Illinois isn't flat

[JoePCool14]

Maybe the problem here is that we're looking at this all wrong.

Illinois is flat because the earth itself is flat.

The Earth is round.  Illinois is still flat.

In b4 lock.

I hope no one's actually taking my post seriously.

One person definitely is.

I think I know the problem. Let me try again.

Illinois isn't flat. It's round.

[Crash_It]

Only part of that state that is obviously hilly: Jo Daviess County.  All 101 other counties are not

McHenry County: Shown in this video
https://youtu.be/Me0XCJ5Bd-4

Not flat

Parts of Lake County:

https://youtu.be/4VCesfR7iUQ

Madison and Jersey County: https://youtu.be/9baZjaRCu0o

Cook, DuPage and Will County: https://youtu.be/rBgQ7l5D_w4


and so many other examples of areas of Illinois that are not flat.

You want flat? Try Douglas county or Grundy county. Those are the only two counties in Illinois that are truly flat.

[Max Rockatansky]

Maybe the problem here is that we're looking at this all wrong.

Illinois is flat because the earth itself is flat.

The Earth is round.  Illinois is still flat.

In b4 lock.

I hope no one's actually taking my post seriously.

One person definitely is.

I think I know the problem. Let me try again.

Illinois isn't flat. It's round.

No, Illinois is a Hypotenuse. 

[thspfc]

Maybe the problem here is that we're looking at this all wrong.

Illinois is flat because the earth itself is flat.

The Earth is round.  Illinois is still flat.

In b4 lock.

I hope no one's actually taking my post seriously.

One person definitely is.

I think I know the problem. Let me try again.

Illinois isn't flat. It's round.

No, Illinois is a Hypotenuse.

I'd argue it's more of a Breezewood.

[renegade]

[sarc] Yay.  More Cra_shIt video.  Should be making lots of money by now.  [/sarc]

(for those of you who don't get sarcasm.)

Illinois is friggin' flat. 

[thspfc]

Am I missing something? That road seemed pretty flat to me.

The other direction on that road is more interesting as there are signs warning of a 4% grade.

I was just reading through this entire thread from the start, and I don't know how nobody caught this gem. A sign that warns of a 4% grade has to be the most Illinois thing ever. Most states don't post such signs unless it's 7-8%.

[noelbotevera]

He's right guys, Illinois isn't flat. Here's a picture of a slope in Illinois. It looks vaguely triangular / pyramidical.

[hbelkins]

Is there some sort of scientific measurement that quantifies "flatness?" If so, have states been indexed and compared?

[Scott5114]

this is getting weird

This thread got weird from the leading post.  It went downhill after that.   

Which would mean it's not flat, right?

[JayhawkCO]

I mean, something can be flat and at an angle...

Chris

[Max Rockatansky]

I mean, something can be flat and at an angle...

Chris

The longest side of a right triangle perhaps? 

[JoePCool14]

I mean, something can be flat and at an angle...

Chris

Depends on the definition of flat you want to go with.

adjective Fixed; unvarying.
OR
adjective Being without slope or curvature.

[hotdogPi]

I mean, something can be flat and at an angle...

Chris

Depends on the definition of flat you want to go with.

adjective Fixed; unvarying.
OR
adjective Being without slope or curvature.

I was trying to find the forum post where someone described Kansas as being at a much higher elevation in the west than the east, but I couldn't find it.

[US71]

this is getting weird

This thread got weird from the leading post.  It went downhill after that.   

Which would mean it's not flat, right?

Depends if you count the off-ramps or grade separations

[hotdogPi]

There should be a location with a very slight negative curvature (i.e. hyperbolic space). Area increases exponentially with radius, so you can fit trillions of people within the state if need be, or even over a googol if it's curved enough. One disadvantage, though, is that if you get lost without a map, you're going to be lost forever, as going a random direction will, on average, take you away from where you started.

[1995hoo]

I mean, something can be flat and at an angle...

Chris

The longest side of a right triangle perhaps? 

I suppose that would be an Illinois thing.....

[Max Rockatansky]

I mean, something can be flat and at an angle...

Chris

The longest side of a right triangle perhaps? 

I suppose that would be an Illinois thing.....

I was halfway convinced for a time Crash and a certain lover of Diesel Sabbs were the same person.

[7/8]

Is there some sort of scientific measurement that quantifies "flatness?" If so, have states been indexed and compared?

Here's an article from 2014 discussing a study comparing every states flatness. It shows Illinois as the second flattest after Florida:
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/03/science-several-us-states-led-by-florida-are-flatter-than-a-pancake/284348/
Unfortunately this link only includes the 10 flattest states, instead of the full list.

