A topological map is a type of diagram that has been simplified so that only vital information, such as borders, remains and unnecessary detail, such as size and shape, has been removed.
Fill in this map of the world by correctly guessing each highlighted country.
Does not include island nations except those touching other mainland countries (i.e. Papua New Guinea)
The black areas represent large bodies of water
If two countries have the same borders (i.e. Norway and Finland) use geographical clues to help determine your answer (e.g. follow their borders along the Baltic Sea)
I agree, amazing quiz. I'll nominate this for a feature, though maybe the odds there will be improved if you produce separate quizzes for each continent? I think that will attract more quizzers, just for the shorter length. The clue glitch I saw are that you include the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, but not the Angolan exclave of Cabinda. Also Singapore is considered to be an island country, though I guessed it here because it's the only one it could have been. Also you might want to tweak your "doesn't include island countries" in the instructions to allow for island countries connected to countries connected to mainland continents (eg Brunei, PNG and Timor-Leste). But the concept of this quiz is just amazing, and a real brain-stretcher - nice job.
Yeah, there are a number of things that I need to tweak (like Angola bc technically it borders the Republic of the Congo). And I plan on making separate continent quizzes as well because I know how difficult the entire world can be :) Thanks so much for the input!
I think you know the rest too, like Azerbaijan borders Turkey. And if Singapore is included then let's include Bahrain, UK, Ireland and link up Denmark and Sweden. Anyway excellent work!
The position of some countries (Vatican/San Marino, Norway/Finland, Singapore(!)/Brunei, East Timor/PNG) is ambigous, but Finland/Norway is the only one whose placement goes against the general geographical layout and I got it wrong because of that: one more reason I see to flip them is that the sequence of continental borders should be preserved when possible (ie NK->Russia->Norway->Sweden->Finland->Russia, whereas here it's NK->Russia->Finland->Sweden->Norway->Russia)
Yes, that’s very true. I’ll try to figure out a way to differentiate between countries that have the exact same borders (i.e. Nepal and Bhutan, Vatican and San Marino). And the idea about the order of the continents makes a lot of sense too. I’ll take that into consideration. Thanks!
I thought of them with cardinal directions in mind. San Marino is farther north than the Vatican, flipping Scandinavia upside down puts Finland on the left, and Nepal is west of Bhutan.
Yes. I totally disagree with Finland/Norway. I chose Norway on the left because it's primarily east of Finland. That logic worked for figuring out San Marino and the Vatican (San Marino is north of the Vatican) and Nepal and Bhutan (Nepal is east of Bhutan, with downwards representing west). Finland/Norway was the only place it failed me.
Fantastic quiz! Can you fill the paths in white by default so that they're clickable? (Also check this doesn't accidentally hide any countries like vatican / San Marino)
I guess you do make a point... If you go from Estonia to Russia, the next country you would hit on the coastline IS Finland, so I'll make sure to change that. I chose not to include Gibraltar mainly because the UK wasn't included in the quiz either. I thought it might be too confusing to have exclusively Gibraltar and not the rest of the UK. Thanks for the input and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
But if gibralter was included, then UK and Ireland could follow. In the same way malaysia joins onto indonesia and the PNG and east timor which would otherwise be omitted
You are right, but I generally did not include overseas territories of countries, especially when they are so small. It would get very confusing for most people who don't know all of the minuscule territories. Additionally, including Alaska would not actually change the map since it only borders Canada and the U.S. already borders that. Thanks for the input!
Jetpunk usually doesn't seem to treat them as territories. They're almost always considered an integral part of Spain, you don't see them excluded often. If they aren't going to be added, maybe you could mention them being gone in the description?
As mentioned earlier the Norway-Finland problem could be more clear. I see your point with Finland and Estonia being close together. However, Norway is the westernmost of the two and Finland is closer to the Asian countries. I think you should try to focus on either cardinal directions or nearby countries (or maybe mention it in the description). It is an amazing idea though, you got a nomination from here.
I agree that the Norway/Finland problem can be very confusing. I think I will switch Norway back on the left side (west) and Finland on the right (east) in order to stay consistent with the cardinal directions. And thanks for the nomination!
I originally had Finland on the left, but it caused some confusion. However, I agree that it is more consistent with the border with the Baltic Sea. I will consider changing it back. Thanks!
Very nice quiz! Maybe it would be a little bit easier if you can see every right answered ones. Like when you hold on one guessed country you can see which it was exactly.
Thanks! I agree, being able to see the answers you've already guessed would be very useful, but I'm not exactly sure how to do that. I'll look into it and add it as soon as possible.
I actually chose not to include most small exclaves, like Ceuta and Melilla, because it would make this quiz a lot more confusing. You are correct, but there are so many tiny exclaves and enclaves that I chose to disregard most of them.
There does seem to be a lot of agreement on this, so I'll go ahead and add the border between Spain and Morocco. I agree, it is one of the few cases where an exclave borders a totally new country, so I'll oblige haha. I'll try and add it as soon as possible. Thanks for the suggestion!
Based on the definition I looked up, this map would not be a cartogram because the size/shape of each country on this map does not have any actual meaning. There are some good examples on this Wikipedia page such as cartograms that substitute population for area, making more populous countries like China and India the largest.
Great and fun quiz! I got two wrong. Ivory Coast which I thought was Burkina Faso and Kyrgyzstan which I thought was Uzbekistan. Surprised Republic of the Congo is the least guessed one.
But cool quiz anyway
I would have reversed finland and norway, because if we follow the coast line, the order isn't correct ...
And where is Gibraltar ???
Loved the quiz btw