Live data from Hacker News

Folding Paper Globes

foldingglobes.com

11–20 of 45 posts

Re: Folding Paper Globes

#11
Neat! There's a notable omission though--none of the earth globes look like earth does from space, with true color* AND clouds. A while ago I got really into making paper globes because I wanted one like that and I couldn't find one I liked. I asked Claude to write a script to generate a net out of this: https://web.archive.org/web/20250316112538/https://visibleea... Instead of an isocahedron, I used gores like a real globe. This approximates a sphere using intersecting cylindrical surfaces (not sure what the term for that solid is!) I made a bunch but usually they came out pretty lumpy, here's the best one: https://imgur.com/a/eikGrTW

*Edit: I also couldn't find a good point of reference for what "true color Earth" even looks like. Different photos/satellites seem to have notably different color calibration, just google "blue marble" and you'll see. And this isn't even getting into the weeds about atmospheric effects, which appear strongest near the limb... obviously there's no way to replicate that on a globe!

Re: Folding Paper Globes

#16
post #15

Try interrupted sinusoidal, ot will be less edgy. https://www.jasondavies.com/maps/interrupted-sinusoidal/ This is a beautiful site. Don't miss it if you haven't been there before

TFA has the option to do the same thing. Default TFA page shows the free option. The less edgy options are for not free but available.

Re: Folding Paper Globes

#17
post #3

Maybe I'm overlooking, but would love if this had an accurate political globe (e.g., countries and capitals) for my young kids.

"or with your own pinned places via the custom globe builder."

Right there at the top of the page with a link even: https://foldingglobes.com/

In fact, it looks like the default landing page for the site. TFA looks to be a quick link to the free options

Re: Folding Paper Globes

#18
fil's AirOcean projection on the original ObservableHQ is a fun starting point for rendering your own such map in Javascript from scratch:

https://observablehq.com/@fil/airocean-projection

The source data is down for my vector tile remix of it but here is a screenshot: https://static.observableusercontent.com/thumbnail/0fac8a928... and the code: https://observablehq.com/@thadk/reprojecting-vector-tiles

I did it as a little MapTime project in 2019 or so.

Re: Folding Paper Globes

#19
post #15

Try interrupted sinusoidal, ot will be less edgy. https://www.jasondavies.com/maps/interrupted-sinusoidal/ This is a beautiful site. Don't miss it if you haven't been there before

TFA has the option to do the same thing. Default TFA page shows the free option. The less edgy options are for not free but available.

You are indeed correct. The options are to be found here

https://foldingglobes.com/pricing

For those who want some more, try making a globe by hand. It is instructive and a lot of fun.

Re: Folding Paper Globes

#20
post #3

Maybe I'm overlooking, but would love if this had an accurate political globe (e.g., countries and capitals) for my young kids.

The site doesn't give you printouts you can fold into a globe, but it is very informative. You highlight countries, drag them around, and their size adjusts to whatever degree of distortion you'd get for any land mass at the given longitude. So you can, say, highlight Greenland and drag it on top of Brazil and see how they compare. You can highlight and drag countries, US states, Canadian provinces, and Australian states. Hovering over an entity shows you area and population.
Post reply on HN