Maps

metalman

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how to draw an oblate spheroid Earth on a flat plane.

authagraph.png



This projection gets the landmass areas right, but at the cost of reducing usefulness for navigation
 

metalman

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The best way to display an oblate spheroid Earth!

 

metalman

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even in the ancient 1940's they knew how to make globes!

 

Kesa

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I read about this before. it's fascinating something as simple as the map of Earth could be so complicated. The one that really surprised me was Africa.
 

Kesa

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Did you know, depending on how you measure, Mount Everest isn't the tallest mountain in the world? Measuring from the centre of the Earth to the furthest point outwards Everest isn't really that impressive. Maybe they should move it to the equator?
 

metalman

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Did you know, depending on how you measure, Mount Everest isn't the tallest mountain in the world? Measuring from the centre of the Earth to the furthest point outwards Everest isn't really that impressive. Maybe they should move it to the equator?


from base to summit the tallest mountain on land is Mt McKinley
Mount Everest has the highest elevation, but its base is on the Tibetian plateau at an elevation of 5200m
 

Robert

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Don't know if you'll be able to watch this outside the UK via this link but you can find copies of it uploaded elsewhere. It's a decent watch:
Maps: Power, Plunder and Possession


Windows on the World
Maps: Power, Plunder and PossessionEpisode 1 of 3
In a series about the extraordinary stories behind maps, Professor Jerry Brotton uncovers how maps aren't simply about getting from A to B, but are revealing snapshots of defining moments in history and toolsof political power and persuasion.

Visiting the world's first known map, etched into the rocks of a remote alpine hillside 3,000 years ago, Brotton explores how each culture develops its own unique, often surprising way of mapping. As Henry VIII's stunning maps of the British coastline from a bird's-eye view show, they were also used to exert control over the world.

During the Enlightenment, the great French Cassini dynasty pioneered the western quest to map the world with greater scientific accuracy, leading also to the British Ordnance Survey. But these new scientific methods were challenged by cultures with alternative ways of mapping, such as in a Polynesian navigator's map which has no use for north, south and east.

As scientifically accurate map-making became a powerful tool of European expansion, the British carved the state of Iraq out of the Middle East. When the British drew up Iraq's boundaries, they had devastating consequences for the nomadic tribes of Mesopotamia.

Release date:
18 April 2010
16 days left to watch

1 hour
 

metalman

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only short clips available on youtube
very interesting

 

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The world as mapped by Google Street View coverage

DXi_JrOW4AAhZ5X.png:large
 

metalman

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DWQxLQDXkAEt-JD.jpg


terrible map
they forgot to label the Great Northern Peninsula
 
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metalman

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History books say Antarctica was not discovered until the 1800s, yet it was mapped out accurately in 1513. The landmass that is, not icecaps.

Piri_reis_world_map_01.jpg



Piri Reis map

For the 16th century it is a reasonably accurate map of the Iberian Peninsula, West Africa and the Brazilian coast of South America, the Azores, Canary Islands and Cape Verde Islands are fairly accurate and then become fantasy for unexplored areas

It looks like this could be the western half of a world map

Thanks for the posting this!
it was interesting investigating this map
 
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