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Thread: Best map projection
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2021-01-05, 03:30 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Best map projection
This is why the French have been a major world power for quite a long time.
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2021-01-05, 03:44 PM (ISO 8601)
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Forum Wisdom
Mage avatar by smutmulch & linklele.
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2021-01-05, 10:23 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Best map projection
Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.
Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 2
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2021-01-06, 07:01 PM (ISO 8601)
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2021-01-11, 12:52 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2005
Re: Best 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.
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.
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2021-01-11, 02:08 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2010
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2021-01-11, 02:47 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2005
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.
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2021-01-11, 04:55 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2010
Re: Best map projection
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.
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2021-01-12, 06:23 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2005
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- Reading, England
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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 projectionMatthew Greet
My purpose in life is to play games.
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2021-01-12, 06:43 AM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2007
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- The Land of Cleves
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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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2021-01-12, 07:15 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2007
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- Manchester, UK
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2021-01-12, 07:30 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2009
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- Washington D.C.
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2021-01-12, 07:41 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2007
Re: Best map projection
They obviously were trying to maximize whoa effect.
In a war it doesn't matter who's right, only who's left.
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2021-01-13, 05:01 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2007
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- Switzerland
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2021-01-13, 08:31 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2009
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- Washington D.C.
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Re: Best map projection
Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.
Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 2
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2021-01-13, 10:48 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2019
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.
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2021-01-13, 11:35 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2009
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- Brazil
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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.
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2021-01-14, 03:08 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2005
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.
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.
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2021-01-14, 03:17 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2011
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- Sharangar's Revenge
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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.Warhammer 40,000 Campaign Skirmish Game: Warpstrike
My Spelljammer stuff (including an orbit tracker), 2E AD&D spreadsheet, and Vault of the Drow maps are available in my Dropbox. Feel free to use or not use it as you see fit!
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2021-01-14, 03:36 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2007
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.
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2021-01-22, 07:36 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2011
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- Sharangar's Revenge
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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
My Spelljammer stuff (including an orbit tracker), 2E AD&D spreadsheet, and Vault of the Drow maps are available in my Dropbox. Feel free to use or not use it as you see fit!
Thri-Kreen Ranger/Psionicist by me, based off of Rich's A Monster for Every Season
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2021-01-24, 03:51 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2005
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- Reading, England
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Re: Best map projection
That links shows the picture of the current day, not of a fixed day. Try The Milky Ring.
Matthew Greet
My purpose in life is to play games.