What your favorite map projection says about you

[krispos42]

:D

[MineralMan]

1. I'm a globe guy. I relate all projections to it.

Beyond that, I don't care what projection I'm looking at. All can be easily related to the globe by anyone who has studied a globe map. :shrug:

[Speck Tater]

2. Dymaxion all the way. I've loved it since I read Bucky Fuller's first book 50 years ago. nt

[Scuba]

3. Robinson - to help appreciate the vastness of the oceans...

...saw this earlier. Not surprised to see it here.

[jberryhill]

4. Globe. Or Google Earth.

[snagglepuss]

5. I had no idea there were so many and I never knew the name Goode Homolosine

Nice to know. I don't at all understand the reasoning behind Pierce Quincunial.

[Martin Eden]

6. 2-dimensional representations of a 3-dimensionsl world

Dymaxion & Waterman Butterfly most accurately display the land masses in proportion and shape and are the only ones that don't slice and dice Antarctica, but what happens to a ship when it sails into the gap of nothingness between South America and Africa? (same goes for Goode Homolosine)

I can see only 2 full continents on that globe, and can't see all of Alaska any better than Sarah Palin can see Russia from her house.

The rectangular/square maps greatly distort, so I have to go with Robinson over Winkel-Tripel for general usage because the personality profile fits me better (except I wear hiking boots everywhere instead of running shoes).

I feel like a bit of a turncoat because I studied design at Southern Illinois University in the program Bucky Fuller founded, and actually attended his lecture at SIU a year or two before he departed Spaceship Earth.

If I had to choose hanging one of these maps on my wall I'd go with Dymaxion, though I must admit the Waterman Butterfly (which I'd never seen before) is way cool.

[hootinholler]

7. XKCD? n/t

[ThoughtCriminal]

9. Todays

http://xkcd.com/977/

[hootinholler]

11. I love that strip and forget to go there daily

As a programmer who has wrestled with projections in GIS systems I have a professional appreciation of these more esoteric ones.

I will say that polar projections are generally easier to deal with when measuring distances.

[ThoughtCriminal]

8. Equirectangular

I prefer it because it is easier to convert to any other format. I spent quite a few years writing cartography software.

[krispos42]

10. The range of responses here in this thread impresses me

If I had posted this in Freeperville, I don't think I would have gotten much beyond "see, the Earth IS flat!"

:rofl:

[pokerfan]

12. I conducted a poll

a couple of years ago:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=228&topic_id=50778&mesg_id=50778

[Tyrs WolfDaemon]

13. Unless your mapping system is life size

(as in 1' : 1' ) then you will not appreciate the beauty of what you are looking at.

Unfortunately, we do not have paper/printer to truly print such a map.

I'll accept the Orthographic projections for now.