map projections
Sat Apr 15 13:23:18 EDT 2017
In these days of widespread computer resources, why don't we have maps on our screens that distort around some desired point of interest? We put the pointer somewhere, and the 2-D distortions of the earth's curvature take more effect farther away from that point? We move the pointer, and the distortions morph to accommodate. We see things in their true relative size. "Parallels" of longitude are not parallel, but convergent.
We're no longer navigating by compass and sextant; we are ill-served by maps that preserve north-south orientation by distorting the area toward the poles, or that compensate for the area by squashing the shape. (I think converging parallels would impress upon people the spherical nature of our Earth.)
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/882377.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
In these days of widespread computer resources, why don't we have maps on our screens that distort around some desired point of interest? We put the pointer somewhere, and the 2-D distortions of the earth's curvature take more effect farther away from that point? We move the pointer, and the distortions morph to accommodate. We see things in their true relative size. "Parallels" of longitude are not parallel, but convergent.
We're no longer navigating by compass and sextant; we are ill-served by maps that preserve north-south orientation by distorting the area toward the poles, or that compensate for the area by squashing the shape. (I think converging parallels would impress upon people the spherical nature of our Earth.)
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/882377.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]