The flattest US state is Florida.
Most of the people believed that Kansas is the flattest state among other states, but it is not. Wondering how flatness is measured? There are several methods, geographers Jerome Dobson and Joshua Campbell wanted to identify which state is the flattest in America. They utilized a computer analysis to measure how a 6-foot tall person could see around 3 miles, by using the concept to dub the view either “flat” or “not flat”.
“A general tilt of the land does not affect the human perception that much, but it can skew a mathematical analysis,” says Dobson. This is a reason people thought of Kansas as flat.
1. Which State Is Called “the Sunshine State”?
- A. California
- B. Texas
- C. New York
- D. Florida
What Is the Flattest State?
To calculate the human-scale perception of flatness, Dobson and Campbell studied data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission in geographic information systems (GIS) software. They formed an algorithm which defines what the person can see if he is standing in one place and then turning around in a circle, recording views of the horizons 16 times. Each circle recorded, flat, not flat, flatter, and flattest.
A few people can’t accept the fact and challenge this method. “A few people say the results can’t be right because a given state has such-and-such highest point and such-and-such lowest point, but that’s a relief, that’s not flatness,” tells Dobson.
He explains further, “Flatness is how you perceive the ground as you are walking on it, driving on it, or standing on it; it’s what people are talking about when they come here and say, ‘This part of Kansas isn’t as flat as I expected it to be.'”These geographers studied the entire lands across 48 contiguous U.S states and the District of Columbia. They did not include Alaska and Hawaii because they knew neither state would be flat. The algorithm has to be followed for six days for collecting data.
As per their analysis, Florida is the flattest US state and flattest-looking state. After Florida, Illinois, North Dakota, Louisiana, Minnesota, Delaware, Kansas, and Texas are flattest looking US states. West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky are considered to be the least-flattest states.
Amazing Facts about the Flattest State in America
According to their analysis, they predicted that Kansas is not one of the top five flattest US states. They are right. Kansas took seventh place, after Florida, Illinois, North Dakota, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Delaware.
Dobson and Campbell correctly predicted that Florida is the flattest with their geography knowledge.
They also predicted the states that have large coastal plains such as South Carolina and Delaware. It was shocking for Dobson to learn that South Carolina is ranking 15th in flatness whereas Delaware was as low as sixth.
Dobson says, “One that really surprised me was Louisiana,” he didn’t expect that it would turn out to be the flattest. Louisiana was the coastal plain, flatter plain of the Mississippi River Basin that is the difference.
The least flat was West Virginia, which didn’t fail to surprise the geographers.
Other states are considered as mountainous including Vermont (45th), Colorado (25th), Utah (23rd) and California (24th).