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Since we are moving away from print and towards screens, shouldn't we be just using actual globes?
by scotty79 1mo ago
Since we are moving away from print and towards screens, shouldn't we be just using actual globes?
- bawolff 1mo agoScreens are still 2D objects requiring projections.
- scotty79 1mo agoyeah, but when people are free to spin and zoom the virtual globe they understand perfectly how the projection relates to the real object, which they don't when it comes to maps
- jameshart 1mo agoWith computer generated maps, you can just always use a minimally distorting conical or polar projection centered on the exact point you’re focusing on. That also happens to be broadly what you would get looking straight down at the earth from above that point, which seems like it would also be the least confusing option.
- snowwrestler 1mo agoYes. Specially, touch enabled screens with dynamically rendered graphics. The Google Maps app on my iPhone at one point years ago switched to having a globe as its base, like Google Earth. It was great. Then Google switched it back to Mercator. But you can scroll infinitely to the left or right, so its base is actually now “Mercator rolled into a tube.” Somehow that’s even worse!
- scotty79 1mo agoDamn, I knew I've seen google maps going to globe after zooming out, but when I checked today it didn't. I wonder why they rolled that back. Fortunately Google Earth is still a sphere not a cyllinder.
- perilunar 1mo ago> so its base is actually now “Mercator rolled into a tube.” Somehow that’s even worse! Well better really. It is a cylindrical projection, so it's more like "Mercator before it's unrolled".
- agos 29d agoApple maps still has the globe!
- edflsafoiewq 1mo agoThe projection you see with your eyes is actually not that great in a sense. You can only see half of the world at a time and it's quite distorted as you move towards the edge. Also on a computer you should be able to "spin" any map projection, not just a globe.