Category: mapping

The first interstate highway in the U.S. wasn’t created until 1940. But that doesn’t mean travelers didn’t want to cross state lines until then. Before even the first transcontinental railroad in 1869, migrants made their way from state to state on foot, horseback, and eventually in wagons. After years of traffic, trails formed like the Oregon Trail formed. Spanning from modern-day Missouri to Oregon, nearly 400,000 people used the nearly 3,000-mile Oregon Trail from 1830 to 1869.

We’ll check out the states and their sites along the Oregon Trail and how to measure the distance between the start and end points of the Oregon Trail with the help of the map below.

View Oregon Tail Map 1883 in a full screen map

Oregon Landmarks Along the Trail

The Oregon Trail was named for its western endpoint, which is also home to many of its 98 landmarks. However, notable trail sites aren’t only located in Oregon, as you’ll see on the map and the list below.

• Wyoming – 21 Oregon Trail sites
• Oregon – 17
• Nebraska – 16
• Missouri – 16
• Idaho – 14
• Kansas – 13
• Washington – 2

Even though Wyoming is home to the most Oregon Trail sites, we’ll focus on the sites located in the trail’s namesake. The 17 sites located in Oregon include six museums such as the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Oregon City and two parks: Birnie Park in La Grande and Celilo Park in The Dalles. There are also multiple overlooks, viewpoints, centers, and kiosks located throughout Oregon, among the many more types of trail sites in the six other states along the Oregon Trail.

Click around on the map to view the sites of the other states that are a part of the trail, including its easternmost sites in Missouri. Otherwise, stick around while we dive deeper into the Oregon Trail sites’ types.

Types of Sites Along the Oregon Trail

From historic sites to swales, there are many types of sites you can still see along the Oregon Trail. The 17 types depicted in the following table prove that no matter your interests, the Oregon Trail has something for everyone.

Oregon Trail Site Type	Number
Park	18
Museum	14
Historic Site	10
Swales or Ruts	6
Other Landmarks	6
House	6
Rest or Recreation Area	5
Overlook or Viewpoint	5
Landing, Crossing, or Pass	5
Center or Kiosk	5
Monument or Grave	4
Rock or Spring	3
Heritage Area or Trail	3
Station	2
Courthouse	2
Campground	2
Butte or Hill	2

Let’s take a look at some of the more common types.

Parks

The most common Oregon Trail sites are parks. Among the 18 located throughout the seven states of the trail are state parks, national parks, parks with springs, and even one park-and-marina.

Both the Ash Hollow State Historical Park and Fort Kearny State Historical Park are located along the trail in Nebraska. Meanwhile, Oregon Trail fans near Idaho can visit Massacre Rocks State Park or Three Island Crossing State Park.

Also in Idaho is the Oregon Trail Park and Marina. This park contains a lake that’s available for swimming and fishing. It’s also home to some original Oregon Trail wagon swales—sunken or marshy places.

Swales or Ruts

Alcove Spring Swales is one of the many Oregon Trail sites with its original swales or ruts still intact. Heavy wagon after heavy wagon (up to thousands) dug into the ground, creating ruts. These ruts were deepened and lengthened by wagons wet from river crossings, which made the ground muddy.

You can find these original indentations throughout many of the Oregon Trail sites, though the following six are known for them:

• Alcove Spring Swales (Kansas)
• Bedlam Ruts (Wyoming)
• Oregon Trail Ruts State Historic Site (Wyoming)
• National Historic Oregon Trail Center- Trail Ruts (Oregon)
• Oregon Trail Historic Reserve (Idaho)
• Wieduwilt Swales (Missouri)

Don’t miss your chance to learn about the other types of trail sites on the map above using map grouping. Now, let’s move on to distance.

Measure Distance Between Start and End Points

So where did the Oregon trail end? On one end of the Oregon Trail is the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center while Blue Mills marks the end on the other side.

Curious about the exact distance between these two points, or any two points on a map? Let’s take a look at how to break out your digital measuring tape and measure the distance between two markers on any BatchGeo map.

1. Open your BatchGeo map and select the measuring tool with a ruler icon, which is available to all BatchGeo Pro users
2. Click and hold where you want to begin a measurement (such as your starting point marker)
3. Drag the cursor to the end of your measurement (like the endpoint of the trail)
4. As you drag, you’ll see the current distance from the initial point to the current cursor
5. Switch between metric and imperial systems by clicking the scale on the bottom right of the map

According to our calculations, the Oregon Trail is 2,170 miles long. That’s nearly 500 miles shy of the length of the Pacific Crest Trail. For more mapping inspiration, also check out Mapping the Appalachian Trail: Landmarks and Milestones or even Route 66 Map: Historic Locations You Can Still Find.

