Wednesday, September 12, 2012

6 Miles in Michigan

As it turns out, you'll never find yourself more than six miles from a lake in the entire state of Michigan.  That's a lot of lake...





I read this claim in Michigan's wiki page and, honestly, was skeptical...
So I found data sets of inland lakes and the Great Lakes at Michigan's geographic data library, which is actually a pretty great nerd resource.  And one mile at a time, I punched out the buffers until sure enough, 6 miles is as far as you can get from one lake before you are closer to some other lake.
As a native of the mitten state I take considerable dork-pride in this.

And finally, here is the Nelson clan enjoying a Michigan lake at considerably less distance than 6 miles...



6 comments:

  1. Who raised you? You know just where to go to get the information for making maps that work in our bonus room! Another great addition.

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    1. Ladies and gentlemen, my Mom! Pictured back row, center. In pink.

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  2. Another great map, John. I love your family photo, too. We've used this in a couple of our onGEO courses. Thanks so much!

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    1. Thanks Beth! That Patriarch in the center there is a graduate of MSU.

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  3. The clan. I just love it when clans gather together and share some love and stories.

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  4. what's with that 6-mile-spot near Saginaw Bay?

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