https://citymonitor.ai/community/whats-roundest-country-earth-2311 BACK [ ] * Contact us Community * Public space * Culture * Neighbourhoods * Equity * Crime * Public health * Green space Economy * Business * Commercial real estate * Investment * Places of work * Jobs * Economic development * Poverty * Commercial construction Environment * Climate change * Pollution * Skylines * Sustainability Government * Policing * Local politics * Budgets * Planning and zoning * Infrastructure * Civic engagement * Elections Housing * Affordable housing * Homelessness * Renting * Residential real estate * Social housing * Homeownership * Evictions * Residential construction Transport * E-mobility * Aviation * Boats * Buses * Cycling and micromobility * Metros * Rail * Ride-hailing * Trams * Pedestrians * Parking Sign up for our newsletter Menu Search [ ] CityMonitor_logo_308x34 Community / Public space * * Related * Community + Maps * More * Asia Pacific * Central America and the Caribbean * Europe * Middle East and North Africa * North American * Russia * South America * Sub-Saharan Africa What's the roundest country on earth? By Jack May 02 Aug 2016 * E-mail article * Share on LinkedIn * Share on Twitter * Share on Facebook From geography lessons at school and Sporcle quizzes at work to Trivial Pursuit at home and increasingly rabid arguments at pubs, we're used to asking the big questions about countries. Which is the biggest? Which is the richest? Which is the richest per capita? Which has the highest population density? All important questions, but at this point a little tired - perhaps, even, generic. Holding out for a hero as we were, Gonzalo Ciruelos, an Argentinian blogger and data-lover after our own hearts, took the time out of his life to look into the age-old question: Which country is the roundest? The calculations are all made using the Natural Earth sovereign states dataset. It's all very well to outsource the big ol' issue of geopolitics, but it does come up with some rather quirky options. --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Cyprus No Mans Area" is the 204th most round country, Somaliland is listed as the 99th roundest (despite not really being an independent state), "Siachen Glacier" is the 85th, and "Scarborough Reef" (the never-before-heard Simon & Garfunkel B-side) comes in at number six. White papers from our partners Siemens Smart Infrastructure Siemens Smart Infrastructure Working theories: What employees want from the future workplace Siemens Smart Infrastructure Siemens Smart Infrastructure New criteria for a new, smart building era Siemens Smart Infrastructure Siemens Smart Infrastructure Microgrids - the future of energy management If such entities are counted as countries without being adequately filtered, we should probably ask questions about the accuracy of the other bits of geography. There's also some very complex jiggery-pokery going on with mapping projections. The dataset uses a "WGS84" format - basically very accurate projections of latitude and longitude - which means that it comes out on what's called an equirectangular projection rather than an azimuthal projection. In short: the equirectangular projection distorts things, making countries closer to the poles look bigger while countries closer to the equator look smaller; the azimuthal projection accounts for this. It's like that bit in The West Wing with the maps and the overdone "wow I learnt something" faces, and it's the bad kind of map that is in question here. To try to combat this distortion, the guy behind all of these calculations computed the midpoint of two random points on the country's border. Admittedly not perfect but we're told it all works out pretty well. Except when... well, we'll get to that. Poll Privacy Policy Caveats aside, the results are certainly interesting. The most circular country is Sierra Leone, with a roundness index of 0.934 (a perfectly circular country would have a roundness index of 1). The next four are Nauru, Zimbabwe, the Vatican, and Poland. [round_1] Monaco clinches 17th place, Antarctica sneaks in at 33rd, and the UK and France are in hot competition at places 170 and 171 repeatedly. Although these don't look anything like the UK or France we're familiar with: [round_2] Gonna go out on a limb here and guess that the presence of a lot of tiny overseas territories is mucking things up a bit. And the least round country on the planet? The Marshall Islands. In fact, sland chains dot the bottom of the ranking, with Tuvala picking up 203rd place, the Maldives in at 202nd, and Cape Verde, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and the Bahamas taking the spots from 200th place to 197th place. And the least round non-island nation? Chile, of course: [round_3] The more you know. This article is from the CityMetric archive: some formatting and images may not be present. * Maps Jack May . Hot topics * Will the Biden infrastructure bill unlock private investment in the US? Will the Biden infrastructure bill unlock private investment in the US? * Biden: US will double international climate finance by 2024 Biden: US will double international climate finance by 2024 * Biden's transportation department could be great for cities Biden's transportation department could be great for cities Reporting and insights on design, urban policy and real estate. Receive our newsletter Data, insights and analysis delivered to you [ ] [Enter your job title ] [ ] Visit our privacy policy for more information about our services, how we may use and process your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. 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