According to CNN, geographers have scientifically determined that Kansas is indeed flatter than a pancake. Having spent 9 very formative years of my life there, I find this highly amusing.
A United States Geological Survey digital elevation model of Kansas provided one set of data for the comparison.
Photographs of the pancake were translated into digital data and scaled to enable a comparison with Kansas. Scaling is the process that map makers use when they represent an entire state, for instance, on a single page.
“We used a comparison called a flattening ratio,” Fonstad said. “It is the same comparison as used for figuring out how spherical the Earth is.”
While Kansas has some hilly parts, on an overall average it is quite level, the analysis showed.
