Can you name the capital cities which some parts of Russia are closer to than they are to Moscow? by superball

Can you name the capital cities which some parts of Russia are closer to than they are to Moscow?

created by superball

Enter a capital city in the box below
Correctly named capital cities will show up below
Answers do not have to be guessed in order
Source: Google Earth
While making the "Closest to Their Own Capitals" quiz I got to thinking how many capitals are closer to areas of Russia than Moscow. The answer is 78.
This quiz has not been verified by Sporcle

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Shortest distance from Russia	Capital city
85 km
155 km
155 km
165 km
185 km
195 km
200 km
205 km
230 km
235 km
235 km
285 km
465 km
470 km
485 km
550 km
600 km
600 km
615 km
650 km
685 km
725 km
730 km
770 km
780 km
835 km

Shortest distance from Russia	Capital city
920 km
940 km
940 km
970 km
995 km
1,000 km
1,005 km
1,060 km
1,070 km
1,075 km
1,075 km
1,080 km
1,100 km
1,105 km
1,125 km
1,140 km
1,215 km
1,310 km
1,315 km
1,355 km
1,480 km
1,680 km
1,910 km
1,975 km
2,090 km
2,230 km

Shortest distance from Russia	Capital city
2,375 km
2,405 km
2,420 km
2,825 km
3,140 km
3,210 km
3,325 km
3,515 km
3,870 km
4,010 km
4,195 km
4,205 km
4,415 km
4,710 km
4,725 km
5,155 km
5,270 km
5,285 km
5,360 km
5,560 km
5,650 km
5,845 km
5,885 km
6,010 km
6,215 km
6,640 km

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There are 25 comments for this game.
(Warning: comments may contain spoilers)

Capitals Closer to Russia than Moscow Quiz

by superball

Created Dec 23, 2010 in Geography
Game Plays 3,857

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	tahitiwahini:	Dec 24th, 2010 at 02:55 GMT		6 points
	Great quiz by the way. I especially like how it pulls in some capitals over the north pole (so to speak). 5 spheres as far as I'm concerned.

Comment below threshold: show it

	superball:	Dec 24th, 2010 at 03:33 GMT		21 points
	The concept is a bit a hard to describe, and I've probably made it more confusing than it needs to be. What the quiz is collecting are all the capitals that at least one point in Russia is closer to than it is to Moscow. So basically, there's at least one part of Russia where you're closer to Washington, or Amsterdam, or Honiara than you are to Moscow, but these points aren't all necessarily the same. If you're in western Kaliningrad you're closer to Amsterdam than to Moscow, but you're still much closer to Moscow than to Washington or Honiara. But other parts of Russia are closer to to those capitals. If I understand thedpr correctly, I think what he or she is saying is that rather than list all the capitals that, say, Kaliningrad is closer to than Moscow - just name the one capital that is closest. But that would be even more difficult to describe. Finally, I should state that the figure in the left column is the shortest distance between said capital and any part of Russia, but not necessarily the distance at which that capital is closer to a part of Russia than Moscow. For instance, the shortest distance from Reykjavik to anywhere in Russia is about 2,230 km. That takes you to an area in northern Russia along the border with Finland. But that point is still closer to Moscow, which is only 1,535 km away. But other parts of Russia are closer to Reykjavik. The part of Russia that is farthest away from Moscow (and I'm just measuring this quickly here, but I think it's the right point) is Harukarimoshiri, one of the Habomai islands, which are part of the Kuril islands off the northeastern coast of Hokkaido (and claimed by Japan). It's 7,130 km away from Moscow. There are loads more capitals that are less than 7,130 km away from Russia (Paris, London and Rome to name just a few) but no part of Russia is closer to these capitals than to Moscow. Phew, sorry for the long comment and not being as clear as possible.

	lukebradford:	Dec 24th, 2010 at 04:20 GMT		3 points
	Great quiz. (You misspelled Tuvalu.)

	superball:	Dec 24th, 2010 at 04:31 GMT		5 points
	Ah! So I did! Oh well, in a few years time it will all be submerged and we won't have to bother about spelling it.

	hilco:	Dec 24th, 2010 at 08:29 GMT		1 point
	Of Course for most capitals you can easily see whether they qualify or not. But for the difficult ones: what technique did you use to determine which capitals to include and which not? After some time I figured out some geometric approach possible with Google Earth, but it's still pretty time consuming.

	superball:	Dec 24th, 2010 at 18:39 GMT		5 points
	@hilco - It takes some time for sure. I just used the ruler tool on Google Earth. I chose extreme points in Russia (such as western Kaliningrad, the Kuril islands, Franz Josef land, areas along borders) - measured the distance to Moscow and then swept the ruler in all directions to see what capitals fall within a shorter range than Moscow. For most capitals it's pretty clear, but for those that were close to the distance from Moscow I zoomed in a bit more to make sure I was as accurate as possible. I probably spent several good minutes with Port Vila (Vanuatu) - it comes just a few kilometers short, but as far as I can see is always still farther away from any point in Russia than Moscow is.

