Post by @MichaelTBacon@social.coop

RE: https://turtleisland.social/@Yehuda/117213905488848259

The GIS nerd/professor in me always wants to point out that the Mercator projection is still extremely useful in the right circumstances, but it absolutely should be phased out for making maps of the globe.

The projection is very good at retaining shape and angles, and so is good for localized maps and is extremely good for navigation. The Mercator *shapes* of Greenland and Africa is far more accurate.

But how important is shape really when studying a map of the earth, where one of the most important lessons is comparisons between regions?

Now . . . let's talk about this whole "seven continents" nonsense. (Boy do I ever have a Take on that. . . )

6 Replies

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sidereal

@sidereal@kolektiva.social 1 hr. ago

@MichaelTBacon I agree, it's hard for me to get excited about different projections because they're all a compromise. Kids should be educated with actual globes and 3D digital models

Michael Bacon

@MichaelTBacon@social.coop 53 min. ago

@sidereal Yeah, the thing I jump up and down about when I teach GIS (sniff) is that all projections are compromises, and the "right" one depends on your use case.

But Mercator for global maps in educational environments is pretty much a bad choice.

Dadbod AntiFa

@beckett@triangletoot.party 1 hr. ago

@MichaelTBacon 3.5 continents?

Michael Bacon

@MichaelTBacon@social.coop 57 min. ago

@beckett

I don't have great names for them, but 5 "ocean" continents and 5 "land" subcontinents.

Basically:

North America (new name welcomed)
South America (ditto)
Africa
Australia
Antarctica

then split the Eurasian subcontinent along major watershed lines.

Europe: (N of Caucuses, W. of Urals Include Volga but not Ural watershed)
Siberia: (any watershed that empties into Arctic Ocean, Okhost, or Bearing Sea. Insular watersheds in "stans" area TBD)
Desh (S. Asia, other new name): Indus watershed to the NW, all watersheds that empty into Bay of Bengal
Asia-Pacific (new name welcomed): All watersheds that empty to Pacific, Andaman Sea, China seas)
"Original/Old Asia" (new name welcomed): Basically everything that's left. W. of Indus watershed, E. of Suez, Caspian and Aral watersheds exc. European Volga-to-Caucuses strip)

@jhv I think years ago you asked why I was playing with watershed maps, this is it.

Dadbod AntiFa

@beckett@triangletoot.party 36 min. ago

@MichaelTBacon I'm convinced.
@jhv

Michael Bacon

@MichaelTBacon@social.coop 51 min. ago

@beckett @jhv I have the large extent watershed vector layers to make a map out of this but I keep not doing it. I really should do it and submit it to Annals of AAG or something.

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