Editing 2911: Greenland Size
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | {{ | + | {{incomplete|Created by a MAP THAT'S WAY BIGGER THAN IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} |
− | + | When talking about maps of the world, it's common to discuss the ways that it distorts the land areas that are depicted. All flat maps suffer from some kind of distortion, because the surface of a sphere cannot be flattened without stretching parts and possibly cutting it into pieces. Such discussion normally refers to the way that the shapes change or to the ''relative'' sizes of different land areas. For example, the {{w|Mercator projection}} makes land areas near the poles look larger than similar-sized areas near the Equator; a common complaint is that {{w|Greenland}} appears as big as {{w|Africa}} on the map, when Africa actually has 14 times more area than Greenland. The benefit of this projection, however, is that the landmasses maintain their overall shape, and it allows for easy course planning at sea since angles are preserved. | |
− | + | The joke in this comic is that [[Cueball]] is comparing the size of Greenland on the map (usually on the order of centimeters or inches, unless you have a really big or really small map) with its real world size (about 1,660 miles or 2,670 km across from north to south[https://www.britannica.com/place/Greenland]), rather than with the map's other landmasses, which Cueball deems misleading. Of course, this is absurd for an argument against the Mercator projection, as any projection of a map of the same size would be erroneous by Cueball's argument. Any world map that doesn't suffer from this distortion would have to be the size of the Earth's surface, which would make it useless.{{Citation needed}} | |
− | + | The title text is about the fact that a horizontal line on a worldwide Mercator projection corresponds to a line of latitude. Most lines of latitude are thousands of miles (kilometers) long, but they become smaller and smaller approaching the poles, and in fact there ''is'' a line of latitude in a small-diameter circle around each pole whose length would equal the width of the map that Cueball is looking at. If Cueball's map were 1 m wide, then this line of latitude would be at 89.999998568° N or S - that is, the line of latitude there would be one circle for each of the poles with a circumference of 1 m. | |
− | + | A map at a scale of 1:1 was discussed in Lewis Carroll's "Sylvie and Bruno Concluded": | |
− | "Have you used it much?" I enquired. | + | ''"That's another thing we've learned from your Nation," said Mein Herr, "map-making. But we've carried it much further than you. What do you consider the largest map that would be really useful?"''<br> |
+ | ''"About six inches to the mile."''<br> | ||
+ | ''"Only six inches!" exclaimed Mein Herr. "We very soon got to six yards to the mile. Then we tried a hundred yards to the mile. And then came the grandest idea of all! We actually made a map of the country, on the scale of a mile to the mile!"''<br> | ||
+ | ''"Have you used it much?" I enquired.''<br> | ||
+ | ''"It has never been spread out, yet," said Mein Herr: "the farmers objected: they said it would cover the whole country, and shut out the sunlight! So we now use the country itself, as its own map, and I assure you it does nearly as well.'' | ||
− | + | Mercator projections have been mentioned previously in [[977: Map Projections]], [[2082: Mercator Projection]], and [[2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator]]. | |
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− | Mercator projections have been mentioned previously in [[977: Map Projections]], [[2082: Mercator Projection]], and [[2613: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
+ | {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | ||
:[Cueball and White Hat are looking at a world map on the wall showing a Mercator projection, with Cueball gesturing with his hand towards the map.] | :[Cueball and White Hat are looking at a world map on the wall showing a Mercator projection, with Cueball gesturing with his hand towards the map.] |