This, in turn, means that any probe sent out to look at other planets will stay in this plane as well, to go elsewhere would be a complete waste of fuel. Not really all the planets spin around their own axis and orbit around the sun about roughly the same axis (except for some particular exceptions, like Neptune’s spin.) This means that all the planets lie roughly on a flat plane. So, the latitude at the top of the map can be found by subsituting : If we want the map to form a perfect square, then will also go between and. The longitude ( ) ranges between -180° and 180°, which is in radians. The Mercator projection transforms a latitude and longitude into coordinates on the page like so: Google had to make a compromise, and they chose to ignore the top and bottom 5° of the planet.īonus mathematics: Where does 85.0511° come from? If you choose to crop your world map to a perfect square, you end up missing the world north of 85°N and south of 85°S.Īny map projection will always have some disadvantages like those listed above for example it is impossible to create a projection that is both conformal and completely represents the entire planet in a finite page or computer screen. Some latitudes near the north and south pole are missing.For example, the size of Greenland is quite exaggerated. It is not an equal-area projection, which means countries that are the same area in real life will not necessarily appear to have the same area on the map.There are also some disadvantages to the Mercator projection: This property is the reason why the lines of latitude are spaced out the way that they are for example, any zoomed-in view of places close to the poles would be terribly distorted if evenly-spaced lines of latitude were used. The Mercator projection is conformal - this means that when you zoom into the map, the view doesn’t become distorted.No matter where you are on the map, true north is always directly up the page.For example, the Mercator projection, which is the one used by Google maps, has the following advantages: Each have their own advantages and disadvantages.
#GOOGLE EARTH ANTARCTICA SKIN#
It’s just like trying to peel the skin of an orange and press it flat on the table - it’s impossible to do without ripping.Ĭartographers use many different techniques, called map projections, to project the three-dimensional world to a two-dimensional screen or page. So why did Google choose to space the latitude lines so unevenly? In short, when you take the three-dimensional, spherical surface of the earth and try to distort it onto a two-dimensional computer screen, you inevitably end up having to make compromises.
You’ll never find 90°N, it’s an infinite distance away! Also notice how 86°N appears off the top of the map, along with 87, 88 and 89. Try zooming in, and notice how the lines get very spaced out near the top and bottom of the map. Please view this post on RTT, or enable javascript.
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