I've been using Anki to learn the map of the world. I use the name of the country (e.g. "Mexico") for the question, and a blank map of the country for the answer.

I found it way too time-consuming to draw out the map each time, so what I do now is sketch it roughly in the air, with my finger.

To date, I know the rough outlines of all fifty states and all thirteen Canadian provinces/territories. I got the maps from http://digital-vector-maps.com.

It seems that what I thought to be "New Zealand" was actually "The Philippines" all along.

Yeah, I learned all the countries and capitals in Europe in like... 2-3 weeks

Or you could learn with this
http://www.yourchildlearns.com/map-puzzles.htm

If you're using Anki, I say make three fields:

Map
Country Name
Capital Name

Plus you can include the flag for a fourth field.

Goto the CIA World factbook to get this info (they may have spread sheet too). Plus, you can copy the image of the country from there too.

With all that, it's a matter of creating more and more cards depending on how much info you want per country. That's the beauty of Anki.

PS: Best to go Name to Country image, and image to name.

I think knowing where the country is in the world is more important than learning it's shape. So you probably need a large map on the wall as well.

You should provide an anki deck. That would be pretty helpfull to all

I've been working on an anki file for Japanese geography actually. It has every prefecture and major city, all written in japanese so it's good for learning how to write place names.

I'm learning the Japanese prefectures. My cards look like this:

Q: map of Japan with highlighted prefecture (from Wikipedia)
A: name of the prefecture and pronunciation

I write down the name in kanji before answering.
After learning all of the prefectures I'm gonna move on to something more specific, like cities, mountains, lakes, etc...

nac_est Wrote:I'm learning the Japanese prefectures. My cards look like this:

Q: map of Japan with highlighted prefecture (from Wikipedia)
A: name of the prefecture and pronunciation

I write down the name in kanji before answering.
After learning all of the prefectures I'm gonna move on to something more specific, like cities, mountains, lakes, etc...

I like it, I like it.

I use SRS to learn famous Japanese people as well. Three sides.

1. Picture
2. Name in kanji with hiragana pronounciation in white below.
3. Description of person.

I then do both ways, I see the kanji and have to pronounce it and know which person it is. The other way is seeing a picture and a description and writing the name in kanji.

Tobberoth Wrote:I use SRS to learn famous Japanese people as well. Three sides.

1. Picture
2. Name in kanji with hiragana pronounciation in white below.
3. Description of person.

I then do both ways, I see the kanji and have to pronounce it and know which person it is. The other way is seeing a picture and a description and writing the name in kanji.

Great idea, Tobberoth! I have so much trouble remembering my favourite celebrities' names, I wonder if it's easy for me to make a three-sided card though..

Tobberoth Wrote:I use SRS to learn famous Japanese people as well. Three sides.

1. Picture
2. Name in kanji with hiragana pronounciation in white below.
3. Description of person.

I then do both ways, I see the kanji and have to pronounce it and know which person it is. The other way is seeing a picture and a description and writing the name in kanji.

I do that too, but only pic->kanji/kana and it's basically just to exercise with names (one of the most difficult aspects of kanji imho). For that reason I don't put the description in, and also use the names of anime characters.

Great way to go trought the 人名用

Has any of this come to fruition? I would be really interested in a world map deck, or helping out creating one if someone has started and needs a hand

Someone here once pointed out this Anki deck of Japanese prefectures here: http://www.ichi2.net/anki/wiki/ExtraDecks - I think it has images and stuff, can't remember.

For the record, coolest world map ever: http://www.genekeyes.com/B.J.S._CAHILL_RESOURCE.html

Even better than Buckminster Fuller's: http://www.genekeyes.com/FULLER/BF-1-intro.html

I want some kind of origami version.