The times they are a-changing

[marcus]

I came across this web page this evening:

http://scansnap.fujitsu.com

What got me thinking was the map. I was trying to click on my area and couldn't find the UK. There were a few moments of confusion before I realised that they have put the Pacific rim in the middle and the poor old UK is right off up at the top left. Maybe I've led a sheltered life, but I've never actually seen that on a map of the world before. Of course the only reason the UK and Europe are usually in the middle is because we were in control when the maps were all being made....

Fair enough, the Pacific rim is where the action is now. Not a totally comfortable feeling though, being on the edge when you're used to being in the middle. Interesting times....

 

[hazel]

if you really want your mind blown look up the Peters Projection World Map it shows the land masses at an acurate size rather than having the poles being enlarged and so the continents being distorted as the Mercator Projection does

 

[maltrout512]

Small we are. If you think times they are a-changing, have a quick look here,

http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

 

[Nippychippy]

I came across this web page this evening:

http://scansnap.fujitsu.com

What got me thinking was the map. I was trying to click on my area and couldn't find the UK. There were a few moments of confusion before I realised that they have put the Pacific rim in the middle and the poor old UK is right off up at the top left. Maybe I've led a sheltered life, but I've never actually seen that on a map of the world before. Of course the only reason the UK and Europe are usually in the middle is because we were in control when the maps were all being made....

Fair enough, the Pacific rim is where the action is now. Not a totally comfortable feeling though, being on the edge when you're used to being in the middle. Interesting times....

Sorry Marcus I don't get the link

 

[Mike.S]

I've seen the map a few times (seems more popular in the USA) but it's unusual and defies the 'norm' e.g. Longitude is 0 degrees at Greenwich, London, so makes sense to have UK in the middle; also, discussions of a geo-political nature refer to 'West versus East' and people (and a compass) are accustomed to the West being on the left and East on the right - the opposite of that map.

 

[bugbear]

if you really want your mind blown look up the Peters Projection World Map it shows the land masses at an acurate size rather than having the poles being enlarged and so the continents being distorted as the Mercator Projection does

All projections of a sphere to a plane distort - it's just a matter of chooshing which distortions are more (or less) acceptable.

Mercator preserves angles, which makes it excellent for navigation.

BugBear

 

[Jinx]

Not having thought about it before I thought that we were in the middle as we are looking at the world from our perspective. But if you were in China for example, then China would be in the middle and so on, is that not the case then? Jinx

 

[ChrisR]

But surely the UK are just very small islands, most of us realise this, except politicians, who think they are in control of a greater part of the world, and therefore have to support it.

They all suffer from, delusions of grandeur .

Take care.

Chris R.

 

[hazel]

if you really want your mind blown look up the Peters Projection World Map it shows the land masses at an acurate size rather than having the poles being enlarged and so the continents being distorted as the Mercator Projection does

All projections of a sphere to a plane distort - it's just a matter of chooshing which distortions are more (or less) acceptable.

Mercator preserves angles, which makes it excellent for navigation.

BugBear

oh I am aware of that. Just amusing to see peoples reactions when they look at the other projections, and the peters one is an easy one to find

 

[AndyMenz]

I've seen the map a few times (seems more popular in the USA) but it's unusual and defies the 'norm' e.g. Longitude is 0 degrees at Greenwich, London, so makes sense to have UK in the middle; also, discussions of a geo-political nature refer to 'West versus East' and people (and a compass) are accustomed to the West being on the left and East on the right - the opposite of that map.

Exactly. I often wondered about this, and wanted to know how prolific these kinds of maps are in the States and else where. I assume that each country has themselves at the centre, and that ofcourse makes complete sense, to have your own environment in the middle. But is this map (the UK map that is) common at all outside Europe? Is the map with America in the centre, more common in - for example - Asia, than the Europe-centric one? With the American-centered mindset today, I wouldn't be surprised. America is seen as a dream for many people still.

But then I think of the terms 'East' and 'West' and see that it would be much more confusing to change the map while we still use these terms, than to use terms that don't correspond to the map. Therefore I imagine it will stay as it is.

