Editing 2999: Bad Map Projection: The United Stralia

{{comic
| number    = 2999
| date      = October 16, 2024
| title     = Bad Map Projection: The United Stralia
| image     = bad_map_projection_the_united_stralia_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x651px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = This projection distorts both area and direction, but preserves Melbourne.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GIANT AUSTRALICAN SPIDERIGATOR - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is the eighth comic in the series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]] displaying Bad Map Projection #102: The United Stralia. It follows [[2951|#45: Exterior Kansas]], released about three and a half months earlier. In this addition to the Bad Map Projections series, Randall has blended two different countries — the United States of America and Australia — into one.

As with a number of Bad Map Projections, the primary joke is the naming of this ''as'' a "map projection". Its depiction is particularly similar to [[2807: Bad Map Projection: ABS(Longitude)]], in which geography is overlaid upon other geography. It also follows the practice of [[2256: Bad Map Projection: South America]], in which a general continental shape is forced upon other areas, with the general geographical outline of the 48 contiguous US states being merged with the political boundaries of Australia (with exceptions, most obviously Australia's Bass Strait being retained in lieu of the US's central Florida). At a further level of merging, the US states are repacked as subdivisions within the various Australian ones; as with the likes of [[2394: Contiguous 41 States]], it also takes some liberties with the relative neighboring positioning of some of these, although not by totally removing any of the actual {{w|contiguous United States}}. Alaska and Hawaii aren't included, likely because the 48 contiguous US states better match the shape and size of Australia.

The map pokes fun at superficial and irrelevant similarities between features of the maps of the United States and Australia, such as the shape of the east coasts of {{w|New England}} and the {{w|Cape York Peninsula}}, and the distance to the southern tip of island of {{w|Tasmania}} and the length of the {{w|Florida}} {{w|peninsula}}. The end result is to illustrate a fanciful place which does not actually exist and thus would have limited worth for navigating either Australia or the USA, although navigation between two listed locations/areas drawn from the same original continent would at least be broadly possible (with the possibility of a few 'surprises' en route). The blending features cities from both countries on the map, e.g., San Francisco and Los Angeles (USA) close to Perth (Australia).

The {{w|states and territories of Australia}} are depicted with black lines/labels, while the {{w|states of the United States}} and such cities as are taken from either nation are marked with gray. The Australian states are labeled with their full names, but the American states are given only their postal abbreviations. (Mississippi is mislabeled as MI, in addition to Michigan's own correct usage, instead of the official MS.) Western Australia is usually abbreviated to WA, but the convention here leaves that unambiguously assigned to the US state of Washington. Idaho, for some reason, is not labeled at all, and neither is the Australian island state of Tasmania.

The title text makes a joke that this map does not preserve {{w|Equal-area projection|area}} or {{w|Conformal map projection|direction}} (typically, a map projection {{w|Map projection#Metric properties of maps|sacrifices one to preserve the other}}, or both to correctly depict a particular distance metric), but does preserve the city of Melbourne as a feature located on the map, near the actual location of {{w|Melbourne, Florida}}. Note that this is not the correct location of {{w|Melbourne}}, Australia, as it is far too much east in the bad map projection, but there is nothing to stop the shared Melbourne being entirely 'correct' and every ''other'' feature being shifted as a 'compromise'. The concept of a point being 'preserved', rather than actual dimensionally-meaningful quantities, is meaningless and just adds to the badness of the projection. There are other city names shared between the US and Australia, but they're not located at any obviously similar geographic locations; e.g., the location of Brisbane in the comic is based on the instance in {{w|Brisbane|Queensland}}, not {{w|Brisbane, California|California}} (potentially named after the main example) or {{w|Brisbane, North Dakota|North Dakota}}.

This is the second comic in October 2024 in which Tasmania appears, the first being [[2996: CIDABM]]. Both feature the major island groups in the Bass Strait, in this case perhaps intended as a sort of analogue to the {{w|Florida Keys}}, or else orphaned coastline features across the 'missing' segment of the US peninsula.

