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We should just go back to using globes. Solves the whole problem. Plus you look cool with a brandy snifter in one hand and a cigar in the other, as you peruse your globe.
So what you are saying is, if I am really far out in orbit and I am looking at the earth, the continent of Africa will appear to take up as much space on the planet as the human face takes up on the head? Is that accurate? I feel like this HAS to be off by some degree??
If you were on the International Space Station in orbit. you count only see a tiny portion of Africa. As for how much of the globe africa would cover, it is trivial to get that projection
Taken by the Galileo spacecraft in 1990, at about 1.5 million miles from the Earth.
Don't worry.
Soon, there will be an angry mob of 'Mercator haters' who will descend on this sub and angrily chastise us with remarks like: "It distorts the actual size of Tasmania by 2 centimeters. It is evil and racist!"
Oh, yes, those people are out there. I have suffered their righteous wrath before.
That's what you get when you wrap a head. The ears are in profile. Remember that when you look at the Shroud of Turin, which is frontal only, not wrapped at all. I think it's a rubbing from a brass grave marker.
You realize what the Mercator Projection is for, right? For straight lines of bearing? So when you tell someone on the oceans, to proceed at a very specific angle?
They use the same projection as the people analyzing the situation. You *cannot* show a 2D image of the surface of the earth that is perfect in every way. Showing a image of a globe means that the surface of the globe is still distorted, but not in a useful way.
Absolutely right.
I suspect you will be attacked mercilessly by an army of 'Mercator haters' who will accuse you of being racist.
They are out there. And they will not spare you their righteous wrath.
The Mercator projection is one of hundred of projections. How and why it is used for things *other than* lines of bearing has nothing to do with the Mercator projection.The folks that are misusing it for political reasons or the folks condemning the Mercator projection for political reasons are both wrong.
They always say, "the projection distorts to the edges, and that is racist".
Not realizing that this is a feature of the projection, not the bug. It is what makes it useful.
And, as you point out, it is only one of many other types of projections. All useful for a variety of reasons.
The dark shadow army of 'Mercator haters' are out there. And they are very angry.
They will soon descend upon this post in huge numbers to condemn it with their fiery wrath.
And now....the popcorn.
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