I ask this because when looking at a world map, my eyes almost always go first to my country, which is Brazil, and then to the rest. And when looking at a Brazilian map, to my own state. Do you always look first to the United States on world maps, and to your own state on American maps?

29 comments

  1. Yes, but it’s easy to spot. We’re the weird appendage on the American body politic.

  2. Nah I look at near corners, specifically Maine, California, Florida, and Texas.  America has such a pretty shape and it’s what I like identify first.

  4. Not only that, I look directly at the town I grew up in and I don’t even live there anymore.

  6. Kinda. But mine sticks out since it’s the Northeast most corner.

    Maine and Florida are very distinct.

  8. My state is in the middle of the US so probably do focus there first unless I am specifically looking for someplace else.

  10. Columbo Voice: Just one other thing. Why do most maps of Earth put North America in the top-left of maps? You know, the direction many/most readers are taught to look to first?

  11. Well, it does have a very striking geographical shape. If I lived in one of the more boxier states, then maybe I’d say differently, but it would be really hard to ignore a state that’s shaped like a mitten.

  13. Not necessarily my state, but the Chesapeake Bay. It’s a nice landmark that is drawn very oddly on some maps.

  14. Depends on why I’m looking at the map. If it’s a map I just come across on social media or in a news story I do. If I’ve purposefully pulled up a map of the US to look for something specific elsewhere I’ll look there and then google the driving distance because Midwest lol.

  15. Yes, it’s on the Great Lakes, which my eyes are drawn to as well and are hard to pass over.

  18. Yup Michigan is one of the ones that stands out naturally so my eyes always drift up to it

  19. Yes! It looks like a mitten, it sticks out lol. I look specifically at the SE corner, where I live.

  23. Not as much my state, but definitely my side of the US.

    The US west often seems like a very, very distant place to me from my experience living much closer to the east coast.

  25. I think it depends on context. If it’s a graphical map showing data per state, then probably. If I’m looking for something specific, less likely to.

  26. lol yes it immediately goes to my state and moves to the state I want to actually look at from there – but then again the state I come from is literally in the middle so it’s easy to start there

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