Thanks! Aside to an objection to calling Canadians indistinguishable from Americans, the geography refresher was fun.
Though I’m not sure the population density map captured secondary addresses that make up all those summer cottages up in the Canadian Shield. 
Yes, I strongly doubted for a while whether to post that link after reading that fragment. However, the whole article is written in a friendly, warm tone, so I don’t feel any malice in that text.
It is worth knowing that a similar issue exists in other parts of the world as well; many people wrongly think that all Slavs are indistinguishable, that Slovakia is the same as Slovenia, etc.
I think the map of nightlights is useful in that case, as an approximation. Aside from the joke, I think there is a government register about city/town populations?