Otherwise, get started start mapping and measuring the distance of the landmarks along your hiking favorite trails at batchgeo.com.

From horse races to racing greyhounds—and even camels—a racetrack can host many different types of events. Even human sports like Bobsleigh (bobsledding’s official name) take place on a race track. But most associate racetracks with motorsports like auto racing.

Auto racing has existed since the car’s invention. From the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona to zMAX Dragway, let’s get ready, set, go down the road of the oldest and newest drag racing automobile race tracks and where they’re located, as displayed on the map below.

View U.S. Auto Tracks in a full screen map

The map is fueled by Wikipedia’s List of auto racing tracks in the United States. Sort it by each track’s opening year, what it’s made of, its length, and involvement in major racing series. Or, keep your foot on the gas to read more about each category.

Oldest & Newest Auto Tracks

Built in the ’50s, the oldest automobile race tracks in the U.S. have seen millions of fans walk through their doors.

• Auto Club Raceway at Pomona (1951)
• Great Lakes Dragaway (1955)
• Bunker Hill Dragstrip (1956)
• GALOT Motorsports Park (1957)
• Bandimere Speedway (1958)

As the country’s oldest track, the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona has always hosted the traditional season opener, NHRA’s Winternationals. On top of that, this Pomona Raceway has also been host to the last race of the season, the NHRA Finals, for over 35 years, making it perhaps one of the most famous dragstrips in North America.

In addition to the five oldest noted above that were built between ’51-’58, three more racing tracks were built that same decade. These include Bremerton Raceway, Kil-Kare Raceway, and Roxboro Motorsports Park, all of which were constructed in 1959.

Newest

Only two race tracks were constructed this century: Thornburg, Virginia’s Dominion Raceway (2016) and Concord, North Carolina’s zMAX Dragway (2008). zMAX Dragway’s construction brought the number of race tracks in North Carolina up to four, making it the U.S. state with the most auto tracks.

American Race Tracks Locations

Let’s look into where these tracks are located around the country. For starters, no city is home to more than one race track (that would be a lot of racing!) So where are they congregated?

• North Carolina (4 race tracks)
• Florida (3)
• Ohio (3)
• Illinois (3)

Auto racing is big Southeastern states like North Carolina and Florida. The previously mentioned zMAX Dragway is proof of that, along with Rockingham Dragway, Roxboro Motorsports Park, and GALOT Motorsports Park—all in N.C. As for Florida, there’s Bradenton Motorsports Park, Gainesville Raceway, and Palm Beach International Raceway.

We can’t forget about the Midwest. Summit Motorsports Park, National Trail Raceway, and Kil-Kare Raceway are all located in Ohio while Illinois is home to Route 66 Raceway, World Wide Technology Raceway and Byron Dragway. And the following 10 states have double tracks: Wisconsin, Washington, Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Indiana, California, and Alabama.

Despite these multi-track states, racing locations aren’t usually very near each other. In the next section, we’ll show how BatchGeo can help you measure distances—whether raceways or your own data.

Calculate Distance Between N.C. Tracks & Beyond

As we’ve mentioned, the Tar Heel State is home to two dragways and two motorsports parks, for a total of four race tracks. So let’s examine how many miles are between them.

To, determine the distance between two markers, right-click the BatchGeo map to enable Advanced Mode and then select the ruler in the top left corner of the map. Opt for the measuring tool and choose your preferred metrics. Next, draw a line from Point A to Point B and BatchGeo will let you know how far apart they are.

But we can also see the distance from one marker to every marker on the map with just the click of a button. Within the same ruler dropdown, select the second option: marker measure tool. Then, place your main point (whether atop mapped marker or anywhere else) to see distance from every point you previously plotted to that spot.

Don’t just eyeball distance—BatchGeo makes it easy for you to precisely measure distance between points at batchgeo.com.

The world is home to 195 countries (and counting—South Sudan is the most recent, having been recognized since 2011). There are plenty of things that keep these nations separate. But let’s focus on the things we do have in common. With the possible exception of national animals, a love of sports might be the thing that most brings people together.

