[CT Birds] I stand geographically corrected

[COMINS, Patrick]

A summary of the explanation from Marshall Iliff eBird:

I don't know exactly how we (eBird) calculate the geographical center of the state, but the important thing is that yes--for eBird's purposes--anything plotted in "Connecticut" will end up at this location.... From a glance I agree that it may not be the true geographical center, but if you take into account the offshore waters and the fact that CT is broader at the base than at the top, then it may be....

Also:

In the long run, all locations entered at the state level will probably be discarded for any kind of analysis. When you get the opportunity, it would be really valuable to stress to people that entering locations at such large scale, while it helps maintain your life lists in eBird, is of limited value for any analysis of bird distribution. It is, in effect, an erroneous location plot.

We will continue to allow locations to be plotted at the centroids of states and counties, but will ultimately remove those from the distribution maps and not use them in any science.


Patrick  Comins, Meriden.



-----Original Message-----
From: ctbirds-bounces at lists.ctbirding.org [mailto:ctbirds-bounces at lists.ctbirding.org] On Behalf Of COMINS, Patrick
Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 9:55 AM
To: ctbirds at lists.ctbirding.org
Subject: [CT Birds] I stand geographically corrected

I stand corrected regarding the geographical center of Connecticut.  Several people have sent me notes telling me that the center is actually in Middlesex County.  I did some checking and it turns out that we're all wrong and it is actually in Hartford County according to the USGS:

Geographic Center:
Located in Hartford County approx. at East Berlin
(source: U.S. Geological Survey)

I had always thought that it was somewhere near West Peak in Meriden.  It probably depends on how you measure things.

I sent a note to the eBird folks to see if there is another explanation for Bev's issue.  Hopefully they'll get back to me.

Patrick Comins (near the geographical center, Meriden).





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