The UK is even smaller than we think

TehBluebear said:
Might have been too complex to move country outlines with a drag as it recalculates the size of the outline depending on where in the world it is. You can see it 'refreshing' the outline when you move it using the arrows.
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Outlines - not a problem...
http://bramus.github.io/mercator-puzzle-redux/

(based on the original https://gmaps-samples.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/poly/puzzledrag.html )

The source is available so a draggable version of any country should be simple enough...
 
I have also read that the the depictions of the planet are incorrect. It is wider at the equator than the poles. Is that true? ie its not a perfect sphere but an oval sphere.

This is meant to be real world map to scale,

http://www.viewsoftheworld.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/worldmapper_basefuller.jpg and this http://livelearnevolve.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/peters-projection-comparison-world-map.jpg


http://cartography-huber.com/p42/know-how-solutions-and-products/the-peters-world-map
 
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The West Wing covered this quite well in one of their episodes about the Big Block of Cheese day (google that).


Great show :D
 
Globe.jpg
 
anything I don't mind said:
I have also read that the the depictions of the planet are incorrect. It is wider at the equator than the poles. Is that true? ie its not a perfect sphere but an oval sphere.

This is meant to be real world map to scale,

http://www.viewsoftheworld.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/worldmapper_basefuller.jpg and this http://livelearnevolve.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/peters-projection-comparison-world-map.jpg


http://cartography-huber.com/p42/know-how-solutions-and-products/the-peters-world-map
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Yeah that puts my point forward a bit better really. Look at uganda then the UK. Uganda looks tiny but in reality its uk size its just our maps lie. The tool i linked was just an aside. Even with map scaling in our favour we are tiny
 
aslco said:
It's strange to think that it takes 3 hours to drive from south west wales to north east wales, yet how small it is!
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That's because there's no decent motorways to the north. They're too busy molesting sheep up there ;)

Seriously though, I'm sure if you made the trip the average speed would be around 30mph.
 
What is the point in these weird projections anyway? Why not just make a map with every country the correct size in relation to other countries? I mean, Greenland on that particular map looks absolutely massive compared to Australia, but in reality the latter is three and a half times larger... I'm sure there's a simple answer but I'm too tired to think. :p
 
G-MAN2004 said:
What is the point in these weird projections anyway? Why not just make a map with every country the correct size in relation to other countries? I mean, Greenland on that particular map looks absolutely massive compared to Australia, but in reality the latter is three and a half times larger... I'm sure there's a simple answer but I'm too tired to think. :p
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Yes... you can't take a spherical surface and project it on to a flat surface without some kind of compromise.
Mercator can be better for navigation I believe because the lines are straight, i.e. north is up, south is down, west is left, east is right

If you make the area correct then you get some other distortion instead

here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_map_projections
 
aslco said:
As some of you may be aware, the UK never looks quite as small as it actually is on maps because of the Mercator projection, the fact we're a weird shape and the fact that we're centrally placed.

This website is pretty cool for comparing other countries with us and giving perspective, but i still think it has the Mercator projection problem. For instance, i don't think many would realise metropolitan France is over twice the land area of the UK, and if we were an African country, we'd be about the size of uganda (UK is 244,000 KM2 and Uganda is 241,038 km2)

It's strange to think that it takes 3 hours to drive from south west wales to north east wales, yet how small it is!
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it takes 7/8 hours to drive to lake district! :(
 
EVH said:
That's because there's no decent motorways to the north. They're too busy molesting sheep up there ;)

Seriously though, I'm sure if you made the trip the average speed would be around 30mph.
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Yeah I made the mistake one holiday to go from Anglesey the secnic way down through Wales to our next stop in cornwall. I should have left Wales and zoomed down the motorway but thought the scenic route on holiday would be fine.

It was awful. Once you had seen one green hill, the novely wore off. The end result it took us 14 hrs to reach cornwall and we didnt land at the hotel until 11pm. I could have driven back home to Yorkshire and back down to Cornwall in less time that took.

ALl hills and bends. Yuk.
 
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