Really crazy how the gnomonic map projection, a cartography uniquely suited to the great-circle navigation that very modern conveyances like airliners use, is the oldest known map projection, discovered by Thales in the sixth century BC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnomonic_projection

Image is a gnomonic map of much of the northern hemisphere from 1943, with a helpful explanation of how it all works.

#cartography #maps #mapprojections #thoughts #history

Also, from an aesthetic point of view, I kinda dislike that the continents in the Lee–Concialdi projection are smushed at the bottom of the map leaving the top third with the vast empty Pacific. Feels just a bit imbalanced to me. 🤷

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#MapProjections

For me, the Lee–Concialdi eliminates two major problems I have with the Cahill–Concialdi: (1) Antarctica is halved and way overinflated, and (2) the Bering Strait is split (not a problem with the Dymaxion).

On the other hand it does introduce new problems: (1) because it is tetrahedral instead of octahedral like the Cahill, the area inflations are much larger, and (2) the math is much harder to figure out unlike the Cahill whose octants I fully understand the maths of.

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#MapProjections

I recently learned about the Lee–Concialdi projection from Tobias Jung’s blog post: https://blog.map-projections.net/second-serving-two-more-lee-variants

It’s basically a variation of the conformal tetrahedral projection that L. P. Lee developed in 1965*, but rearranged in such a way to avoid interrupting or grossly inflating major landmasses.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_conformal_world_in_a_tetrahedron

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#MapProjections

For today’s #MappyMondays, I’ll talk about what is probably my now second-most favorite map projection: the “Lee conformal tetrahedral projection – Concialdi rearrangement” aka the Lee–Concialdi projection. 🗺️

This projection was announced in 2020 by Luca Concialdi, the same person behind the Cahill—Concialdi bat map projection that is my current favorite. With the Lee variant projection, it shows that Luca’s preferences for good projections really aligns with my own!

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Get a load of this map of how much of humanity is in your personal hemisphere. Kinda impressive how remote my abode, the United States, is compared to most other countries. Guess us Americans just get used to the idea of flying nearly-antipodal distances to reach most people. Hmm.

#maps #mapprojections #demography #geography #population #thoughts #self #travel #demographics

XKCD's take on what your favorite map projection says about you. As someone who likes the Dymaxion projection, it's just too accurate for comfort...

#maps #cartography #thoughts #mapprojections

My thoughts wander cartographically, from gnomonic projections to prime meridians to the land and water hemispheres.

Read more at my #blog: https://www.adamasnemesis.com/2023/04/22/more-fun-with-cartography/

This post's featured image is a 1657 map by Jan Janssonius.

#cartography #geography #geometry #primemeridian #maps #mapprojections #gnomonicprojection #greatcircles #greatcirclenavigation #greatcircleroutes #landhemisphere #waterhemisphere #demography

Maybe because it has a certain antique charm to it, like some steampunk artifact that wouldn't look out of place on a circular locket or as the backdrop of a pocket watch. Helps that it was invented in 1898 and was used for a long time by the National Geographic Society. 🙂

#maps #mapprojections #cartography #thoughts #steampunk #history

Don't know why, but the more I see the Van der Grinten projection the more it grows on me. Sure, it's only a modest improvement on the Mercator, greatly inflating landmasses near the poles, but you can see the poles really well, and the perfectly circular shape of the map is 😍.

#maps #mapprojections #cartography #thoughts

Mercator? Robinson? Winkel tripel? Think bigger! There's a whole universe of map projections out there: Kavrayskiy, Dymaxion, and more.

Read a few thoughts at my #blog: https://www.adamasnemesis.com/2023/04/06/of-map-projections-obscure/

This post's featured image is Edward Arthur Walton's "John George Bartholomew" (1911).

#maps #mapprojections #cartography #geography #worldbuilding