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Jan 24, 2015 · The path on your map is strongly curved because your map uses a projection with lots of distortion. (The distortion grows without bound towards the poles and this path is getting close to the north pole.) Edit. The distortion is necessary to explain the curvature of this geodesic on the map but the connection between them is subtle.
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It’s impossible to flatten the Earth without distorting it in some fashion. Consider an orange peel: if you want to try and lay it flat, you have to stretch it, squash it, and tear it. Likewise with the Earth—if we want to make a map, we need to distort the Earth’s surface to flatten it. The good news is that map projections allow us to distort sys...
We often talk about map projections in terms of the ways in which they distort or preserve certain things about the Earth, which we call projection properties. There are four main properties:
Since there are so very many projections, the question becomes: which one should you use? As you may imagine, the fact that there are so many means there is no “best” projection. Each has advantages and disadvantages and is better suited to certain situations. Here are some questions to ask yourself when choosing a projection: Is there any specific...
Once you know what projection you’re going to be using, there’s one final step. As we discussed above, each projection has places where distortion is worse, and places where it is not too bad. Fortunately, we get to pick the place where distortions are minimal when we’re setting up a projection. This means we can always make sure that the subject o...
There is never a single “right answer” when choosing a map projections; the best choices depend on weighing all the factors described above. However, there are few facts and rules of thumb that can help narrow your choices. If you’re working with web maps, you will often have no choice but Mercator. Be aware that this projection is widely considere...
A map projection is a mathematically described technique of how to represent the Earth’s curved surface on a flat map. To represent parts of the surface of the Earth on a flat paper map or on a computer screen, the curved horizontal reference surface must be mapped onto the 2D mapping plane.
The Mercator projection in normal aspect maps trajectories of constant bearing (called rhumb lines or loxodromes) on a sphere to straight lines on the map, and is thus uniquely suited to marine navigation: courses and bearings are measured using a compass rose or protractor, and the corresponding directions are easily transferred from point to point, on the map, e.g. with the help of a ...
In cartography, a map projection is any of a broad set of transformations employed to represent the curved two-dimensional surface of a globe on a plane. [1][2][3] In a map projection, coordinates, often expressed as latitude and longitude, of locations from the surface of the globe are transformed to coordinates on a plane. [4][5] Projection ...
Sep 24, 2014 · While it is true you would actually walk in a curve, on a Google Map which uses what is called a Mercator projection, the line would actually be straight. This is because the projection Google uses stretches the latitude (y-axis) to make travelling in a straight line appear as a straight line on a map. Travelling in one direction on a globe.
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Any path across Earth that follows a constant compass bearing is called a rhumb line, or loxodrome. Any straight line drawn on a map based on a Mercator projection is a rhumb line. Rhumb lines and loxodromes facilitate navigation, as navigators prefer to follow a straight-line route on the map and set their compass direction accordingly.