But yes I agree, it is strange seeing that map. It really does look like we could just fall off the edge at any moment. I guess this is how New Zealand feels most of the time ...

 

[Jacob]

People who find this map strange are people who haven't spent much time looking at maps. Presumably they have rarely flipped through an atlas of the world. That's all there is to it.

 

[marcus]

The poor chap can't help himself, it just burbles out.

 

[heatherw]

Well, when I was in Japan they had Japan in the middle of the map, ditto India and China. I know that the USA has itself in the middle of the map, you only have to look at the default page of Google Earth. Makes sense, you can't plan routes well if you have to keep jumping from one edge to the other.

I'm pretty sure that Australia and New Zealand also have their maps with Asia in the middle :mrgreen: and why not indeed?

http://flourish.org/upsidedownmap/

 

[Sandybay]

The UK not in the centre!!!!

You'll be telling me next that the sun doesn't go round the Earth.

 

[bugbear]

The UK not in the centre!!!!

You'll be telling me next that the sun doesn't go round the Earth.

Robert Sungenis says exactly that:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sun ... eocentrism

Another "lone voice of truth"

BugBear

 

[RossJarvis]

The UK not in the centre!!!!

You'll be telling me next that the sun doesn't go round the Earth.

What do you mean, go round the Earth, are you one of those new-fangled round earthers? :roll: Of course the sun doesn't go round the earth. It moves over the earth from East to West, then it sinks into the sea and swims back to the East, then it comes up out of the water and starts again. :deer

 

[AES]

I don't know if they still do it but a few years ago the Finnish airline Finnar used to publish a map showing that the "quickest" way to get to Japan (for example) was to fly Finnair via Helsinki. That was a strange looking map unless, as Jacob says - blimey, I'm agreeing with him (note to self - BE CAREFUL!) - you look at an Atlas. The Mercator Projection (the way most of us are familar with looking at maps) is just one of many ways of "projecting" a bit of a ball onto a flat sheet of paper (map).

BTW, if it helps the OP, that Fuji ScanSnap mentioned is the absolute bees knees in portable scanners - there's an old saying in my business (aviation) that the job's not done until the weight of paper at least equals the max allowable take-off weight of the aeroplane - i.e. there's a LOT of paper involved, often widely differing in size, legibility, and cleanliness (the "job cards" from aircraft maintenance work aren't called "the dirty finger prints" for nothing"!). The Scan Snap eats the lot with VERY few mistakes or failures, single- or double-sided, does it quickly, and bungs it all into a sequential .jpg file on your PC/laptop automatically. Marvellous bit of kit and everyone I know in my business has one.

Highly recommended (usual disclaimers).

Krgds
AES

 

[marcus]

You'll be telling me next that the sun doesn't go round the Earth.

Well if you put your imaginary centre (which you have to place somewhere to envisage the problem at all) on the Earth, then the sun indeed does go round the earth. Put it elsewhere and it doesn't. It's entirely a matter of point of view (in the literal sense).

Regarding my original post, just to be clear I don't think I have a particularly anglo-centric view of the world, although my background and education were certainly skewed that way, as were those of many other British people, as an inevitable result of our history. So I suppose my response was to do with the strength which that early conditioning still has — how hard it is to escape it altogether, no matter how much you may think you have left it behind. On seeing the world represented that way there was this quite genuine moment of complete confusion and disorientation (and worry!) which interested me.

Obviously this type of projection is more common now. I haven't travelled out of the UK much for quite a long time, but I travelled a fair bit before that, and personally I haven't come across it before, is all.

 

[wellywood]

If you look at an Australian produced atlas they start off with the Lucky Country and Godzone (that's Aussie and NZ to you guys ) at the front and you have to go to the back to find little old UK and Europe.

One time I visited a manufacturer in the US for who were NZ distributors. On the wall of the CEO's office was a world map which showed everything all the way down to Australia and stopped there. I pointed this out and was told NZ had been cut off because the wall was too small to take the entire sheet.