There are no specific requirements. Just what feels right.
I'll do Massachusetts.
2: 72°W longitude. This effectively splits it into areas that are/aren't influenced by Boston. I would have chosen MA 12, except that splits Worcester.
3: Two vertical lines (well, one is exact and one is rough).
Western Mass: West of MA 32 (which doesn't split anything major unlike MA 12)
Eastern Mass: East of 71.61°W, which is the westernmost point on I-495. I'm not using I-495 itself because Haverhill and Taunton don't belong in Central Mass.
Central Mass: Between the two lines mentioned.
This grouping makes Springfield, Worcester, and Boston the main cities of the three sections.
4:
Keep Western and Central from the split of 3. Split Eastern Mass along I-90 so that you have Northeast and Southeast. Eastern from the split of 3 had most of the population anyway.
5:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/MA_Area_Codes_Map.svg/2560px-MA_Area_Codes_Map.svg.png) (why is this a ".svg.png")
781 looks gerrymandered, though, so a more logical split might be to combine 617 and 781 and then resplit that combined region among I-90.
6:
(https://www.mass.gov/doc/massdot-highway-districts-map/download)
7:
* Anything west of I-91 (yes I know this puts Northampton on the wrong side)
* Franklin/Hampshire/Hampden Counties east of I-91
* Worcester County
* Middlesex and Essex Counties
* Suffolk County
* Norfolk, Bristol, and Plymouth Counties
* Cape Cod and Islands
8: Take the list of 7, except remove "Suffolk County" (it will be absorbed anyway) and add two more for "inside 128 north of I-90" and "inside 128 south of I-90". This puts Cambridge and Somerville where it should be compared to the 7 split above.
9:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Massachusetts_Congressional_Districts%2C_118th_Congress.svg)
10: Can we use an old map? That said, I think splitting into 10 from a clean slate can do better than this; this visually looks worse than the "9" map.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/United_States_Congressional_Districts_in_Massachusetts%2C_2003_%E2%80%94_2013.tif) (note: .tif might not display for everyone)
I'll edit this as I make more, but here's Colorado done very quickly.
Two Regions - Pretty Colorado & Ugly Colorado
(https://i.postimg.cc/3JBXXnDt/Colorado-2.png)
Three Regions - Colorado where you can barely see mountains, Mountainous Colorado, Western Slope
(https://i.postimg.cc/wj4DPM2J/Colorado-3.png)
Four Regions - Colorado Where No One Lives, Colorado Where Everyone Lives, Colorado Where Everyone Has Snow Tires, Colorado Where You Like Sand
(https://i.postimg.cc/YSJYrPJC/Colorado-4.png)
VIRGINIA:
2 Regions - North and South of James River:
(https://i.postimg.cc/rsRBwp9z/Screenshot-2023-08-02-11-28-39-AM.png)
3 Regions - Are you closer to DC, VA Beach, or Roanoke:
(https://i.postimg.cc/VvVm6TML/Screenshot-2023-08-02-11-43-50-AM.png)
4 Regions - North and South of James River & East and West of Blue Ridge Mtns:
(https://i.postimg.cc/rs87k9Py/Screenshot-2023-08-02-11-50-46-AM.png)
Might make more soon.
Re Virginia, if I'm splitting it in two, I'd do it at the Rappahannock River not the James. That gets the DC suburbs in one region, and everything else in another, which I think is the clearer cultural split.
Also, for Washington State:
Two regions - Split at the crest of the Cascades.
Three regions - Split at the crest of the Cascades. Additionally, split the City of Seattle off as its own state.
