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Geographical Awareness

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Ivo

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(N.B.: Someone else can probably come up with a better thread title; if yes, let me know and I'll change it if I agree.)

Needless to say, given that most of us are very well versed in travel, we know where more or less everywhere of note is in the United Kingdom. To illustrate the point, we all know where Lisburn is, or Nantwich, or Wick, or Billericay, or Sandwell, or St Clears, or...

Anyhow, it is regrettably fair to say that this does not apply to the majority of the country. As I stated in the "Dumb Britain" thread, I know of some people who couldn't locate Leeds on a map!

So what would everyone consider reasonable then? I can reasonably say that I have rubbed off on those around me, which has improved their "knowledge", but surely it can only go so far before you start wondering how people don't know of X, Y or Z? I am sorry to reveal that I know of only one other type of person who knows where various odd locations are - hardcore football fans :|
 
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bb21

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Halesowen?

Try the UK version of this one. Throws up some real nasty ones sometimes.
 

David

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So what would everyone consider reasonable then? I can reasonably say that I have rubbed off on those around me, which has improved their "knowledge", but surely it can only go so far before you start wondering how people don't know of X, Y or Z? I am sorry to reveal that I know of only one other type of person who knows where various odd locations are - hardcore football fans :|

I presume saying Watford Gap is near Birmingham is reasonable?
 

GB

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As I stated in the "Dumb Britain" thread, I know of some people who couldn't locate Leeds on a map!

Not sure what is so dumb about that to be honest. There are plenty of places where I wouldn't be able to pin point the exact location.

I know what I need to know, nothing more nothing less.
 

SS4

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Anyhow, it is regrettably fair to say that this does not apply to the majority of the country. As I stated in the "Dumb Britain" thread, I know of some people who couldn't locate Leeds on a map!

How far does it stretch though? I probably couldn't point out Leeds on a map but I know it's in Yorkshire and it's north of Sheffield.
Knowing which county a major city is in is good enough really.
 

Oswyntail

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....
Knowing which county a major city is in is good enough really.
. I used to run a support team in the north of England, with a help desk based in London. My techies were always complaining that they were not given enough time to travel from Leeds to eg Warrington and back before their next scheduled job, so I took it up with the management of the help desk....
It seems that, in the help desk room there were two maps, one showing the London area (basically a tube map), the other showed England north of Birmingham. Both were the same size, and the scheduling staff (and their managers) were working on the assumption that they covered the same area.:roll:
The trouble with only knowing what you need to know is that you don't know what you need until you don't know it.
 

Ivo

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Try the UK version of this one. Throws up some real nasty ones sometimes.

Gee, that is hard. Although, when it throws up "Bath" as a question...

Still, even allowing for time bonuses (not great) I scored over 80%.

Over 90% at the second time of asking :D
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Halesowen?

What's so hard about that? A non-primary destination close to Stourbridge.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Good little game here to not only test your accuracy, but how quickly you can place somewhere.

http://www.mousebreaker.com/games/cityclicker/playgame

Two problems with that one; 1, the innumeral ads, and 2, I always seem to get a 0 time bonus on the first one :| - EDIT: Oh, that's the point.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
The Facebook game is definitely the better of the two. And I prefer the idea of using rivers instead of motorways as guidance; it's harder (well, most of the time).

My World version says Mojo is top :lol: Not on the UK one though <D Not even close.

I just got a pefect 10,000 for Hinckley... then my game got interrupted by the Chat thing <(
 
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Mojo

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Just got caught out by Gillingham. There's more than one (and I went for Dorset whereas it wanted Kent!)
 

Ivo

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Just got caught out by Gillingham. There's more than one (and I went for Dorset whereas it wanted Kent!)

I fell for that with Newport, England. I went for the smaller one I know of (between Bishop's Stortford and Saffron Walden). It cost me a score of 140,000 <( I had the Gillingham one as well, but called that right.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Gee, I sucked at the Europe one. BUT IT CAME UP WITH SOUTHEND-ON-SEA!!! <( Needless to say, I scored 10,000 on that. I also managed that with Rotterdam :D
 

Tomonthetrain

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What's so hard about that? A non-primary destination close to Stourbridge.

Its not a "non-primary destination"...its a town at the east of the Dudley area which happens to be recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as being larger than Birmingham.

