World, Writing, Wealth discussion
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Why do we use distorted world map?
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from the comments alone in the DM article, they claim that it is difficult to project 3D onto 2D, that there'd always be some sort of distortion. Dunno how true that is
I think the distortion is intentional so as to have a proper indication of direction - what is actually to the west. If you want to get areas right, the problem can be exemplified by peeling an orange and trying to put that on a flat piece of paper without stretching anything.
nice analogy, will use that in future
Don't forget, that at least here in the US, world maps are oriented so that the US is dead center in the world.I think nowadays, the notion of a 2-D map to represent the world is outdated. If you're looking at a local map for navigation, sure, but I would argue we're in a time where the world map can be portrayed as a round globe, even if it still appears 2-D in an image.
I remember having a variety of maps when I was in school. Some showed the view from the arctic or Antartica, where they were dead center and the others were distorted. Some were stretched, and another looked like the orange peel Ian mentions, with white space between the parts of the peel. I think different maps are useful for different things, but globes are the best. I loved playing with mine, spinning it and seeing what country my "plane" (finger) landed on. :-)
I still have one from when I was a kid in the 80s! What's fun now is taking it up and looking at all the countries that no longer exist or those who have gone through name changes in just the last 30 or so years.
J.J. wrote: "I still have one from when I was a kid in the 80s! What's fun now is taking it up and looking at all the countries that no longer exist or those who have gone through name changes in just the last ..."Hope the map is not about to undergo a nuclear adaptation
I have one from about 1950. Different planet!!
I have a stunning Time Atlas of The World circa 1985. Still stunning still beautifully drawn and published just totally out of date in terms of names but aside from shrinkage of Artic and Antarctic ice most of the land is accurate. It also describes how the map is drawn the various projections used to get the 2D print.We still have a poor grasp of geography thanks to poor maps. They tend to have a northern hemisphere bias showing Australia, South America and Southern Africa as smaller than reality. Still better than legend stating “here be dragons!”
Philip, you may be amused to know that a lot of world maps are centred so it is convenient to leave New Zealand out of it altogether.
Ian wrote: "Philip, you may be amused to know that a lot of world maps are centred so it is convenient to leave New Zealand out of it altogether."Can we apply that to rugby so someone else can have a chance...
The short answer, Philip, is, in this case, No.
Wow, NZ is a rugby powerhouse?! Should be a source of pride then
Yes, it is a sport that seems to have captured the nation. Oddly enough, I had little interest in it, largely because when my parents took me to Rakaia (a small rural town) in primary school I was 2 lb too heavy for the local primary school grade, and secondary schools had a total grip on the next grades, so either I had to give it up, or play in a team giving away 6 years of age and about 30 kg weight. I would have been murdered!
Ian wrote: "I would have been murdered! ..."You made the right choice then)
Nik wrote: "Are maps racist? :)"Colonial with implied racism
An atlas of a horrifically racist endeavor is linked below.https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/conten...
It isn't the maps that are racist. It is the actions they record that are racist.
J. wrote: "It isn't the maps that are racist. It is the actions they record that are racist."
Nicely put.
Nicely put.
This one was interesting from the UK archives. A century of the changes and the geopolitical events.https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/c...
I'm not sure what the issue is here. I looked at lots of world maps, and Africa seems to be at the center of all of them. What's the problem?
Scout wrote: "I'm not sure what the issue is here. I looked at lots of world maps, and Africa seems to be at the center of all of them. What's the problem?"That Africa, for example, appears much smaller than it really is comparative to other continents...
Lizzie wrote: "This one was interesting from the UK archives. A century of the changes and the geopolitical events.
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/c..."
Very interesting. There was a time when it was a statement of fact to say that the sun never set on the British Empire.
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/c..."
Very interesting. There was a time when it was a statement of fact to say that the sun never set on the British Empire.
That applied when I was a schoolboy, and my parents gave me a globe of the world, which I still have.
Ian wrote: "That applied when I was a schoolboy, and my parents gave me a globe of the world, which I still have."
Good man. Although I'm not a hoarder, I like to keep things of great sentimental value. Good story...My granddad gave me some old 1940s and '50s football cigarette cards when I was little (I've still got them). Anyway, one of my old schoolteachers used to play professional football and cricket in that era, and it turned out he was featured on one of the cigarette cards. I took it into school and he signed it for me :)
Good man. Although I'm not a hoarder, I like to keep things of great sentimental value. Good story...My granddad gave me some old 1940s and '50s football cigarette cards when I was little (I've still got them). Anyway, one of my old schoolteachers used to play professional football and cricket in that era, and it turned out he was featured on one of the cigarette cards. I took it into school and he signed it for me :)
Yeah, the problem of placing the round planet on a flat map exists, yet some say the distortion is not random and 'make enlarged countries seem unnaturally powerful and intimidating': http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/18/afr...
Have you seen other projections, like Peters for example? Is the distortion coincidental or intentional?