Comment by enriquto
7 years ago
The maps on the page are not Mercator, but what's the problem with Mercator? It is a perfectly reasonable projection, with some nice properties.
7 years ago
The maps on the page are not Mercator, but what's the problem with Mercator? It is a perfectly reasonable projection, with some nice properties.
Ideally they'd show a map with a projection based on having the line drawn on it as a straight horizontal or vertical line in the middle of the map. So basically, a Mercator projection with the line being illustrated as its 'equator'.
That would require a custom rendering for each line though.
I like this idea, and they're not in the paper. (The paper shows a globe rotated so the paths are straight, but not a flat mercator projected map).
It should be possible to make one with this tool: http://mrgris.com/projects/merc-extreme/
They have these illustrations in the paper. https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.07389
Given the length of the line over water, that would be a somewhat bizarre map.
See page 9/10 of the source paper.
A single map using that projection calls a lot of attention to the quirks of projecting a sphere onto a plane. A different projection or multiple maps centered on segments of the line would call attention to the straight path you'd take as you graze landmasses.