4 ms·
We have a map that works fine, it’s called a globe. I bet you can even find some that are the correct oblate spheroid.
by bombcar 1y ago
We have a map that works fine, it’s called a globe.
I bet you can even find some that are the correct oblate spheroid.
- delichon 1y agoFor a one foot diameter globe, the diameter difference would be about 1mm. You couldn't tell without calipers or such. A typical commercial globe will be more oblate than that unintentionally.
- perrygeo 1y agoIt's easy to get lost in the geodesy details, which really matter at a local scale! But on a global scale the earth is effectively round. Many of us have seen images like this: https://www.asu.cas.cz/~bezdek/vyzkum/rotating_3d_globe/figures/rotating_3d_globe_preview_Geoid_height_EGM2008_nmax1000_BlueWhiteOrangeRed_px3000.png https://www.asu.cas.cz/~bezdek/vyzkum/rotating_3d_globe/figu... which are effective at showing the shape and gravitational anomalies but is wildly exaggerated on the height axis. Visualizing to scale would look indistinguishable from sphere.
- Waterluvian 1y agoIt really is kind of unfortunate that the Earth is an oblate spheroid. It complicates a lot of things. I’ve been a fairly vocal proponent of stopping the Earth’s spin to eventually correct for this (we hope).
- delichon 1y agoThat would further simplify things by wiping out human life on Earth. Nuclear submariners might last a few years.
- Waterluvian 1y agoHumanity was doing pretty well there for a while, until they got distracted by memes, AI, and turned the Pacific Ocean into a hot tub.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]