===Geographical relationships===
From west to east, the Australian states and territories contain the following U.S. states; the positions of Australian cities on the map are also listed:

{{w|Western Australia}} contains the following U.S. states:
*Arizona
*California
** {{w|Perth, Australia|Perth}} appears on the California coast, about halfway between {{w|Los Angeles}} and {{w|San Francisco}}.
* Colorado
* Idaho
* Montana
* Nevada
* New Mexico
* Oregon
* Utah
* Washington
* Wyoming

{{w|Northern Territory}} contains the following U.S. states:
* Illinois
* Iowa
* Kansas
* Michigan ({{w|Upper Peninsula}})
* Minnesota
** {{w|Darwin (Australia)|Darwin}} is positioned in northwestern Minnesota.
* Missouri
* Nebraska
* North Dakota
* South Dakota
* Wisconsin

{{w|South Australia}} contains the following U.S. states:
* Arkansas
* Louisiana
** {{w|Adelaide, Australia|Adelaide}} is located in the {{w|Mississippi River delta}} region of Louisiana.
* Oklahoma
* Texas

{{w|Queensland}} contains the following U.S. states and territories:
* Connecticut
* Delaware
* District of Columbia
* Indiana
* Kentucky
* Maine
* Maryland
* Massachusetts
* Michigan ({{w|Lower Peninsula}})
* New Hampshire
* New Jersey
* New York
* North Carolina
** {{w|Brisbane}} is located on the coast in southeast North Carolina.
* Ohio
* Pennsylvania
* Rhode Island
* Tennessee
* Vermont
* Virginia
* West Virginia

{{w|New South Wales}} contains the following U.S. states:

* Alabama
* Georgia
** {{w|Canberra}}, and presumably the rest of the {{w|Australian Capital Territory}}, is located in southeastern Georgia.
* Mississippi
* South Carolina
** {{w|Sydney, Australia|Sydney}} is located along the coast of South Carolina, near the location of {{w|Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston}}.

{{w|Victoria, Australia|Victoria}} and {{w|Tasmania}} combine to make up the U.S. state of Florida, which is now divided into two non-contiguous parts. As a result Tasmania, which has a {{w|Omission of Tasmania from maps of Australia|history of being omitted from maps of Australia}}, is displayed but not named. {{w|Melbourne}} is located in the southeast corner of Victorian Florida. Although Tasmania's largest city {{w|Hobart}} is not labeled, it could share the same general location of Miami on the map. Alaska and Hawaii, the two non-{{w|Contiguous United States|contiguous states}} of the United States, do not appear in the projection. Other major geographic distortions include:
* The U.S. now has two {{w|quadripoint}}s, with the intersection of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico joining the existing {{w|Four Corners}}.
* Indiana has a border with Arkansas.
* Alabama and Mississippi have lost Gulf Coast access, as Florida has a border with Louisiana.
* Missouri has a north-south border with Oklahoma.
* {{w|Miami, Florida|Miami}} is separated from the lower 48 states, as it is now located in the non-contiguous Tasmanian Florida.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Above the map, in 3 paragraphs:
:Bad map projection #102:
:[In larger letters than the first or the third paragraph]: The United Stralia
:A 50/50 US/Australia blend

[A map whose left side looks like that of Australia and whose right side looks like that of the United States, with Tasmania swapped out for a supposed island that looks like South Florida. The modified subdivisions of Australia are bordered with black with their names also black, while those of the United States are bordered with the same grey the city names are written with, with the US state abbreviations being a brighter one]:

==Trivia==
The use of "Stralia" in the title echoes a common Australian verbal abbreviation for the country, often styled something like ''<!--note the difficulty of 'nicely' quoting a single single-quote!-->'Stralia'', in casual speech or sometimes {{w|Elsa Stralia#Stage name|more formally}}. This is a convenient punny replacement of the word "States" in "The United States", as it starts with the same two letters.

On the day this comic was released, the xkcd homepage changed to show a [[:File:xkcd_homepage_strip_harris_for_president.png|strip]] showing [[Cueball]] installing a "Harris For President" sign in some grass, presumably on his lawn. This relates to the upcoming 2024 US presidential election.
[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]
[[Category:US maps]]

{{comic discussion}}