this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2023
770 points (97.0% liked)

Memes

45535 readers
1113 users here now

Rules:

  1. Be civil and nice.
  2. Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Crazy how much more of the world is closer to Georgia than Georgia

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Nah, exactly 50% "of the world" is closer to Georgia than Georgia because the dividing line forms two perfect hemispheres. It just doesn't seem like it because more of the world's land area is closer to Georgia.

The fact that the map fails to color in the oceans doesn't help, of course.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well no, Georgia is bigger than Georgia so slightly more of the world is closer to Georgia than Georgia. If we were to shrink both Georgia and Georgia, the two regions would approach perfect hemispheres as Georgia and Georgia both approach a single point.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is it because of the Mercator projection?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'm just as annoyed by the overuse of the Mercator projection as the next guy, but no, I don't think we can blame it in this particular instance. Consider the similar case of a day/night map, which pretty clearly reads as 50/50 even when it's Mercator:

day/night map using Mercator projection

(Upon further scrutiny comparing these two maps, I think the missing Antarctica might be a factor too.)

Also, relevant XKCD.

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

That day/night map is not Mercator though

(Nor is the map in OP)

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

My argument applies to any cylindrical projection.