Map 70

Click here for a full-size version of this week’s map.

This map was inspired by the students at Eastside High School in Covington, Georgia. It will be up for two weeks rather than the usual one so that we can take a week off for Christmas.

This map is a dot map of the state of Georgia. (Do you need a refresher on what a dot map is? Visit our “Basics” page for a quick primer.) This is a special map. Our most avid and loyal map submitters, the students in the Greek class at Eastside High School in Covington, Georgia, came up with the idea for this map and put in the legwork to acquire the data. Those students wanted you to learn about their home state. We then made the dot map based on their idea. Some of the hints this week will also be based on hints written by students from Eastside High School. Note that there is a small black border around each red dot, so you should be able to tell the dots apart. Obviously, there are way too many dots for you to look them up one by one, so your best bet is to think about the general pattern. As always, your job is to figure out what this dot map represents.

Stumped? Check back Wednesday (12/20), Saturday (12/23), Tuesday (12/26), and Friday (12/28) for hints about where to focus your investigation. The answer will be posted on Monday, New Year’s Day 2018. Good luck!

Wednesday’s hint: One interesting thing that stands out on this map is how the dots tend to follow the major interstate highways of Georgia. This pattern may be difficult to see at first, but you can make it out if you superimpose this map on a map of highways. For example, the line of dots going down to the southern part of the state perfectly follows I-75. Imagine you’re driving on the interstate—what might you encounter along the way?

Thursday’s helpful gift: We managed to make a larger version of this week’s map.

Saturday’s hint: The data set used to make this map was something that the Federal Emergency Management Agency definitely has on hand at all times—or, at least, it did have it on hand during the Obama administration.

Tuesday’s hint: A map of Georgia would have more dots than the same map of any other state. The next most dots would be found on maps of South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, and Alabama, in that order. And which states would have zero dots? That would be Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. People in those states are deprived.

Friday’s hint: The dots on this map represent all the locations of a particular dining establishment in the state of Georgia. But which dining establishment?

Answer: Click here to see an explanation of the answer to this week’s map question.

Next map: Click here to try out our newest map question.