this post was submitted on 20 May 2024
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Geography

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Geography is just physics slowed down, with a couple of trees stuck in it. - Terry Pratchett



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Geography is the study of places and the relationships between people and their environments. Geographers explore both the physical properties of Earth’s surface and the human societies spread across it. They also examine how human culture interacts with the natural environment and the way that locations and places can have an impact on people. Geography seeks to understand where things are found, why they are there, and how they develop and change over time. Read more...

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top 16 comments
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[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 months ago (1 children)

All those countries are in-continent.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

Except for the one with Europe. It's semi-continent in-continent

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

www.thetruesize.com is a fun interactive website for seeing how Mercator maps lie.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago (2 children)

What's your preferred projection?

To say that Mercator "lies" is to misrepresent the complications of projecting a 3 dimensional object onto a 2 dimensional surface. All projections "lie" in this sense because they're simplifications of reality - that's what a map is.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

this video is based on the comic: it's an animation on how each projection would change when shifted.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

A globe, Apple Maps, or Google Earth

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Yes, you're very clever.

This isn't an answer, it's a dodge.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago

Mercator is the most accessible paper map. The Authagraph is the most accurate due to low distortion. It’s not listed in the comic, and can be confusing to use as a learning tool.

The real question is why are you so committed to flat maps in the digital age? I don’t even understand why Google Maps doesn’t correct to a spheroid when zoomed out like Apple Maps, requiring users to download Google Earth for accurate representation of land mass size comparison.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I think the contiguous US like in the picture is more like 8m km² isn't it? 9.8 must be counting Alaska, Hawaii and maybe the territories.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

I don't like that Russia looks like they just took a Mercator projection and shrank to scale. Because of its shape and location, Russia is especially distorted by the Equatorial-centred Mercator.

Also what's with the "excluding Russia" footnote?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Europe without the part of russia that lies on the continent.

But true, Russia at the equator looks like this:

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

A galloping sheep.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Ah, I see. It's Europe *

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

As opposed to the False Size of Africa

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Literally what the Mercator projection is

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

I mean, it's a continent