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  1. - Top - End - #31
    Pixie in the Playground
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    Default Re: Best map projection

    This is why the French have been a major world power for quite a long time.
    Was your double entendre intentional? Map history is not my specialty, and I would not want to take your comment the wrong way, because that would fuel my globe addiction. If it was intentional then I must approve because I am addicted to my globe addiction.

  2. - Top - End - #32
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    Default Re: Best map projection

    Quote Originally Posted by Ides Usher View Post
    Was your double entendre intentional?
    I don't see it?
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  3. - Top - End - #33
    Dragon in the Playground Moderator
     
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    Default Re: Best map projection

    Quote Originally Posted by Fyraltari View Post
    I don't see it?
    I think I kind of do, but it's a pretty big stretch.

    And frankly, calling my joke a single entendre is already being generous.
    Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.

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  4. - Top - End - #34
    Halfling in the Playground
     
    PaladinGuy

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    Default Re: Best map projection

    Quote Originally Posted by Peelee View Post
    Except for the map centered on New Zealand, of course
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  5. - Top - End - #35
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Devil

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    Default Re: Best map projection

    Quote Originally Posted by veti View Post
    If you want to give the most accurate idea, use a globe. Seriously. Even a 2d model of a globe shown on a screen, provided the viewer can manipulate it freely, is better than any map projection.
    Yeah, the main advantage of a sheet of paper over a large ball is portability, but I see no reason to generally prefer any image of a world map over an image of a globe that can even rotate.

    Quote Originally Posted by Fyraltari View Post
    Clearly the best map is two globes.
    Best to show it from 6 angles (Northern and Southern hemispheres, Eastern and Western hemispheres, and, uh, the obvious other pair of hemispheres). That way you can see everything not split up. You couldn't just slice a map of Antarctica out of the Eastern and Western hemispheres alone, for example.
    Quote Originally Posted by icefractal View Post
    Abstract positioning, either fully "position doesn't matter" or "zones" or whatever, is fine. If the rules reflect that. Exact positioning, with a visual representation, is fine. But "exact positioning theoretically exists, and the rules interact with it, but it only exists in the GM's head and is communicated to the players a bit at a time" sucks for anything even a little complex. And I say this from a GM POV.

  6. - Top - End - #36
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    Quote Originally Posted by Devils_Advocate View Post
    Yeah, the main advantage of a sheet of paper over a large ball is portability, but I see no reason to generally prefer any image of a world map over an image of a globe that can even rotate.


    Best to show it from 6 angles (Northern and Southern hemispheres, Eastern and Western hemispheres, and, uh, the obvious other pair of hemispheres). That way you can see everything not split up. You couldn't just slice a map of Antarctica out of the Eastern and Western hemispheres alone, for example.
    So the best map is an atlas?
    Quote Originally Posted by Harnel View Post
    where is the atropal? and does it have a listed LA?

  7. - Top - End - #37
    Ogre in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Best map projection

    Or a collection of maps is better than just one map, if you want to get technical, I guess. I get the appeal of a covering everything with a single continuous image, but one great big sheet of paper that has to be folded and unfolded is a bit more unwieldy to deal with than a thin book that one can just flip through. And representing the entire Earth with a single flat image inevitably significantly distorts things one way or another, because Earth isn't flat, it's round.

    Like... in order to depict what Earth really looks like, you need to depict it as spherical*, not flat. So any 2D image that doesn't look like a sphere fails at accurate depiction right off the bat.

    *I'm pretty sure that Earth is close enough to being spherical that one can't tell that it isn't just by looking at it. I.e. Earth looks like a sphere. So something that shows what Earth looks like also looks like a sphere. Unless you want to make a precise aid for some specific function like navigation, the visual and Earth don't have to deviate from perfect roundness in the exact same way.
    Quote Originally Posted by icefractal View Post
    Abstract positioning, either fully "position doesn't matter" or "zones" or whatever, is fine. If the rules reflect that. Exact positioning, with a visual representation, is fine. But "exact positioning theoretically exists, and the rules interact with it, but it only exists in the GM's head and is communicated to the players a bit at a time" sucks for anything even a little complex. And I say this from a GM POV.

  8. - Top - End - #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by Devils_Advocate View Post
    Or a collection of maps is better than just one map, if you want to get technical, I guess. I get the appeal of a covering everything with a single continuous image, but one great big sheet of paper that has to be folded and unfolded is a bit more unwieldy to deal with than a thin book that one can just flip through. And representing the entire Earth with a single flat image inevitably significantly distorts things one way or another, because Earth isn't flat, it's round.

    Like... in order to depict what Earth really looks like, you need to depict it as spherical*, not flat. So any 2D image that doesn't look like a sphere fails at accurate depiction right off the bat.

    *I'm pretty sure that Earth is close enough to being spherical that one can't tell that it isn't just by looking at it. I.e. Earth looks like a sphere. So something that shows what Earth looks like also looks like a sphere. Unless you want to make a precise aid for some specific function like navigation, the visual and Earth don't have to deviate from perfect roundness in the exact same way.
    Just the fact that the Earth is topologically spherical presents problems. Every single map has to have at least one singularity where there stops being a one-to-one correspondence between points on the map and points on Earth's surface.

    If Earth were shaped like a doughnut mapping would be much simpler.
    Quote Originally Posted by Harnel View Post
    where is the atropal? and does it have a listed LA?

  9. - Top - End - #39
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    Default Re: Best map projection

    Hotine Mercator projection because you have to wonder what's the author objective because it sure isn't about preserving shape, area, or distance.

