Overlap of US and Canada

Communities United States
1

I believe there’s some overlap of the US and Canada. Is the forum the proper place to report these discrepancies so someone can review them?

This Overpass query for admin_level=4 in the US (Q30) include Canada’s New Brunswick, British Columbia, and Yukon:

[out:json];
area[wikidata=Q30]->.a; \\ Q30 = United States
relation[boundary=administrative][admin_level=4](area.a);
out tags;

Also, this Overpass query for admin_level=4 in Canada (Q16) includes Alaska and Maine:

[out:json];
area[wikidata=Q16]->.a; \\ Q16 = Canada
relation[boundary=administrative][admin_level=4](area.a);
out tags;

This query shows the overlap in those areas around Maine and the northern and southern parts of Alaska:

[out:json];
(
  relation[wikidata=Q30];
  relation[wikidata=Q16];
);
out geom;
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2

At least for the case of Maine, it looks like the maritime boundaries of the US and Canada cover the same territory. You can see this using “Query Features” on the map for this point (both US and Canada are listed as “enclosing features”).

Curiously enough, there is a territorial dispute between the U.S. and Canada concerning Machias Seal Island.

The Yukon-Alaska dispute appears to be the reason for the Alaska overlap.

More info: List of areas disputed by Canada and the United States - Wikipedia

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3

The overlap is intentional. Despite our friendly relationship since 1812 1815,[1] we still have several minor border disputes with our northern neighbors.

  1. edit: The War of 1812 actually ended three years later. Oops. ↩︎

2 Likes
4

Oh wow – I never even thought to check if there were any disputed areas between the US and Canada! :exploding_head:

Thanks!

5

Yup - at least on the Alaska side, I mapped out that overlap in one manic session two years ago.

7 Likes
6

In case you want the states without their friendly Canadian neighbors:

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