Why do you think they call them counties?

August 13, 2024 9:40 AM

Keep track of all the counties you've visited in the USA, Canada, and more: "The rules are simple: you visit a county, then you count it. To visit a county, just cross the plane of the county line." Similar to USA County Highpointing's site (MeFi post), mob-rule.com's design still feels like when it was created: way back in the 00s. Generates pretty maps (like heat maps for all users for the US and for Canada). Useful new features added in 2021 include HTTPS! Take a randomized county quiz!
posted by skynxnex (17 comments total)

There's zero chance I can come close to remembering every county I've ever visited, but I am enjoying the county quiz.

PS: Texas you have way too many counties.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 9:57 AM on August 13 [4 favorites]

Are we doing this? 472, and yes, sometime during the pandemic when I was bored I did my best to reconstruct some past trips to make this map.
posted by madcaptenor at 10:03 AM on August 13 [1 favorite]

The US heat map is an interesting mix of a population density map, an interstate map, and some artifacts from giant counties in the west.
posted by Nelson at 10:13 AM on August 13

I had a buddy in grad school (late 90s) who was really into this -- would make special vacation and travel arrangements to add to his list. These days I wouldn't be surprised if he has a whole website about it (w/ maps - he is a geographer after all).

PS: Texas you have way too many counties.
See also: Georgia, which has the 2nd highest number in the US iirc.
posted by Pedantzilla at 10:14 AM on August 13 [3 favorites]

I call shenanigans.

The Canada map has the province of Newfoundland and Labrador divided into counties and we don't do that here.

There is no level of government between municipal and provincial.
posted by Paladin1138 at 10:20 AM on August 13 [3 favorites]

Texas you have way too many counties.

254. I've heard that in previous generations kids had to memorize them all.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 10:24 AM on August 13

The Canada map has the province of Newfoundland and Labrador divided into counties and we don't do that here.

I believe it uses the 11 census divisions (wiki) for Newfoundland and Labrador as equivalent to counties so there some subdivisions to record there.
posted by skynxnex at 10:26 AM on August 13 [2 favorites]

I’ll have to dig into this later. I made it a mission to visit and take photographs in all 100 of North Carolina’s counties. I have two left in the NW corner.
posted by marxchivist at 10:42 AM on August 13 [2 favorites]

Oh. Yeah. Collecting counties is part of some aspects of geocaching! You do have to find a cache there for it to count though*, so more involved than just driving through. From time to time you hear legends of someone who embarked on collecting caches in every county in the US a few years ago and has not been heard from since.

*Fun fact! We also do pages of the DeLorme Atlases!

Me - I'm at 496 including all of Iowa, all of Illinois, and all of South Carolina.
posted by Dotty at 10:59 AM on August 13 [4 favorites]

Georgia's too many counties are so stupid, especially in mostly depopulated South Georgia, and I refuse to count those I have driven across because they shouldn't exist as separate entities.

(Many of the South Georgia counties do not have their own high school or courthouse and instead share with their neighbors. I would donate a ton of money to any gubernatorial candidate who campaigned on county reform and proposed at least halving our number of counties.)
posted by hydropsyche at 2:19 PM on August 13

Canada we have municipal regions. For healthcare and other organization.
For example in the GTA, Durham, Peel, Halton, Niagara, Waterloo
Right? That’s how it’s organized.

As a joke when driving we always tell our kids “hope you brought your passport we're crossing into Halton!” or whatever. Dad jokes! Don’t forget to like and subscribe!

Anyways as a minor trainspotter this somehow fits my sensibilities, thanks for posting.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 3:16 PM on August 13

So, I think for fairness I will not record counties I only flew over. Is that going to disadvantage me when they introduce the Federal Counties Visited tax rebate or does that match others’ sense? Cool post. Cool site.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 4:33 PM on August 13

@hydropsyche I’ve heard something about how Georgia has so many counties because that way everyone could be close enough to their county seat to get there and back in a day, but no convincing explanation why this would be more important in Georgia in elsewhere. The real explanation is probably the “County Unit System”, basically a sort of electoral college at the county level but massively weighted to favor rural counties.
posted by madcaptenor at 5:16 PM on August 13

This would seem pretty much impossible to do without an interstate/other road map overlay; county lines aren't usually as important a boundary as state lines are.
posted by Halloween Jack at 5:39 AM on August 14

Canada is a bit uneven in terms of where we do and do not use counties. Parts of Ontario use counties, others don't.

I know growing up in Alberta, I thought of counties as being a US/UK thing, but living in Ontario and driving up to Lake Huron with my family I pass through a number of counties.

Apparently, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Québec and Ontario use counties, but the rest of the country doesn't.

https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/county
posted by Dalekdad at 6:47 AM on August 14 [1 favorite]

I can barely remember which states I've been to. The idea of tracking counties, especially counties I've crossed through in every road trip I've ever been on, seems like a monumental task.
posted by thecjm at 6:57 AM on August 14

Canada is a bit uneven in terms of where we do and do not use counties. Parts of Ontario use counties, others don't.

The first counties in Ontario were laid out by Simcoe in the late 1700s - only he made them the size of English counties, and ended up with so many that he ran out of names. Two are named (supposedly) after his wife's dogs - Tiny and Tey.

The municipal regions - like Peel and Durham - were counties (maybe they still are?). Toronto is/was York County.

(Sorry for lack of details - I'm on the streetcar and my historical atlas of Toronto is at home.)
posted by jb at 7:13 AM on August 14 [1 favorite]