Editing 2519: Sloped Border
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
+ | {{incomplete|Created by a SUBSIDING GERRYMANDER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | ||
+ | Nearly every single country (except some islands and Australia) demarcates an {{w|international border}} with other countries. The borders are established through law, treaty or consensus. Establishing an international border is assumed by present-day customs, immigration and security checks. Some countries (like {{w|Cyprus}}) have established a {{w|buffer zone}} in place of an international border to gain additional protection during a conflict. | ||
− | + | In this comic, Cueball and Blondie established a "sloped" international border through a treaty. Usually borders are perpendicular to the ground so that all the air(space) above the ground belongs to the same country. This is called {{w|Air sovereignty}}. Thus it suffices to define the border on the earth surface, as 2D lines. The precise definition is that a line from the center of the Earth through the point of the border is drawn. Sloped terrain is immaterial to the border of the air sovereignty which is still vertical, even if not perpendicular to the terrain. | |
− | + | If the borders were sloped (with respect to the horizontal ground level) an airplane would need to know its precise height to decide which country's jurisdiction currently applies. With the help of the {{w|Global Positioning System}} this would be in principle possible, although the height information of GPS is less reliable. (It might be possible to program a computer to use altitude data from the airplane's altimeter along with latitude and longitude data from the GPS and a relevent ground relief database to make an accurate determination.) | |
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− | If the borders were sloped (with respect to the horizontal ground level) an airplane would need to know its precise height to decide | ||
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The mathematical computation for an angled air sovereignty seems relatively straight-forward at low level and could be expressed with a single line of code or a single equation, although the people acting on the information are likely unfamiliar with code and equations and likely use tools with completely no support for sloped borders. The mention of curvatures in the title text may reveal some emergent problems that need accounting for. | The mathematical computation for an angled air sovereignty seems relatively straight-forward at low level and could be expressed with a single line of code or a single equation, although the people acting on the information are likely unfamiliar with code and equations and likely use tools with completely no support for sloped borders. The mention of curvatures in the title text may reveal some emergent problems that need accounting for. | ||
− | A totally straight line drawn far enough upwards at an angle will find the surface of the Earth curving away beneath it (not even considering terrain undulations) and the angle to the local vertical will reduce as it continues, tending towards vertical | + | A totally straight line drawn far enough upwards at an angle will find the surface of the Earth curving away beneath it (not even considering terrain undulations) and the angle to the local vertical will reduce as it continues, tending towards vertical after far enough. |
− | Alternately (although it seems this is not the case) the profile of the sloped border may be assumed to remain at a constant angle to the shifting vertical, in which case it describes a certain {{w|Logarithmic spiral|form of spiral}} ( | + | Alternately (although it seems this is not the case) the profile of the sloped border may be assumed to remain at a constant angle to the shifting vertical, in which case it describes a certain {{w|Logarithmic spiral|form of spiral}} (if shallow enough it could loop round the Earth). |
− | A third option is that it gains altitude at a constant rate, with respect to the | + | A third option is that it gains altitude at a constant rate, with respect to the lassage of land below its track, to form a {{w|Archimedean spiral|different spiral}}, in which case it will still loop around the Earth but at an angle that increasingly tends towards horizontal. |
− | While the comic doesn't mention this, such a boundary | + | While the comic doesn't mention this, such a boundary could be applied subterraneously, i.e. underground. (Although the 'straight' model, if implemented, will only reach the depth at which it is tangential to the radius and then re-emerge through the surface some way distant around the planet.) This would then impact, at practical depths for such things, planning rights for property foundations and, at deeper levels, mining rights for minerals. |
− | Practically | + | Practically an upper-limit to a nation's claim (somewhat below satellites, e.g. the Karman Line) and a lower limit (well before reaching the Earth's mantle) will prevent many of these complications, together with intersections with other (probably vertical) 'territorial volume' borders that will supercede in any compound claims to ownership. - However, it is still ''very important'' to specify exactly which curve (i.e. with respect to what) the boundary is designed to respecting. |
− | "GIS" refers to {{w|geographic information system}}, a | + | "GIS" refers to {{w|geographic information system}}, a tool for capturing and analyzing spatial and geographic data. People developing these systems would be inconvenienced by the border described in the comic. |
− | It is possible this comic is inspired by such boundary disputes as the {{w|Beaufort_Sea | + | It is possible this comic is inspired by such boundary disputes as the {{w|Territorial_claims_in_the_Arctic#Beaufort_Sea|Beaufort Sea 'wedge'}} which, while in this case perpendicular to the surface, suffers from alternative interpretations of how to extend it from the shoreline out towards international waters. |
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | :[Cueball and Blondie are standing on a podium. They are holding a document together between them | + | :[Cueball and Blondie are standing on a podium either for TV, or for the photo op when signing a treaty. They are holding a document together between them. In the background are two informational graphics. One intended to be cross-sectional showing a non-vertical dotted line between representative Cueball and Blondie figures, the other a skewed perspective of a similar setup but with two further figures and all but one these now positioned to be intersected by a 'shaded plane' effect so that some or most of their bodies are beyond the sloped boundary, as greetings of some kind are conducted through it.] |
:Cueball: With this treaty, we are proud to announce the creation of the world's first '''''sloped''''' international border! | :Cueball: With this treaty, we are proud to announce the creation of the world's first '''''sloped''''' international border! | ||
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:[Caption below frame:] | :[Caption below frame:] | ||
:If I'm ever put in charge of a country, I'm going to spend all my time trying to think of new ways to make life a nightmare for GIS people. | :If I'm ever put in charge of a country, I'm going to spend all my time trying to think of new ways to make life a nightmare for GIS people. | ||
− | + | {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | |
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{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
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[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | ||
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]] | ||
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[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]] | [[Category:Multiple Cueballs]] | ||
[[Category: Geography]] | [[Category: Geography]] |