Halesowen was once served by a railway line - in reality two lines which met at an end-on junction at the station. The first was a branch of the Great Western Railway from Old Hill to Halesowen, opened in 1878, followed in 1883 by a section jointly owned by the Great Western and the Midland Railway (though worked mostly by the latter), linking the town with Northfield on the Midland Railway's Birmingham to Bristol main line, with intermediate stations at Rubery, Hunnington, and a workmen's halt at Longbridge serving the car factories (not to be confused with the present Longbridge station). Being largely rural in character, the line failed to attract much traffic and regular passenger services ended between Halesowen and Northfield as far back as 1919, and between Old Hill and Halesowen in 1927, though the workmen's trains continued to serve Longbridge until 1960. The line is now lifted, but the track-bed can be seen close to the town, although there is no sign of the station. The goods shed remained until recently, serving as an industrial unit though it has now been demolished.

The village is well known by medieval historians for the conflict that took place around this time. In 1279, as the Abbot attempted to increase labour services for his tenants (which had been fixed in 1244), the peasants attempted to plead their case in the King's Court, a privilege forbidden to unfree villeins. The Abbot thus fined them £10 which was a large sum at the time, and resistance, led by Roger Ketel, heightened. The conflict was snuffed out in 1282 as Ketel and Alice Edrich (the pregnant wife of another prominent rebel) were murdered by thugs hired by the abbey.

During the 18th century Halesowen developed rapidly as a result of the Industrial Revolution. The manufacture of nails was the staple trade in the town and many mills were used for slitting and iron production. Coal mining had been done in the area from at least as early as the reign of Edward I. Dating to 1893, Coombes Wood was the largest colliery in the town; at its peak in 1919 Halesowen had 130 working mines.
 

Ivo

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Sorry. All I meant by "non-primary" was that according to list of "primary destinations" in the country, as found in UK atlases nationwide and represented by yellow text on a "reen background, Halesowen is not considered a primary destination, whereas Stourbridge is. There are plenty of anomalies in said lists, but they are generally defined as being a major location on a primary route (i.e. primary A-road or motorway).
 

bb21

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I mentioned Halesowen as it was one of those places which got me doing "Where?" on my face when first mentioned in conversations with people. If it's that popular, does that mean I'm pretty poor at Geography?
 

Butts

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Getting back to the original trait of "Geographical Awareness" I have lived in England (including the fabled Halesowen) Wales and Scotland.

The primary reason for lack of knowledge with regard to "where's where" is that a lot of people hardly venture out of their own locality.

It's almost like going back to feudal times when everyone lived in small settlements and remained in situ for the duration of their lives.

The "transport revolution" has mainly been taken advantage of by the middle classes - whether this is due to financial or cultural reasons is another debate.:p
 

Lrd

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I always thought Essex was just south of Liverpool for some reason, this was thanks to Gavin and Stacey.

Until I went and traveled on c2c and saw Essex written all over the place, which thoroughly confused me, until Google Maps came to the rescue.
 

Lrd

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But... they all have obviously southern accents... Essex can't be in the north, surely?

Yes I know, I just thought the show might of been done on the cheap or something.
 

Ivo

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I kind of like the idea of essex being in the north. No more stereotypes! :D

Eagle: How dare you beat my score? I shall have to hit you back.
 

Ivo

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Would have been higher if I hadn't assumed it'd meant Northam, Hampshire (home of ITV Meridian Studios), instead of Northam, Devon (which I've never heard of).

Ooh, that. I fell for that one before. I went for Northam near Rye (which might be Northiam, I can't remember). I just got 141,660 though :)
 

MidnightFlyer

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Sorry for the bump, but I had to post this:

In History at college, one of the subjects we are doing is about James VI (of Scotland) / James I of England. One part of the lesson revolved around himself and the Duke of Buckingham going to Spain to organise an arranged marriage. Anyway, our teacher asked if everyone knew where Spain was. Over the next five minutes, the following was established:

  • Four people didn't know where Spain was;
  • Three people didn't know where Germany was;
  • One person didn't know where America was, and also though Brazil is where Italy is;
  • One person thought we were connected by land to France;
  • One person thought you needed to get on a boat to go to Scotland.

All of the above is true, sadly. What's worse is the fact that they have all spent 11 years + in education!
 

Nym

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Wonderful education system we have nowerdays where people are taught how to pass exams, had it raised in a 3rd year EEE lecture, "But this wasn't directly covered in the course notes"

To quote the good Dr... "Yes it was, [Nym] on the front row knew it, and you're 3rd years, you're expected to do background reading...!"

During this question I had chalk handed to me to complete the example...
 
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