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South up is fine. This article lost me when they suggested east up, west up, or "any compass bearing". That's not how planets work. Anyways, VR/AR globes will

by hectorr 10y ago

South up is fine. This article lost me when they suggested east up, west up, or "any compass bearing". That's not how planets work. Anyways, VR/AR globes will solve these problems pretty quickly.

mkj 10y ago
Why do you imagine a solar system is horizontal not vertical? I think West or East could probably work - looking at a rising or setting sun direction.
- Coincoin 10y ago
  Because as ground based bipedal animals, we move and live along a horizontal plane.
  - bharath28 10y ago
    That would still hold true in an east-up map.. We are projecting out of the plane of the map when we stand up/walk.. Separate note - while i get that north-up is just a convention and a mental construct, the south-up map really threw me off. As i was staring into the map, I felt the urge to turn my monitor around and had the same visceral need to set things right as i would upside down on a roller-coaster. This caught me completely by surprise because i was expecting to just make a mental note that this was a new convention i could get used to. Instead i "felt" uncomfortable - did this happen to anyone else?
    - Coincoin 10y ago
      Sorry, I was replying to why we perceive the solar system as a horizontal plane.
      - bharath28 10y ago
        Ah, I see now.
LeifCarrotson 10y ago
I'll agree that the rotational axis of a planet is relevant to the projection of a map. There is no "East pole", and it makes sense to give special significance to the North and South directions. A transverse map projection [1] doesn't make much sense as a default. The linked image shows the lines of longitude severely distorted, and a compass rose would not make sense on this map. There is a real, physical reason why north and south should be at opposing edges of the map. But it's perfectly reasonable to rotate a map by 90 or 270 degrees - nothing about the "way planets work" implies that you need to orient the map in this direction when raising it from a horizontal plane to a vertical wall. If anything, the reason would be that the circumference of the equator is twice the distance between the poles, and human eyes are better suited for panning in the horizontal. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transverse_Mercator_projection#/media/File:MercTranSph.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transverse_Mercator_projection...

by hectorr 10y ago

South up is fine. This article lost me when they suggested east up, west up, or "any compass bearing". That's not how planets work. Anyways, VR/AR globes will solve these problems pretty quickly.

mkj 10y ago

Why do you imagine a solar system is horizontal not vertical? I think West or East could probably work - looking at a rising or setting sun direction.

Coincoin 10y ago
Because as ground based bipedal animals, we move and live along a horizontal plane.
- bharath28 10y ago
  That would still hold true in an east-up map.. We are projecting out of the plane of the map when we stand up/walk.. Separate note - while i get that north-up is just a convention and a mental construct, the south-up map really threw me off. As i was staring into the map, I felt the urge to turn my monitor around and had the same visceral need to set things right as i would upside down on a roller-coaster. This caught me completely by surprise because i was expecting to just make a mental note that this was a new convention i could get used to. Instead i "felt" uncomfortable - did this happen to anyone else?
  - Coincoin 10y ago
    Sorry, I was replying to why we perceive the solar system as a horizontal plane.
    - bharath28 10y ago
      Ah, I see now.

LeifCarrotson 10y ago

I'll agree that the rotational axis of a planet is relevant to the projection of a map. There is no "East pole", and it makes sense to give special significance to the North and South directions. A transverse map projection [1] doesn't make much sense as a default. The linked image shows the lines of longitude severely distorted, and a compass rose would not make sense on this map. There is a real, physical reason why north and south should be at opposing edges of the map. But it's perfectly reasonable to rotate a map by 90 or 270 degrees - nothing about the "way planets work" implies that you need to orient the map in this direction when raising it from a horizontal plane to a vertical wall. If anything, the reason would be that the circumference of the equator is twice the distance between the poles, and human eyes are better suited for panning in the horizontal. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transverse_Mercator_projection#/media/File:MercTranSph.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transverse_Mercator_projection...