Four regions -
(https://i.imgur.com/O6t6SGq.png)
Arkansas:
Arkansas.com and Wikipedia pretty much sum it up with 6 regions. The 2 delta regions are agricultural powerhouses, but not much in the way of tourism or residential benefit. So, what used to be the richest part of Arkansas has flipped to the poorest, and vice versa. The Southwest is sandy, swampy timberlands essentially. So, half of the state is essentially owned by corporations, but the residents are dirt poor.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/Arkansas_Regions_Colored_With_Names.png/692px-Arkansas_Regions_Colored_With_Names.png)
I would personally divide the state in half with US-67 being the dividing line. Everything north and west of US-67 is an area that you would want to travel through and potentially visit or live, and everything south and east of US-67 is pretty much utilized in the forestry and agricultural production industries, and not much reason to live or visit. There are a few nuggets of nice in the southeast half of the state, but they are few and far between and the summers oppressive with hot and humid. Great for flora, not for humans.
(https://kids.kiddle.co/images/8/81/Southwesttrailmap.png)
Quote from: Evan_Th on August 02, 2023, 02:17:01 PM
Re Virginia, if I'm splitting it in two, I'd do it at the Rappahannock River not the James. That gets the DC suburbs in one region, and everything else in another, which I think is the clearer cultural split.
Hard agree. West of where the Rappahannock ends, I'd put Warren County in with the north, and Shenandoah County with the rest.
(https://www.nwpb.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Pre-Oklahoma-Statehood-Map-070920-Courtesy-US-Supreme-Court-768x576.jpg)
I have some ideas but for some states that gets charged with politics.
(https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/tribal_affairs/images/regional_wb_map.png)
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/pbox.php?url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/files/2016/05/Screen-Shot-2016-05-31-at-4.09.49-PM.png&w=1484&op=resize&opt=1&filter=antialias&t=20170517)
Here is one by TV Market
Georgia split into 2, should be (1) Outside of Metro Atlanta, and (2) Metro Atlanta. Using the MSA definition.
Quote from: MikieTimT on August 02, 2023, 03:00:31 PM
Arkansas:
Arkansas.com and Wikipedia pretty much sum it up with 6 regions. The 2 delta regions are agricultural powerhouses, but not much in the way of tourism or residential benefit. So, what used to be the richest part of Arkansas has flipped to the poorest, and vice versa. The Southwest is sandy, swampy timberlands essentially. So, half of the state is essentially owned by corporations, but the residents are dirt poor.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/Arkansas_Regions_Colored_With_Names.png/692px-Arkansas_Regions_Colored_With_Names.png)
I would personally divide the state in half with US-67 being the dividing line. Everything north and west of US-67 is an area that you would want to travel through and potentially visit or live, and everything south and east of US-67 is pretty much utilized in the forestry and agricultural production industries, and not much reason to live or visit. There are a few nuggets of nice in the southeast half of the state, but they are few and far between and the summers oppressive with hot and humid. Great for flora, not for humans.
(https://kids.kiddle.co/images/8/81/Southwesttrailmap.png)
I can't disagree with using US 67 as the dividing line. North and west of it, the state is prospering. South and east of it, not so much, although there are a few pockets that are doing quite well such as Jonesboro.
I will hold to my theory that the skeeters are holding the southeastern half back.
An attempt for Illinois:
* Into 2: The Chicagoland area (Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall McHenry, Lake, and Will Counties as one and the rest of Illinois as the other. Depending on how much growth occurs, Grundy County could also be included in the Chicagoland section.
* Into 3: The Chicagoland area as before and divide the remaining portion into north and south roughly near the line formed by US 136 and IL 119.
* Into 4: The Chicagoland area as before, a northern section north of IL 17; a middle section between IL 17 and a line from Pittsfields to Taylorsville, then northeasterly to Maroa, then eastward; and a southern state for the rest.
* Alternate into 4: The line between the middle and southern sections is a rough line through Red Bud, Mount Vernon, and just north of Fairfield.
Quote from: Evan_Th on August 02, 2023, 02:34:08 PM
Also, for Washington State:
Two regions - Split at the crest of the Cascades.
Three regions - Split at the crest of the Cascades. Additionally, split the City of Seattle off as its own state.
Four regions -
(https://i.imgur.com/O6t6SGq.png)
Agree with the two regions. For three, I'd split the Olympic Peninsula and Pacific coast off from the rest of Western Washington. For four regions, split off Kittitas, Yakima, Klickitat, and Skamania counties.