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Where is the geographic center of a state, country or a continent?
It's a question fraught with uncertainty. Do you include water in your calculation? What about islands? What happens when the shoreline shifts?
The U.S. Geological Survey alluded to these complexities in a 1964 report on the centers of states, which opened by stating, "There is no generally accepted definition of geographic center, and no completely satisfactory method for determining it." More recently, various representatives of the agency have given quotes to newspapers saying much the same, hedging.
But to University at Buffalo geologist Peter Rogerson, PhD, the challenge of finding a middle doesn't mean you shouldn't try.
"There are all these people out there saying, 'There's no real good way to do this,'" says Rogerson, a SUNY Distinguished Professor of geography in UB's College of Arts and Sciences. He respectfully disagrees: "As a geographer, my feeling is that if we want to come up with a good way of defining a center, we can and we should."
In a 2015 paper in The Professional Geographer, an academic journal, Rogerson describes a new method for pinpointing the heart of a spatial entity. The approach improves on past techniques, he says, by taking the curvature of the Earth into account appropriately and by identifying geographic centers using a definition that's mathematically sound.
In late 2016, he employed his method to find the heart of North America. The result was serendipitous: According to his calculations, the center of the continent is in a place called Center, a town of 570 people in North Dakota.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by VanderDecken on Saturday January 07 2017, @08:22AM
I'm all for science, but this makes me ask, "What's the point?" It seems to be in the same category as longest, shortest, tallest, smallest, etc; trivia with no worthwhile purpose.
The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday January 07 2017, @10:39AM
Getting another entry on the publication list. And publicity. And possibly a honorary citizenship in Center, North Dakota.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by zocalo on Saturday January 07 2017, @10:48AM
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 2) by dry on Sunday January 08 2017, @03:15AM
What's really surprising is how many people seem to think that N. America only refers to the USA.
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Saturday January 07 2017, @02:53PM
Based on the article, the point is the geographic center of the state, country, or continent being identified with a center!
I agree it is trivial, but I am sure some country will be nationalistic enough to write angry letters about how they are central to everything in their region and it's not fair that the dot or line shifted in a National Geographic or Windows Time Zone map becaise it makes them look less relevant even though the unit of measurement is the same (nothing gained and nothing lost) and it's just the cosmetics in the map that offended them...
A lot of angst is invested in borders and the placement of capitals; finding a way to say that someone chose incorrectly will always end up being more than trivial due to the misplaced pride involved.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @02:56PM
"What's the point?"
I believe it's the center.