Geo-Quiz

Answers to the Geo-Quiz


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As predicted, the quiz proved difficult, based on the answers provided by those brave readers who gave it a try. The actual answers are as follows:

1=F

2=D

3=B

4=A

5=C

6=E

1. Reliability of Police Services (“To what extent can police services be relied upon to enforce law and order in your country?”)  MAP F

2. Hotel Rooms (Number of hotel rooms per 100 population, 2011 or most recent). MAP D

3. Broadband Internet Subscribers (Fixed broadband Internet subscriptions per 100 population, 2011 or most recent) MAP B

4. Sports Stadiums (Sports stadium capacity per million population, 2011 or most recent) MAP A

5. ATMs Accepting Visa Cards (Number of automated teller machines (ATMs) accepting Visa credit cards per million population, 2012 or most recent) MAP C

6. Road Traffic Accidents (Estimated deaths due to road traffic accidents per 100,000 population, 2007 or most recent). MAP E

Reliability of Police Service World MapMap F, on the reliability of police services, is especially problematic, as it is based on highly subjective personal judgments. But that said, I do find it surprising that respondents in countries such as China, India, and Vietnam would provide such high ratings for their police services. The disparities between such neighboring countries as Rwanda and Burundi, Ghana and Ivory Coast, and Chile and Argentina are striking. The low ranking for the Czech Republic is also surprising.

 

Hotel Rooms World Map Hotel Rooms World Map Hotel Rooms World MapMap D, showing per capita hotel rooms, contains several surprises. Why would the figures for Latin America be so much higher than those for Asia? South Korea’s low rating is especially odd, as is that of the Philippines; according to another list found in the report, the Philippine government spends more money, proportional to its GDP, to promote tourism than almost any other country in the world.

 

 

Broadband Internet Subscribers World MapMap B, showing broad-band internet access, makes more sense, correlating relatively well with overall levels of economic development.

 

 

 

 

 

Sports Stadiums World MapMap A, showing sports stadiums per capita, is strongly tilted toward Europe, with even relatively poor countries in the southeast making a strong showing (Montenegro ranks fourth). The strong showing for South Korea and Uruguay (which ranks sixth in the world) are also surprising. Intriguingly, Hong Kong and Singapore make strong showings on all of the maps in the series except this one.

 

 

ATMs Accepting Visa Cards MapMap C, showing ATMs accepting visa cards, also has some odd features. Why would the Netherlands and Belgium have such different rankings? The contrast between Thailand and the Philippines is also notable, as is the low ranking of Uruguay.

 

 

 

 

 

Traffic Accidents World MapMap E, showing traffic fatalities per 100,000 people, is probably the strangest map in the set. Why would Cambodia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Tajikistan have such relatively low figures? Not many people drive in these countries, but the same can be said of many African countries that have high fatality figures. Why would Azerbaijan be so much safer than Iran? Why would Bahrain be so much safer than the United Arab Emirates? The UAE ranks second from the bottom, its traffic fatality rate exceeded only by Egypt. It would be interesting to see a map of traffic fatalities per mile driven, rather than by population. I imagine that many African countries would have an even lower ranking on such a map.

Of course all such speculations are based on the idea that the data used in the report are accurate. On that issue, one can never really be sure.

 

 

 

A Fiendishly Difficult Geo-Quiz

After mapping a number of the indicators found in the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, I realized that the results could make a particularly challenging geo-quiz. Many of the results seemed surprising to me, and as a result I am not sure if I would have done very well on the quiz.

At any rate, I have included six world maps, all of which use a color scheme ranging from dark blue to dark red. On every map, blue shading indicated conditions favorable to tourism, the darker the better, whereas red indicates conditions disfavorable to tourism, the darker the shade, the worse the conditions. As the World Economic Forum’s report includes data for only 140 countries, many states are left in grey. I cannot vouch for the data quality, and I must note that one map, that of the “reliability of police service,” is based on highly subjective survey data.

The maps, labeled A though F,  show the following features.

1. Reliability of Police Services (“To what extent can police services be relied upon to enforce law and order in your country?”)

2. Hotel Rooms (Number of hotel rooms per 100 population, 2011 or most recent)

3. Broadband Internet Subscribers (Fixed broadband Internet subscriptions per 100 population, 2011 or most recent)

4. Sports Stadiums (Sports stadium capacity per million population, 2011 or most recent)

5. ATMs Accepting Visa Cards (Number of automated teller machines (ATMs) accepting Visa credit cards per million population, 2012 or most recent)

6. Road Traffic Accidents (Estimated deaths due to road traffic accidents per 100,000 population, 2007 or most recent)

See if you can match the map letters with the answer numbers, and post your responses if you would like in the comment section of the blog.

 

MapAMapB

 

 

MapCMapD

Map EmF Map F