You may know America’s national pastime (baseball). But the U.S. isn’t the only country with a national sport. You may wonder what is the national sport of India, Argentina, Turks and Caicos, along with the other countries around the world with either an official (as declared by law) or unofficial (based solely on popular opinion) national sport. Several countries even share the same sports, such as cricket, which is popular in the Caribbean. So let’s jump into this key part of each nation’s culture.

The map below depicts the national sports of the world, which can be sorted by sport, type (official or unofficial), and year defined, among other things.

View National Sports of Every Country in a full screen map

Official National Sports

There are two types of national sports. De jure are those declared by law while de facto sports are unofficial—yet often the most popular sport in each country. There are far fewer legislated national sports, so let’s look at those first. Here are the 12 countries with a de jure national sport (or two!).

• Argentina – Pato
• Canada – Ice hockey
• Canada – Lacrosse
• Chile – Rodeo
• Colombia – Tejo
• India – *None
• Mexico – Charrería
• Nepal – Volleyball
• Philippines – Arnis
• Puerto Rico – Paso Fino horse riding
• South Korea – Taekwondo
• Uruguay – Destrezas Criollas (Creole or gaucho Skills)

Most sports fans know of ice hockey, lacrosse, volleyball, horse riding, and Taekwondo. Some may have even been to a rodeo or two. But several of the de jure national sports may be unfamiliar.

Colombia’s tejo involves throwing metal discs (called tejos) at targets containing gunpowder, which explode on impact. The Philippines’s arnis is a form of martial arts, like the national sport of South Korea: Taekwondo.

Of course, the answer to what is the national game of India may surprise you: none. While hockey is commonly thought to be India’s national sport, in January 2020, the government refused to declare an Indian national sport. But what India is missing, Canada makes up for with their two official sports, a summer and winter version.

Perhaps most interesting is the number of national sports—de jure and de facto—that involve horses.

Five De Jure Horse Riding Sports

Many of the 77 countries’ official or unofficial sports revolve around horse riding. Let’s check out the de jure national sports.

Pato in Argentina is a mix of polo and basketball—while on horseback. Charrería, the national sport of Mexico, is similar to a rodeo, Chile’s de jure sport. Uruguay’s Destrezas Criollas (which is also popular in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and southern parts of Brazil and Chile) also involves horses: a rider must stay on an untamed horse for 8-14 seconds. And in Puerto Rico, they ride Paso Fino horses for sport. National sports involving horses are common. Let’s see some other common national sports.

Common Official Sports (Like Cricket)

Of the world’s 77 national sports, just 49 are unique. This means quite a few countries share their official pastime, as displayed on the table below.

Sport	# of Countries	Countries
Cricket	9	Antigua and Barbuda Australia Barbados Bermuda England Grenada Guyana Jamaica Turks and Caicos Islands
Baseball	6	Cuba Dominican Republic Panama Taiwan United States Venezuela
Rugby union	5	Fiji Georgia Madagascar New Zealand Wales
Basketball	4	Estonia Lithuania Philippines Serbia
Ice hockey	3	Canada Estonia Latvia
Volleyball	2	Nepal Sri Lanka
Kabaddi	2	Bangladesh Nepal
Field hockey	2	India Pakistan
Association football	2	Haiti Mauritius
Archery	2	Bhutan Mongolia
Alpine skiing	2	Austria Slovenia

The #1 most common national sport is cricket. While you may associate it with England (and it is the national sport there), cricket is most popular in the Caribbean countries of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica—along with nearby Turks and Caicos and Bermuda. Note: it’s an unofficial national sport in all the countries.

Much like cricket, baseball is merely the de facto national sport of six countries. If you’re into American baseball, check out our Map of World Series Winners and Losers or Baseball Hall of Famers from 40 States, Nine Countries.

View Multiple Mapped Rugby Variants At Once

As for rugby, there are two variants as national sports: rugby union and rugby league. Let’s see them all at once on the map.

Five countries call rugby union their national sport, while just one is represented by the rugby league variant (Papua New Guinea). Additionally, while not the national sport, you’ll find the league version is also popular in Tonga. By selecting both the Rugby league and Rugby union groups, both will appear on the map—filtering out the rest we don’t want to focus on.

To discover where some of these sports are played, don’t miss 500 Largest Stadiums in the World.

Of course, the ability to filter your map by multiple groups doesn’t stop at rugby. Visualize your own location data at batchgeo.com.