Help refine new county-based map of US regions? (bus, suburb)

[bus man]

Once all the preceding criteria are satisfied, the map should be reviewed for "recognizability" (I basically mean plausibility). The heuristic here is when a person looks for a county they've lived in for 5+ years and sees which region it's been assigned to, their immediate reaction should not be "that is definitely not correct."

I've lived in Howard County, MD for 18 years. When I look at this map and see the region in which my county is placed, my immediate reaction is "yeah, this seems correct." So there you go.

I would have put all of southern New Jersey in with the Mid-Atlantic Region, but I may be allowing my subconscious cultural biases to influence that reaction. But certainly in terms of economic connections, that area is tied in much more strongly with Philadelphia and New York than it is with Wilmington or Baltimore or Washington.

I know that you (the OP) have specifically refrained from including political considerations in your map, and I applaud you for that. But honestly, I tend to think that rearranging our state boundaries along the regional lines suggested here (or, more likely, 2 or 3 subregions within each region) would reduce the effect of "blue people in a red state" or vice versa. Grouping like with like in terms of natural land formations and dominant industries will, de facto, tend to group like with like in terms of political persuasion as well. (Yes, I realize that rearranging our state boundaries is not on the table; but it's an interesting thought exercise.)

Good work, OP. Looking forward to seeing the results of this project.

[Thoreau424]

More nonsense over lines of division and separation. People who can't exist without boxes to stick others in.

[Katarina Witt]

Colorado:
Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver and Elbert Counties are not "mountain" counties. Larimer, Boulder, Jefferson, Douglas and El Paso Counties are only "mountain" in their western areas.

[Champ le monstre du lac]

Originally Posted by PosadasJ

Thanks so much! And I totally hear you re: the boreal forests in northern New England vs. the coastal plains in southern New England. The challenge I faced is where to put those northern forest areas. Obviously they're too small to be their own region. If the map were purely about ecoregions, the least-bad solution would be put them with the Midwestern "North Woods" (northeastern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, and the UP and northern LP in Michigan) in a combined "North County" region. The problem is, the other major factor in my map was economic links, as these two halves of a proposed "North Country" are much more closely economically linked to other regions than to each other. (The other problem is that no one from either of these halves would think of themselves as being from the region that the other half is part of..

You need to get a bit further north into Canada, like well north of the St. Lawrence river before you start seeing boreal forests. Northern New England has lots of maple and other northern deciduous hardwoods, and white pines in their forests.

Though coastal regions level off in marshy lowlands in southern New England, I would characterize the region as "plains". The Delmarva peninsula is more coastal plains. In Mass, Conn, and RI you don't have to get to far inland before you start seeing a good amount of hills.

[CookieSkoon]

Originally Posted by Desert_SW_77

You need to get a bit further north into Canada, like well north of the St. Lawrence river before you start seeing boreal forests. Northern New England has lots of maple and other northern deciduous hardwoods, and white pines in their forests.

Though coastal regions level off in marshy lowlands in southern New England, I would characterize the region as "plains". The Delmarva peninsula is more coastal plains. In Mass, Conn, and RI you don't have to get to far inland before you start seeing a good amount of hills.

Absolutely true, this. While it never got a name like the Piedmont or Allegheny/Cumberland, most of coastal New England is still an Appalachian runoff with ancient worn foothills gently rolling about. Pretty much nothing in New England is a proper prairie or plain.

Lots of wetland forest though.

[PosadasJ]

Here's how the final version ended up! Comments on C-D were very helpful. I know several recent posters would have drawn the boundaries differently, but I did my best to remain consistent with the same principles and, where a county/metro area could go either way, to place it where it would likely evoke the least amount of local un-recognizability.



And see the website: <https://www.jeremyposadas.org/regions>

[majorsystemerror]

I would stretch the pink region of Mid-Atlantic North up to Hartford, Providence and Boston on there.


Mohawk Valley (Utica to Albany) being lumped in with the Adirondacks and Northern New England is fine, but no way should that be lumped in with Boston and the others. Northern New England is different than Southern New England.

[majorsystemerror]

Also, Hawaii isn't West Coast. It's entirely different than anywhere else.

[CookieSkoon]

Originally Posted by majorsystemerror

I would stretch the pink region of Mid-Atlantic North up to Hartford, Providence and Boston on there.


Mohawk Valley (Utica to Albany) being lumped in with the Adirondacks and Northern New England is fine, but no way should that be lumped in with Boston and the others. Northern New England is different than Southern New England.

Remember, this is primarily based on ecoregion with as little hair splitting as possible. All of New England is geologically related and climatically similar (relatively speaking). It is not primarily based on cultural implications.

I do agree on Hawaii being entirely different though.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by PosadasJ

Here's how the final version ended up! Comments on C-D were very helpful. I know several recent posters would have drawn the boundaries differently, but I did my best to remain consistent with the same principles and, where a county/metro area could go either way, to place it where it would likely evoke the least amount of local un-recognizability.



And see the website: <https://www.jeremyposadas.org/regions>

Still, Re Colorado:
Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver and Elbert Counties are not "mountain" counties. Larimer, Boulder, Jefferson, Douglas and El Paso Counties are only "mountain" in their western areas. Elbert isn't even considered metro Denver, it's considered "the eastern plains" of Colorado.