Straits of Mackinac
E4403
The Straits of Mackinac are a narrow waterway in the U.S. state of Michigan that connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron and separate Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Straits of Mackinac canonical | 33 |
| Lake Michigan–Huron waterway crossing | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T20481 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Straits of Mackinac Context triple: [Lake Michigan, outflow, Straits of Mackinac]
-
A.
Straits of Florida
The Straits of Florida is the narrow body of water between the Florida Keys and Cuba that connects the Gulf of Mexico with the Atlantic Ocean and forms a major shipping and ocean current passage.
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B.
Isthmus of Panama
The Isthmus of Panama is the narrow strip of land in Central America that links North and South America and separates the Caribbean Sea from the Pacific Ocean.
-
C.
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a historic man-made waterway in New York State that opened in 1825, linking the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean and transforming U.S. commerce and westward expansion.
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D.
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City that separates Manhattan from Brooklyn and Queens and serves as a major waterway spanned by several iconic bridges.
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E.
Juan de Fuca Plate
The Juan de Fuca Plate is a small oceanic tectonic plate off the Pacific Northwest coast whose subduction beneath North America drives significant volcanic and seismic activity in the region.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Straits of Mackinac Target entity description: The Straits of Mackinac are a narrow waterway in the U.S. state of Michigan that connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron and separate Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas.
-
A.
Straits of Florida
The Straits of Florida is the narrow body of water between the Florida Keys and Cuba that connects the Gulf of Mexico with the Atlantic Ocean and forms a major shipping and ocean current passage.
-
B.
Isthmus of Panama
The Isthmus of Panama is the narrow strip of land in Central America that links North and South America and separates the Caribbean Sea from the Pacific Ocean.
-
C.
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a historic man-made waterway in New York State that opened in 1825, linking the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean and transforming U.S. commerce and westward expansion.
-
D.
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City that separates Manhattan from Brooklyn and Queens and serves as a major waterway spanned by several iconic bridges.
-
E.
Juan de Fuca Plate
The Juan de Fuca Plate is a small oceanic tectonic plate off the Pacific Northwest coast whose subduction beneath North America drives significant volcanic and seismic activity in the region.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
strait
ⓘ
waterway ⓘ |
| climate | humid continental climate influence ⓘ |
| connectsBodyOfWater |
Lake Huron
ⓘ
Lake Michigan ⓘ |
| country |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| crossedBy | Mackinac Bridge ⓘ |
| ecoregion |
Great Lakes–St. Lawrence system
ⓘ
surface form:
Great Lakes freshwater ecosystem
|
| formsBoundaryBetween | Lake Michigan and Lake Huron hydrologically ⓘ |
| governingJurisdiction |
Michigan (most of state)
ⓘ
surface form:
State of Michigan
United States federal waters ⓘ |
| hasBridge | Mackinac Bridge ⓘ |
| hasCurrent | bidirectional flow between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron ⓘ |
| hasFerryServiceTo | Mackinac Island ⓘ |
| hasHazard |
ice conditions for shipping
ⓘ
navigation hazards due to currents and weather ⓘ |
| hasInfrastructure |
shipping lanes
ⓘ
underwater utility lines ⓘ |
| hasNearbyLandmark |
Fort Michilimackinac
ⓘ
Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse ⓘ Round Island Lighthouse ⓘ |
| importantFor |
Great Lakes shipping connectivity
ⓘ
fish habitat ⓘ regional tourism ⓘ |
| isShippingRoute | yes ⓘ |
| knownFor |
ice cover in winter
ⓘ
strong currents ⓘ |
| length | approximately 4 miles ⓘ |
| locatedIn |
Great Lakes region
ⓘ
Michigan (most of state) ⓘ
surface form:
Michigan
|
| locatedInBodyOfWater | between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron ⓘ |
| maximumDepth | approximately 295 feet ⓘ |
| namedAfter |
Mackinac Island
ⓘ
surface form:
Mackinac (Mackinaw) region of Michigan
|
| nameLanguage | English ⓘ |
| near |
Mackinac Island
ⓘ
Mackinaw City, Michigan ⓘ St. Ignace, Michigan ⓘ |
| partOf |
Great Lakes
ⓘ
Great Lakes–St. Lawrence system ⓘ
surface form:
St. Lawrence Seaway system
|
| region |
Traverse City, Michigan
ⓘ
surface form:
northern Michigan
|
| separates |
Michigan (most of state)
ⓘ
surface form:
Lower Peninsula of Michigan
Upper Peninsula of Michigan ⓘ |
| usedFor |
commercial shipping
ⓘ
fishing ⓘ recreational boating ⓘ |
| waterwayType | narrow strait ⓘ |
| width | approximately 5 miles at narrowest point ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Straits of Mackinac Description of subject: The Straits of Mackinac are a narrow waterway in the U.S. state of Michigan that connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron and separate Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas.
Referenced by (34)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Lake Michigan–Huron waterway crossing
subject surface form:
Round Island Lighthouse
subject surface form:
Mackinac Bridge