	hilco:	Dec 24th, 2010 at 20:33 GMT		10 points
	You could be the Guinness Book world record holder for spending most time in solving a problem concerning both Russia and Vanuatu. But srsly, good job :P

	superball:	Dec 24th, 2010 at 21:48 GMT		4 points
	Haha, yes. If ever there's a war between Russia and Vanuatu I want to be the mediator (though of course there probably won't be much to mediate between Russia and whatever remains of a crushed Vanuatu).

	joebobs:	Dec 30th, 2010 at 00:36 GMT		4 points
	Great quiz! Again, well done for gathering all this data, it must have been a huge effort.

	Patteroast:	Dec 30th, 2010 at 08:11 GMT		2 points
	Very interesting quiz, I can see how your other distance to capitals quiz would inspire you to investigate Russia further. I have to say that this quiz seemed much easier than the other one to me, as I only had to sweep a large arc around Russia... once I started finding misses in a certain direction, I knew entire areas I could rule out. I have to say, I was getting rather surprised when I started pulling below the Equator in the Pacific. I mean, I know rationally that the easternmost part of Russia is ridiculously far from Moscow, but it still feels wrong somehow to be guessing Tuvalu.

	TreehuggnCowgirl:	Dec 30th, 2010 at 18:52 GMT		1 point
	Wow, Luxembourg was a surprise after no Bern, Rome or Sarajevo. Good quiz with some very surprising answers. Was the distance to DC across the Pacific or over the Arctic?

	superball:	Dec 31st, 2010 at 01:54 GMT		2 points
	@ Cowgirl - Thanks, glad you enjoyed the quiz. The distance to DC is from Big Diomede Island and goes over Alaska and Canada (When Sarah Palin said you can see Russia from Alaska she was talking about how Big Diomede Island, which is Russian, is right opposite Little Diomede Island, which is American).

	TreehuggnCowgirl:	Dec 31st, 2010 at 03:45 GMT		6 points
	So she has a house on Little Diomede Island? ;)

	ChileNoseJam:	Jan 6th, 2011 at 23:17 GMT		3 points
	Great quiz - given how far east Russia extends from Moscow, it wasn't too surprising that just about every capital in Asia was on it, but I wasn't expecting so many European capitals as Moscow is (comparatively) close to the western border. Forgetting about Kaliningrad didn't help!

	Colmar:	May 5th, 2011 at 23:20 GMT		1 point
	Definitely one of the most interesting Sporcle quizzes I've ever done. Kaliningrad adds to the enjoyment! I missed Chisinau (my imagination must have let Ukraine and Romania fill in that spot) and Reykjavik.

	mouthforhire:	Apr 3rd, 2012 at 06:10 GMT		2 points
	I love this quiz. Great idea and execution.

Shortest distance from Russia	Capital city
920 km
940 km
940 km
970 km
995 km
1,000 km
1,005 km
1,060 km
1,070 km
1,075 km
1,075 km
1,080 km
1,100 km
1,105 km
1,125 km
1,140 km
1,215 km
1,310 km
1,315 km
1,355 km
1,480 km
1,680 km
1,910 km
1,975 km
2,090 km
2,230 km

	Geografist837:	Aug 4th, 2012 at 15:20 GMT		3 points
	Don't you just LOVE typing out "Ljubljana" in the morning? 77/78 - Missed Tarawa. So close.

	citkeane:	Aug 4th, 2012 at 16:09 GMT		3 points
	@johnlk, the very most westerly point of Kaliningrad (a small Russian enclave that borders the Baltic between Poland & Lithuania) is the point that is closer to a lot of the European capitals. Zagreb (as well as the Benelux capitals and most of the Central and Northern European capital) is closer to it than Moscow but Sarajevo isn't.

	Cyborgsun:	Aug 4th, 2012 at 18:04 GMT		1 point
	I'm surprized about how many remembered the spelling of the capitals of Brunei and Sri Lanka. I still don't remember their spelling after numerous quizes. I'm also getting a little tired of missing answers because the city names are so different in English compared to many other languages.

	Ulkomaalainen:	Aug 6th, 2012 at 12:08 GMT		3 points
	Well, I have learned my Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte on Sporcle, but I still try Colombo first, since most quiz makers accept it as an alternate and it saves time. Bandar Seri Begawan somehow is tougher and offers no alternates, but you will be able to type it when you come home drunk and tired and not being able to untie your shoe laces anymore after a few of these capital quizzes ;)

	ksa:	Aug 19th, 2012 at 10:58 GMT		1 point
	type 'Kotte' for Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte.....