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Archives => Public Archives => Real Life Discussion => Topic started by: Al on October 31, 2013, 06:39:57 AM

Title: the world map we know is inaccurate
Post by: Al on October 31, 2013, 06:39:57 AM
http://www.upworthy.com/we-have-been-mislead-by-an-erroneous-map-of-the-world-for-500-years?c=ufb2 (http://www.upworthy.com/we-have-been-mislead-by-an-erroneous-map-of-the-world-for-500-years?c=ufb2)

Click the link then watch the vid. I must be late on this. Unbelievable?
Title: Re: the world map we know is inaccurate
Post by: JC on October 31, 2013, 06:58:15 AM
Obviously that video has been made for entertainment rather than being a good overview of the many issues that result from different projection systems - it's something that I quite literally deal with every single day with my work.

It's not really worth going into detail about why it's just 'not that simple' to change things, I think this comic just about sums it up :3

(http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/map_projections.png)
Title: Re: the world map we know is inaccurate
Post by: Lighten on October 31, 2013, 08:19:40 AM
But there's no Australia ):
Title: Re: the world map we know is inaccurate
Post by: Al on October 31, 2013, 08:50:00 AM
@JC Hi. :3

The thing is some bodies of land are completely out of proportion, like Greenland...I didn't know that. The other stuff is just interesting; how we project the map and what effects that has.
Title: Re: the world map we know is inaccurate
Post by: Owen on October 31, 2013, 01:45:05 PM
Well holy shit, some guy making a world map in 1569 got the sizes wrong.

Don't think he had google earth to refer to.