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Google Maps is no longer a flat map

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Re: Google Maps is no longer a flat map

#71

Post by euyyn »

rspeer wrote: post #51
sigmar wrote: post #7

>On flat maps, it’s impossible to represent land mass size on a relative scale. This isn't right. It is impossible to represent both relative position and relative size accurately. Gall-Peters and other equal-area projections accurately represent relative sizes.

There are cartographically reasonable equal-area or nearly-equal-area projections. Why are we still talking about Gall-Peters? Peters was a charlatan who knew very little geography (he didn't even want to give credit to the geographer who discovered his map), and the Gall-Peters projection is Mercator for old-school hippies who think they can promote equality by making Africa taller.

Expand?

Re: Google Maps is no longer a flat map

#72

Post by LeoPanthera »

astrodust wrote: post #8
Bud wrote: post #4

"On flat maps, it’s impossible to represent land mass size on a relative scale." Um, no it's not. TechCrunch needs better editors. You just need to use a non-Mercator projection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall%E2%80%93Peters_projection

You can represent size or shape correctly, not both. Anyone who uses the Gall-Peters projection is a cop.

> You can represent size or shape correctly, not both.

You can if you don't mind having a non-rectangular map border.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_map

Re: Google Maps is no longer a flat map

#73

Post by dmortin »

rococode wrote: post #54
martijn_himself wrote: post #46

Google Maps must be one of the modern wonders of the world, it's still nothing short of breathtaking to zoom out of streetview in crowded London and then land somewhere on a country crossroads in remote Vietnam.

And once you land on those country crossroads, you can continue exploring the area at the street level. It's really an incredible tool for sating wanderlust - just pop over to some place you've wanted to visit and wander the streets via streetview, all from the comfort of your seat! Speaking of which, GeoGuessr [1] is a great example of how to enjoy Google Maps. You start at some random streetview and try to figure o…

As far as I know google street view costs money from this month, and it's not exactly cheap, $14 for a thousand streetviews:

https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/pricing/sheet/

I wonder if this tool stays free, lots of site owners are complaining about paying much more with the new pricing.

Re: Google Maps is no longer a flat map

#76

Post by mrb »

nikofeyn wrote: post #33
Bud wrote: post #4

"On flat maps, it’s impossible to represent land mass size on a relative scale." Um, no it's not. TechCrunch needs better editors. You just need to use a non-Mercator projection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall%E2%80%93Peters_projection

it's a theorem of differential geometry that we cannot have a (perfectly) accurate 2d map of the earth.

The author of TFA didn't write "perfectly accurate" but "land mass size on a relative scale". Bud is correct.

Re: Google Maps is no longer a flat map

#77

Post by 52-6F-62 »

cma wrote: post #75
martijn_himself wrote: post #46

Google Maps must be one of the modern wonders of the world, it's still nothing short of breathtaking to zoom out of streetview in crowded London and then land somewhere on a country crossroads in remote Vietnam.

Google Earth VR is mindblowing.

Was going to make the same comment. I was pretty stunned by it.

Re: Google Maps is no longer a flat map

#78

Post by elboru »

martijn_himself wrote: post #46

Google Maps must be one of the modern wonders of the world, it's still nothing short of breathtaking to zoom out of streetview in crowded London and then land somewhere on a country crossroads in remote Vietnam.

I count with one hand all the technologies that have blown my mind: discovering the electronic parts of my toys, playing a NES game in my friend's PC, my first contact with the internet, the first iPhone. But discovering Google Earth was a really special one, suddenly I was able to explore every street in the world, I was able to look at my house (in a small city in a developing country). Then I started imagining all the possibilities, also my conspiracy side kicked in, I mean, I as a teenager with a Celeron PC was able to look at any place I wanted in the world, then what kind of secret technologies could a big government have?? Good old days, I hope technology will keep blowing my mind in the near future.

Re: Google Maps is no longer a flat map

#79

Post by dang »

jensvdh wrote: post #47
Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you! I'm actually quite annoyed that Google took away the visible option to disabled the 3D aerial view. It's such a resource hog, and my work's internet is often quite slow, and 3D has far more data to retrieve.

People like you are the reason we need to support IE6

No personal attacks on HN, please.

Re: Google Maps is no longer a flat map

#80

Post by euyyn »

brandonhorst wrote: post #30
bla2 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get what you're saying, but I'm not sure if planning trips to the other side of the globe qualifies as "daily use" either :-) I think it's neat to see that the route is along a great circle -- that wasn't clear at all before this change.

Unfortunately, the line drawing doesn't make this as cool as it could be. The line representing the flight from BOS to PEK is drawn due west, as would look natural on a 2D map. The real flight (and shortest route) heads north and passes near the north pole. Hope they can update this, which would make international flights seem even more impressive than they already do.

Yeah, ugh. https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Boston,+MA/Beijing,+China/@6...
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