more maps

[mutepointe]

[mutepointe]

TV Shows of the States
http://tv.msn.com/united-states-of-tv/p ... y/feature/

[mutepointe]

Here is a link to a lot of interesting maps.
http://twistedsifter.com/2013/08/maps-t ... the-world/

This is one of my favorites.

[trill]

That (the highest-paid one) is pretty telling . . .

[ytliek]

You've been outted.

http://twistedsifter.com/2013/08/maps-t ... the-world/

Better yet, see the timed photos that follow.

[mutepointe]

You've been outted.

http://twistedsifter.com/2013/08/maps-t ... the-world/

Better yet, see the timed photos that follow.

I have been out and proud. I posted the link to twistedsifter myself. I love maps. Is that so wrong?

[mutepointe]

[MTGuru]

The "American" category on the US Census always cracks me up.

[fearfaoin]

The "American" category on the US Census always cracks me up.

That is a little weird. I live in one of the "American"-majority counties. I often give my breeding as "American mutt" because my family's been in North Carolina so long and cared so little about lineage (aside from being decidedly Southern) that we can't place any particular Old World ancestry. You get that answer a lot around here. I wonder if it has to do with the White poor in the Southeast being unwilling or unable to trace their ancestry.

[trill]

It appears that those of German ancestry win the cumulative-acres award.

[mutepointe]

The "American" category on the US Census always cracks me up.

That is a little weird. I live in one of the "American"-majority counties. I often give my breeding as "American mutt" because my family's been in North Carolina so long and cared so little about lineage (aside from being decidedly Southern) that we can't place any particular Old World ancestry. You get that answer a lot around here. I wonder if it has to do with the White poor in the Southeast being unwilling or unable to trace their ancestry.

I think it's weird too. Where I live now, people don't know what they are. We have very few ethnic festivals where I live.

I grew up near Pittsburgh where, "So where's your family from?" is a common ice breaker. Then the person gives their complete lineage,(bonus points for Ellis Island!) A friend from out west moved here and didn't know his lineage. He found it necessary to make one up.

My Dad's side of the family is German. They spoke German until World War I. Never after that.

[Sirchronique]

Here's an interesting video somebody posted on facebook the other day on the topic of maps. It's worth checking out.

http://www.upworthy.com/we-have-been-mi ... ?g=2&c=bl3


It's a clip from some TV show, but it's actually not fictional.

Probably nothing new to many of you, but in the school I attended we were taught with the inaccurate Mercator map, mostly. I assume the Mercator map has been common in most other schools in the United States, too, unfortunately.

[MikeS]

Probably nothing new to many of you, but in the school I attended we were taught with the inaccurate Mercator map, mostly. I assume the Mercator map has been common in most other schools in the United States, too, unfortunately.

Any time you project a sphere onto a flat plane there are going to be compromises. Selecting a map projection involves making judgements about which compromises are more or less important to you. The Mercator projection world map has been much maligned of late because it does distort the relative size of land masses. While I'll grant that it's probably good for kids to realize that Greenland is not, in fact, larger than South America, there is another issue here. There seems to be an undercurrent to the Mercator bashing that implies its presence is part of some plot to intentionally belittle the people and cultures of the Southern Hemisphere. This ignores the question of what advantages it might possess to have made it so popular in the first place.

Imagine drawing a line from Chicago to Seattle on a map and then getting into an airplane at O'Hare. You take off and set your compass heading to 295.1. A Mercator map is the only projection where you would actually pass over every point on the line. If your primary objective is navigation then the Mercator map is very useful. If it's important to you to show graphically that London is as far north as Montreal then the Mercator map works well for that also. If your goal is to emphasize that Africa is larger than North America then you'll want to look at using another projection. Any two-dimensional map projection is going to contain distortions. To call one accurate and another inaccurate is ill-considered.

[Sirchronique]

Probably nothing new to many of you, but in the school I attended we were taught with the inaccurate Mercator map, mostly. I assume the Mercator map has been common in most other schools in the United States, too, unfortunately.

Any time you project a sphere onto a flat plane there are going to be compromises. Selecting a map projection involves making judgements about which compromises are more or less important to you. The Mercator projection world map has been much maligned of late because it does distort the relative size of land masses. While I'll grant that it's probably good for kids to realize that Greenland is not, in fact, larger than South America, there is another issue here. There seems to be an undercurrent to the Mercator bashing that implies its presence is part of some plot to intentionally belittle the people and cultures of the Southern Hemisphere. This ignores the question of what advantages it might possess to have made it so popular in the first place.

Imagine drawing a line from Chicago to Seattle on a map and then getting into an airplane at O'Hare. You take off and set your compass heading to 295.1. A Mercator map is the only projection where you would actually pass over every point on the line. If your primary objective is navigation then the Mercator map is very useful. If it's important to you to show graphically that London is as far north as Montreal then the Mercator map works well for that also. If your goal is to emphasize that Africa is larger than North America then you'll want to look at using another projection. Any two-dimensional map projection is going to contain distortions. To call one accurate and another inaccurate is ill-considered.

Indeed, I am in agreement. I was referring more to the inaccuracies of the representations of the size of land-masses. I don't really have an issue with the mercator map, or it's being taught in schools. My point in posting it is that unfortunately for people like me, this is the *only* map one is exposed to throughout their entire schooling up through until their adulthood, meaning that this is what has formed their entire concept of what size the different landmasses actually are. I believe the video itself even points out the reason for the mercator map, which I don't think anyone has any reason to disagree with in itself.

Admittedly though, until recently I had no idea about the size distortions present in the mercator map. So, by all means, it has it's place, but I think people should be aware that it's not representing the actual scale of things on the map, hence why I shared it here. The difference is huge enough that I think it should at least be mentioned to everyone that it doesn't show proper scale, and that both maps should be widely-known, and the flaws and benefits of what they both represent should be pointed out.

Otherwise, you will have people like me, and many others, who nearly get into their mid-twenties thinking greenland really is that huge. I'm not sure how anyone can agree that it's alright to use one map to create anyone's entire concept of what the earth actually looks like. That's what has happened, unfortunately.

That's my point- Not a problem with the map, but with the fact that it's been the sole map used to teach things that the map does not accurately illustrate. I'd say there would be an equal issue if the peterson map were used to teach about precise navigational subjects, likewise.

If each map requires a sort of comprimise, then multiple maps should be used that do not comprimise on the precise point that the map is being used to teach at that time.

I don't think the mercator map is part of any negative plot, but I do indeed think it can have such effects on a person's concept of the world, even if not brought about intentionally.

[mutepointe]

Not to worry folks. In the very near future, I don't doubt that we'll have virtual 3-D globes that float in front of us, like in the Sci-Fi movies.