‐-------

Not sure why anyone's denying that Illinois is flat. Obviously there are some hillier areas, but it's clearly flat on the whole. There's nothing wrong with that.

[JayhawkCO]

Is there some sort of scientific measurement that quantifies "flatness?" If so, have states been indexed and compared?

Here's an article from 2014 discussing a study comparing every states flatness. It shows Illinois as the second flattest after Florida:
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/03/science-several-us-states-led-by-florida-are-flatter-than-a-pancake/284348/
Unfortunately this link only includes the 10 flattest states, instead of the full list.

‐-------

Not sure why anyone's denying that Illinois is flat. Obviously there are some hillier areas, but it's clearly flat on the whole. There's nothing wrong with that.

Full List:
1. Florida
2. Illinois
3. North Dakota
4. Louisiana
5. Minnesota
6. Delaware
7. Kansas
8. Texas
9. Nevada
10. Indiana
11. South Dakota
12. Michigan
13. New Mexico
14. Arizona
15. South Carolina
16. Oklahoma
17. New Jersey
18. Iowa
19. Nebraska
20. Ohio
21. Arkansas
22. Mississippi
23. Utah
24. California
25. Colorado
26. North Carolina
27. Rhode Island
28. Maryland
29. Wisconsin
30. Georgia
31. Missouri
32. Idaho
33. Wyoming
34. Montana
35. Oregon
36. Maine
37. Alabama
38. District of Columbia
39. New York
40. Massachusetts
41. Washington
42. Virginia
43. Tennessee
44. Connecticut
45. Vermont
46. New Hampshire
47. Kentucky
48. Pennsylvania
49. West Virginia

Alaska and Hawai'i weren't counted in the study.

Full study here.

Chris

[ozarkman417]

We had a discussion about Illinois's flatness in the Illinois Notes thread back in March of 2020, kicked off by this statement:

Can't be too hard to have a flat interstate there, given Illinois is the second flattest state, behind Florida

This study above claims that Illinois is just that. The second flattest state in the union. It evaluates the terrain of each state (almost) by percentage, with said percentages of the land being placed accordingly in the following categories: not flat, flat, flatter, flattest. In the 'flattest' category, Illinois only ranks 3rd, behind Louisiana, because only one less percent of Illinois's land is in the 'flattest' category compared to LA. What puts Illinois above Louisiana in this study is that more of Louisiana's land is in the 'not flat' category, 3 percent more.

[NE2]

this is getting weird

This thread got weird from the leading post.  It went downhill after that.   

Hard to go downhill when everything's flat...

[ET21]

Only part of that state that is obviously hilly: Jo Daviess County.  All 101 other counties are not

You missed Stephenson, Winnebago, parts of Cook, Will, DuPage, LaSalle, Putnam, Carroll. Just off the top of my head 

[kphoger]

I was trying to find the forum post where someone described Kansas as being at a much higher elevation in the west than the east, but I couldn't find it.

Oh, that's definitely true.  (Well, the word 'much' might be going too far.)  You don't notice it when driving across the state, but there's a gradual increase in elevation as you move west.  I grew up two counties from the Colorado state line, and our elevation was nearly 3000 feet.  Here in Wichita, it's less than half that.

Elevation of westernmost Kansas county seats
3320 — St Francis
3681 — Goodland
3474 — Sharon Springs
3612 — Tribune
3232 — Syracuse
3337 — Johnson City
3589 — Elkhart

Elevation of easternmost Kansas county seats
1096 — Troy
814 — Atchison
840 — Leavenworth
869 — Kansas City
1037 — Olathe
915 — Paola
873 — Mound City
846 — Fort Scott
981 — Girard
912 — Columbus

[JayhawkCO]

The one thing the study linked above doesn't really take into consideration (that I wish they would have) is just HOW non-flat is something.  I get that West Virginia, Pennsylvania, etc. have a lot of rolling hills, but eastern Colorado alone shouldn't make Colorado a mid-tier flat state when the areas that aren't flat REALLY aren't flat.  Nevada might have been the other more surprising one to me, just because of the Sierras and then driving across the north on I-80 there are plenty of non-flat areas in the distance. 

Chris

[kphoger]

OK, did anybody not pick up on the fact that the analysis found an actual pancake to be less flat than North Dakota?  Or that, even if Kansas had a mountain taller than Everest, it would still be literally flatter than a pancake?

With such findings, one must question the validity of the study as a whole.  I mean, that's not even mentioning that it calls Colorado flatter than Georgia.