I read somewhere that less than .1 of the galaxy has been explored in EW... and yet, I've yet to go to a system that didn't already have someone claiming first mapping etc.
Less than 0.1%? how is that possible?
- Thread starter tommy12345
- Start date
So I assume, everyone has had the same start point.
I would avoid heading to colonia for fresh finds as many routes on the way there and back have been mapped as an engineer resides on tir too which is out that way to the fledgling colony the 2nd expansion bubble
It's 0.045% as of December 2019.
Which should leave about 399,820,000,000 unexplored systems for the OP to find...
Still a staggering 180 million systems discovered!
I'm assuming the calculator I used is correct - my brain doesn't do numbers that big! 
Have a look in this site - looks like everything has been visited but in fact there is so much space in between the visited systems - hence the 0.045% figure (and that is from F D knowing what systems commanders have visited whereas edastro only shows those that have been reported to EDSM).
Elite:Dangerous Astrometrics
edastro.com
e.g:
I recall a time in my astronomy class in college where as the professor was asked considering the ability and usage of the technology we had at the time; Which was in the early 70,s. What is the point of continuing to do research and studying our solar system if everything has already been discovered. His reply was, comparatively speaking, we have yet to discover any more than a blind-man looking for a needle in a haystack that doesn't exist. Took a few years, but I finally got it.
The Milky Way Galaxy in which our solar system is located who's star is called "SOL" is but one of an updated estimated 2 billion stars. Thus SPACE is BIG!
Ermmm... estimates of our real galaxy vary from 100 to 400 billion - Elite Dangerous uses the 400 Billion number I believe.
Don't know what you mean by "Civilized" area, assuming your speaking about the "Bubble', because the majority of cmdr's don't utilze the economy route plotter, the Bubble isn't entirely discovered as of yet. Though most of it is; Because I spend the overwhelming vast majority of my game time in the bubble, I utilize only the economy plotter, and thought it happens less than it did three years ago, I'm still on occasion making discoveries.The civilized area is fully discovered. Once you get out a ways, maybe 1000 LY or so, it starts to open up (as long as you don't follow the well-traveled routes).
People are just not as random as they think they are. Everyone goes the same way
Hmmm! I just went to Colonia and back twice. Both times I had new discoveries from about 95% of the systems. I was jumping nearly 80LY at a time, so there must have been hundreds or even thousands of systems that I missed along the way, which anybody can find, even if you plotted the exact directions that I went. All you have to do is go up, down, left or right a bit before you start
You're not going far enough. Basically, within 1000 ly the percentage is probably more like over 90%, but the farther out you go, the fewer systems will be discovered. There are 400 billion systems, and only some hundred million have been discovered.