4 ms·
> Mercator is the most-widely used projection (Google Maps uses it, for one), but it was created in 1569 during the age of exploration. It's mostly good for sea
by amadeuspagel 9d ago
> Mercator is the most-widely used projection (Google Maps uses it, for one), but it was created in 1569 during the age of exploration. It's mostly good for sea navigation. Any straight line drawn on the map represents a constant compass bearing.
It's also good for knowing how much daylight you get somewhere or whether someone there is likely to be awake right now.
- tialaramex 9d ago> It's also good for knowing how much daylight you get somewhere or whether someone there is likely to be awake right now. The former is correlated with distance from the Equator (and knowledge of the seasons) but surely other than Dymaxion all the maps we care about do have an Equator and North->South ? The latter is correlated with Longitude, and again other than Dymaxion surely all these maps will be the same in that respect ? Particularly in practice with Artificial Light humans tend to live by the clock, which is thus dependent on local "time zones" and not strictly East-West position.
- amadeuspagel 9d agoHumans don't live by the clock. People in Spain and Poland aren't awake at the same time, merely because they live in the same timezone.