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Thread: Clever way to demonstrate map deformation

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    Software Dev/Rep Hai-Etlik's Avatar
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    Mercator is not a compromise projection, it's a conformal projection, and it does not preserve straight lines, it preserves lines of constant bearing; the projection which preserves straight lines is Gnomonic. Also the head thing is problematic is it really only shows how much a given projection resembles the projection you started with; the inverse distortion of that original projection is "built in" to all the others. Tissot's Indicatrix is probably the best visualization of distortion in map projections, you can see it on most Wikipedia pages about projections.

    Compromise projections are about balancing out between area and shape distortion, and in spreading the distortion more evenly. Winkel Tripel and Robinson are Compromise/Hybrid projections.

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    I have to comment that nothing else disproves the flat earth theory like the complexity of all the different global projections.

    I do enjoy reading topics on the projections but it is always why I never draw my worlds entirely, just parts of them. Because at least then if I ever wanted to map the entire planet, my "known world" would only be a small part and wouldn't need to be horribly compromised to fit the global map.

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    Guild Member Facebook Connected Thorf's Avatar
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    Here's an even better way to demonstrate projections.

    Map Projection Transitions

    You can pause the animation and drag the map around, changing the centre point of the projection freely.

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