I thought it would be fun to start tracking the places I've been. So I made a map of the United States, at the state level.

Eventually, I'd add a world map at the country level. And maybe one day I'll try to track the US places I've been at the county level.

Here's what the map looks like right now:

United States

The map is interactive over time, although currently there are only three time steps: 2019, 2018, and "pre 2018" (it's too hard to remember when I first arrived in a state before 2018, which is exactly why I'm now keeping track of it).

Of course there's an obvious question about the map: what counts as visiting a state? A layover at an airport in a state doesn't feel like it should count — if you've only been in the airport, you really haven't seen the state — so I'm not counting layovers. Driving through a state is trickier. At the county level, it feels okay to count. If you've driven through Hamilton County, NY, you've basically seen Hamilton. But you haven't really seen New York. So at the state level, it shouldn't count. So for now, I'm not counting a drive through Mississippi or a stop in Arkansas that I took. But if I get around to making a county-level map, I would include the counties I've passed.

I'll keep the map, and other maps I make, up to date on my Places page.