Much has been made about how Joseph Smith just used or adapted Bible names to create the names in the Book of Mormon. But recently I came across this fascinating map — in which the place names in the Book of Mormon are compared to the place names of Joseph Smith's own home territory in upper New York state.
Apparently Joseph Smith just adapted place names, too. Take a look at the map and its labels at this site. What would you conclude?
For more information, see The Mormon Mirage 3rd Edition: A Former Member Looks at the Mormon Church Today (Zondervan, 2009). Also available as an audiobook and as an expanded-text E-book for Nook, Kindle and other reading devices.
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The approach was flawed, most of the names were not exact matches and many did not exist when Joe dictated the Book. Add to that land distances; it's worse than the Spaulding Theory, no offense.
You've got me interested! Do you have access to maps from the 1830's? Could you share links so I can see them?
I'd not expect the names to be exact matches, but the number of "close" versions is more than coincidental, I believe.
Where are you getting "the land distances" from? I don't think the BofM mentions distances much.