    Spoiler: Hotine Mercator projection
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  10. - Top - End - #40
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    Default Re: Best map projection

    In the days of navigation by paper map, you wouldn't use just a Mercator. You'd start with a polar projection (which maps great circles to straight lines), and draw a straight line on that map from your starting point to your destination: That's your great circle route. Then you'd pick a number of points along that straight line, spaced closely enough together that curvature isn't significant between them. Then you'd find those same points on a Mercator map, to get the compass bearing from each one to the next.
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  11. - Top - End - #41
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    BlackDragon

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    Default Re: Best map projection

    Quote Originally Posted by Chronos View Post
    Then you'd pick a number of points along that straight line, spaced closely enough together that curvature isn't significant between them. Then you'd find those same points on a Mercator map, to get the compass bearing from each one to the next.
    For long journeys, maybe, but over shorter distances (a few hundred miles or less) you'd just use a single chart on the Mercator projection.

  12. - Top - End - #42
    Dragon in the Playground Moderator
     
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    Default Re: Best map projection

    Quote Originally Posted by warmachine View Post
    Hotine Mercator projection because you have to wonder what's the author objective because it sure isn't about preserving shape, area, or distance.

    Spoiler: Hotine Mercator projection
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    I love it!

    And obviously, they thought North America had it too good for too long.
    Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.

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  13. - Top - End - #43
    Troll in the Playground
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    Default Re: Best map projection

    Quote Originally Posted by warmachine View Post
    Hotine Mercator projection because you have to wonder what's the author objective because it sure isn't about preserving shape, area, or distance.

    Spoiler: Hotine Mercator projection
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    They obviously were trying to maximize whoa effect.
    In a war it doesn't matter who's right, only who's left.

  14. - Top - End - #44
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    Default Re: Best map projection

    Quote Originally Posted by warmachine View Post
    Hotine Mercator projection because you have to wonder what's the author objective because it sure isn't about preserving shape, area, or distance.

    Spoiler: Hotine Mercator projection
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    That might just be the ugliest map I've ever seen.
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  15. - Top - End - #45
    Dragon in the Playground Moderator
     
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    Default Re: Best map projection

    Quote Originally Posted by Eldan View Post
    That might just be the ugliest map I've ever seen.
    I think it's gorgeous.

    Imean, as a functional map, no, I can't imagine any possible use for that. But it's such a different perspective, with a warp I'd never even considered. It looks amazing. I legit love it.
    Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.

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  16. - Top - End - #46
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    Default Re: Best map projection

    If the concern is a thermo-nuclear exchange between Nato and the Soviet Union it covers the relevant areas quite well on one sheet with little distortion. I don't know why such a map would want to include Antarctica, but if you absolutely needed an angle preserving projection of the whole world with a focus on the Arctic it does the job.

  17. - Top - End - #47
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    PirateGuy

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    Default Re: Best map projection

    Asking what's the best map projection is kinda like asking what's the best car. It's a fruitless question because 1) there can't be a single right answer since it depends completely on what you're going to use it for; and 2) anyone who's knowledgeable enough in the subject to tackle the question is likely to be too emotionally involved with one or more of the options to be able to discuss it rationally.

  18. - Top - End - #48
    Ogre in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Best map projection

    It's pretty senseless to talk about which option is just "best" rather than best for some purpose, unless a fairly specific purpose is built in to the definition of what you're talking about. It might be meaningful to say that something is the best disinfectant, say. Even then, "best" might be a misleading word to use; e.g. if the substance best at killing germs is also highly dangerous to humans, it's probably something to avoid in most cases.

    Quote Originally Posted by warmachine View Post
    Hotine Mercator projection because you have to wonder what's the author objective
    Possibly to induce a sense of vertigo in the viewer.

    It is interesting, but that's because it departs from conventions that exist to make maps useful. Even so, it might be better than nearly all other world maps for some purposes, as in Fat Rooster's example. Hard to think of one where it wouldn't make more sense to just use a smaller map, though.
    Quote Originally Posted by icefractal View Post
    Abstract positioning, either fully "position doesn't matter" or "zones" or whatever, is fine. If the rules reflect that. Exact positioning, with a visual representation, is fine. But "exact positioning theoretically exists, and the rules interact with it, but it only exists in the GM's head and is communicated to the players a bit at a time" sucks for anything even a little complex. And I say this from a GM POV.

  19. - Top - End - #49
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    Default Re: Best map projection

    So what projection would you use for your 1/10,000tth scale world?
    If you made it a globe, it'd be about 1.2 km in diameter. Or 4,200 feet.
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  20. - Top - End - #50
    Troll in the Playground
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    Default Re: Best map projection

    I actually read a bit about the Hotine Mercator projection and it does have its uses. Regular Mercator works best around the equator and preserves local angles. Hotine Mercator works best around the chosen area away from the equator and does preserve local angles. It is supposedly used for local maps, which makes a lot of sense.
    In a war it doesn't matter who's right, only who's left.

  21. - Top - End - #51
    Ettin in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Best map projection

    Here's an interesting projection of a sky map: The Milky Ring. The Milky Ring

    Whoops! Thanks, warmachine!
    Last edited by Lord Torath; 2021-01-25 at 08:33 AM.
    Warhammer 40,000 Campaign Skirmish Game: Warpstrike
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  22. - Top - End - #52
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    Default Re: Best map projection

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Torath View Post
    Here's an interesting projection of a sky map: The Milky Ring.
    That links shows the picture of the current day, not of a fixed day. Try The Milky Ring.
    Matthew Greet
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