kumquat_repub
kumquat_repub t1_j6gwms9 wrote
Reply to comment by GetsGold in TIL China is bigger than the U.S. in terms of land area. The U.S. is also bigger than Canada in terms of land area. by Mewhenthe4
Yes whatever comparison method you choose will be arbitrary, but the smaller the scale of the measurements, the more accurate it becomes to find relative coastline lengths.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_length_of_coastline?wprov=sfti1
This Wikipedia article begins by explaining the coastline paradox but then states the measurements were taken at 1:250,000 scale. There are GIS tools that can calculate the lengths of coastline at this scale and add them up, giving you a very accurate relative list of coastlines…the key word is relative.
kumquat_repub t1_j6guilm wrote
Reply to comment by GetsGold in TIL China is bigger than the U.S. in terms of land area. The U.S. is also bigger than Canada in terms of land area. by Mewhenthe4
The lengths of coastlines cannot be measured absolutely, but they can be compared…relative to one another. You just have to use the same measuring standard on each one for a comparative measurement.
kumquat_repub t1_j6gm6f5 wrote
Reply to You know you’re old when your birth year starts being used as a flashback in movies by Ocars22
Bojack Horseman did a flashback to 2007. Only 16 years ago but it speaks to how much things have changed since then.
kumquat_repub t1_j6gxdkw wrote
Reply to comment by GetsGold in TIL China is bigger than the U.S. in terms of land area. The U.S. is also bigger than Canada in terms of land area. by Mewhenthe4
Yes they will get longer…all of them will, but they will remain proportional to each other. The US has roughly 4.4 times as much coastline as China. If you make the scale interval smaller, they will both increase in length but the ratio will remain roughly 4.4:1