How big ?

[Bryn]

Shows just how big 'down under' really is

 

[SamD]

Shows the big problem with the Mercator projection as a way to represent a flat map of the world

 

[Bryn]

Shows the big problem with the Mercator projection as a way to represent a flat map of the world

Can you repeat that in English

 

[SamD]

Can you repeat that in English

The way that we normally represent the (spherical) globe as a rectangular image is to use a "projection". The one used by most maps that we are familiar with is the Mercator projection. It broadly maps the spherical world to a cylinder which can be "unrolled" as a rectangular image. The biggest issue with this projection is that it distorts the size of areas of the globe that are far from the equator.

The classic example of this is Greenland. On your average Mercator projected map Greenland looks to have the same landmass approximately as Africa. The reality is that Africa has 14 times the landmass of Greenland.

There are other projections that don't suffer from this problem quite as much - for example Sinusoidal projections, but these don't "unroll" to a nice convenient rectangle , an example is below:

You can see from that picture that the real area of a landmass is much more realistically shown.

</mapgeek>

 

[Bryn]

Does that mean that the original picture is a LOB then

 

[SamD]

Does that mean that the original picture is a LOB then

No, that it's a surprising picture shows how distorted most maps are

 

[Bryn]

 

[DavidHale]

That's impressive!

 

[ExpatinIstanbul]

But there are more countries in Europe now, so it's bigger.

 

[Bryn]

But there are more countries in Europe now, so it's bigger.

Just move it across to the left a bit then

 

[ExpatinIstanbul]

Just move it across to the left a bit then

Half of Italy and all of Scotland would be in the sea then.........not a huge loss admittedly.

 

[SeanC]

And THIS is Africa!

 

[Bryn]

Big place then

 

[SeanC]

A fact which our "geographically challenged" 'Merkin cousins seem unable to grasp......

 

[AberdeenAngus]

Wasn't there some senior Merkin that made passing reference to the 'President of Africa' on an interview ?
...and no, I don't think they meant to say S.Africa.





I can vouch for how mind bogglingly big Oz is.
I once spent 2 days driving across a farm.
They use helicopters for the round-up

 

[SeanC]

Spent some time with the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
Met a lovely old lady out in "the bush" who said she was so upset that her kids din't want to carry on farming their sheep station and it was too big for her and her husband.

"How big is it?" I said

"Around "200,000 acres" she replied. "So we have had to sell up."

"That's a shame." I said.

"Ah, no worries" she said. "My man and I have bought a little place nearer to Sydney just for the two of us."

"How big is that" I said

"Only about 20,000 acres!".....

They are a "special" kind of people!

 

[flytoolow]

Similar to the above..

A long time ago I spent about 2 months touring Canada, and one evening met a fellow traveler in the youth hostel in BC.

"Where've you come from ? " he asked..

"England, then Toronto...and a train here" I replied..

"...Ah Ontario...Im not allowed to go there anymore..."

"Why not...Its a great place.." I asked..

"..Almost got caught growing some weed...Ill have 20 years if I ever return there..."

"..Oh really...How much weed..?..." (Me ...Expecting 2 or 3 plants... )

" ..about 3000 acres...The DEA flew over it by accident one day..."

 

[ExpatinIstanbul]

Back to Australia. On internal flights, do they bother with the life jacket demonstration?

 

[AberdeenAngus]

Back to Australia. On internal flights, do they bother with the life jacket demonstration?

Nope, nor do they in many places round the world.

 

[Decster]

Back to Australia. On internal flights, do they bother with the life jacket demonstration?

they do over Queensland now