That Visited States Map

Being stuck at home, not traveling as I might prefer, my thoughts inevitably turn to the road. When can I return? Where will I go? How will I pay for it?

RV travelers like to create these “visited states” maps showing where they have been. Although I don't have an RV just yet, surely a car traveler can make a map too?

The problem with these maps is that they can easily overstate the case. If I drive straight through a state, barely stopping or seeing anything, does it still count? How, with a straight face, can I fill in Minnesota, where I don't even think I stopped for gas, the same as Nevada or South Dakota, where I have stayed for weeks at a stretch on multiple visits?

So I decided to color-code the states. In the map you see here, the green states are the ones where I've actually spent a lot of time. The blue ones are the ones where I've spent some time, but not that much – slept there, visited places, etc. Amber means I've not not spent much time there, but I've at least slept there and seen some things. Red means I've passed through, probably stopped, but really haven't seen much.

Visualizing the data that way, it's clear that I have a lot of work ahead of me. Filling it all in the same would make it seem like I've been everywhere already, and I haven't. Take California, for example: I went to Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Park, but I basically just passed through to see what it was like for future reference, so, red for California. I've been to San Jose and the surrounding area, but I flew in on business, and flying doesn't count.

I've spent some time in the Texas Panhandle, but does that really count for all of Texas? Sure, I spent a couple nights in Austin, but I flew in on business, and flying doesn't count. So, amber for Texas.

So, it's an honest map. Having most of the states filled in doesn't mean I'm not just getting started.

This post was inspired by Jim's map post, but I made mine in Adobe Illustrator.

UPDATE: I've written a program to generate these maps. Try it out.