4 ms·

The Mercator projection is perfectly suited to its intended use --- maintaining angles for navigation. That it was pushed into other usages was a function of c

The Mercator projection is perfectly suited to its intended use --- maintaining angles for navigation. That it was pushed into other usages was a function of cold war politics (makes Russia seem larger/more intimidating) and needs to be considered in that context. Arguably, every classroom (and home with children) should have a globe.

srean 4mo ago
> Arguably, every classroom (and home with children) should have a globe Or even better is to build one. It is a lot of fun. It is very instructive to understand why you need to shape the gores that you cut out of flat paper to stick them to the sphere. The boundaries of the gores need to curve so that there are no creases or no bits and pieces sticking out. Even then it is not going to be an exact fit on the globe, unless the flat material has some give. One needs some interrupted equi-areal projection. Interrupted sinusoidal is the one commonly used https://www.jasondavies.com/maps/interrupted-sinusoidal/ https://www.jasondavies.com/maps/interrupted-sinusoidal/ (from the same site). Imagine running zipper fastners along the tears/boundaries. When one zips up one almost forms an exact sphere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinusoidal_projection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinusoidal_projection
Analemma_ 4mo ago
> That it was pushed into other usages was a function of cold war politics (makes Russia seem larger/more intimidating) and needs to be considered in that context. Is this actually true, or was it just done "on autopilot" because before universal public education most people using maps of the entire world were navigators for whom Mercator made the most sense? I don't know, I just hear a lot of conspiracy theories about the dominance of Mercator. If it's not Cold War politics then it's "white supremacists trying to make North America/Europe larger and Africa smaller", and I think laziness and just going with what worked in the past is a more likely explanation.
- deleted 4mo ago
  [deleted]
stephbook 4mo ago
The Mercator hate is a remnant of the turn of the decade. The unprivileged "global south" is smaller than Greenland!! Except that Google Maps (yes maps, not Google Earth) has shown a globe for a decade now. And, of course, pupils do have access to a globe. But somehow, people always frame it as an unfulfilled necessity that perpetuates "global power imbalances" or stuff like that.
UltraSane 4mo ago
Google Maps is the modern globe.

srean 4mo ago

> Arguably, every classroom (and home with children) should have a globe Or even better is to build one. It is a lot of fun. It is very instructive to understand why you need to shape the gores that you cut out of flat paper to stick them to the sphere. The boundaries of the gores need to curve so that there are no creases or no bits and pieces sticking out. Even then it is not going to be an exact fit on the globe, unless the flat material has some give. One needs some interrupted equi-areal projection. Interrupted sinusoidal is the one commonly used https://www.jasondavies.com/maps/interrupted-sinusoidal/ https://www.jasondavies.com/maps/interrupted-sinusoidal/ (from the same site). Imagine running zipper fastners along the tears/boundaries. When one zips up one almost forms an exact sphere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinusoidal_projection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinusoidal_projection

Analemma_ 4mo ago

> That it was pushed into other usages was a function of cold war politics (makes Russia seem larger/more intimidating) and needs to be considered in that context. Is this actually true, or was it just done "on autopilot" because before universal public education most people using maps of the entire world were navigators for whom Mercator made the most sense? I don't know, I just hear a lot of conspiracy theories about the dominance of Mercator. If it's not Cold War politics then it's "white supremacists trying to make North America/Europe larger and Africa smaller", and I think laziness and just going with what worked in the past is a more likely explanation.

deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]

stephbook 4mo ago

The Mercator hate is a remnant of the turn of the decade. The unprivileged "global south" is smaller than Greenland!! Except that Google Maps (yes maps, not Google Earth) has shown a globe for a decade now. And, of course, pupils do have access to a globe. But somehow, people always frame it as an unfulfilled necessity that perpetuates "global power imbalances" or stuff like that.

UltraSane 4mo ago

Google Maps is the modern globe.