Interesting Maps

Evade

Western world is more political than geographic

KevRossi

The hemisphere things make some sense. As does making an arbitrary line of 0 somewhere. It would make a lot more sense if it went from 0-360 and dropped the East and West, but that's the way it is. Also latitudes would be easier if they just picked one of the poles and started at 0, rather than having a N and S.

It assists in navigation and that's why it's vital.

The East/West/Westernised monikers are just political and socio-economic descriptions. These can change, and your country can move from one to another depending on its economic standings. It's sometimes replaced with 'Global North' and used to be 'First World, Second World, Third World'. New decades will bring new names and new alignments.

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121882032#Comment_121882032

There were many meridians used over the centuries. Often based on limited world knowledges (it was west of Iceland in the Middle Ages). The international date line as the anti-meridian to Greenwich, is in the middle of the pacific.

Many other meridians would have put the date line on a land mass. That’d mean it’s Tuesday in one place, in the next town over it’s still Monday. that’s obviously less practical.

Co-ordinating the date line with the works largest body of water rather than a land mass is a geographic consideration.

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121882490#Comment_121882490

You are confusing political and geographic terms.

The western world is a political term. The countries involved are loosely to the west, but it also includes Australia which is to the east of the middle and far east. The phrase "The West" in a global sense is a synonym of western world. But in other contexts, "The West" means something else. Context is key.

The western hemisphere means means something very different. You have to include the word hemisphere, otherwise it's a vague adjective. The fact you were not aware of it doesn't mean other people are not.

Yes, we all know about time zones and that it starts at zero in Greenwich but that doesn't mean most people view that line as dividing the globe into a western and eastern half.

That's quite literally how that line works. The eastern hemisphere runs east from the prime meridian to 180 degrees east. Being half a sphere. The western hemisphere, being the opposite half. The entire geographic coordinate system is based on that concept. I expect a lot of people are aware of how latitude and longitude work.

As it's the maps thread, here is a map showing the 4 hemispheres pretty clearly.

magicbastarder

i wasn't aware that there had been any consensus regarding meridians prior to the 18th or 19th century - and yes, the international date line falling where it is is good, but this seems more an accident of luck than design?

from the royal greenwich observatory, regarding the ratification of greenwich as the prime meridian:

"There were two main reasons for this. The first was that the USA had already chosen Greenwich as the basis for its own national time zone system. The second was that in the late 19th century, 72% of the world's commerce depended on sea-charts which used Greenwich as the Prime Meridian. The recommendation was based on the argument that naming Greenwich as Longitude 0º would be of advantage to the largest number of people.[5]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_(geography)

RiderOnTheStorm

sorry, dont have a map to post in the Intersting Maps thread (boo! for shame! failed at the first hurdle!) ,,,, but in the spirit of the East / West / Lat / Long etc ..... There are 4 North Poles (and I guess, 4 South Poles to go with them...)

True North - the top of the world where the world axle is (check a globe if unsure)

Magnetic North - the place all the magnets point to

Geomagnetic North - complicated , but I think its the bit under the magnetic cloud around the world? (its in Ellesmere Island , Canada)

(N) Pole of Inaccessibility - the point on a map that is the furthest from the coast - ie the middle of nowhere - its at 85' 48" N by 176' 9" W

JupiterKid

Award-winning Master Plan for the regeneration of Temple Bar, 1991

Revolutionary for early 1990s Ireland in its modernism and vision, if only the "superpubs" hadn't been allowed to proliferate in the area after 1997...

JupiterKid

Map of Cork Docklands Regeneration Master Plan, 2020

Capt'n Midnight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121883198#Comment_121883198

First world was countries allied with the USA, NATO, Oz, NZ, SA , Japan etc. "Western" countries.

Second world was countries aligned with those dastardly commies the Ruskies and Chinese

Third world was everyone else, mostly poor dictatorships.

Capt'n Midnight

No data 😮

Capt'n Midnight

Ah

Capt'n Midnight

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Capt'n Midnight

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Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121886337#Comment_121886337

Poland was never part of the USSR.

JupiterKid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121883878#Comment_121883878

Sorry to nitpick, but the equator is clearly in the wrong latitude here. It should be 15 degrees further South.

JupiterKid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121886359#Comment_121886359

Earthquake probability/frequency, I presume?

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121886519#Comment_121886519

Nitpick to the nitpick: The equator is at the right latitude, and is correctly shown. It's the continents that are wrong. They are shown well to the south of where they actually are. And Antartica has been removed to facilitate this.

JupiterKid

Map of the urbanisation of Europe from the 13th to the mid 19th centuries.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121886525#Comment_121886525

In the second one, Ireland has been placed pretty much right at the North pole!

Evade

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121886312#Comment_121886312

That's why Ireland is a third world country.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121886714#Comment_121886714

By that definition Switzerland was a third world country.

Evade

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121886790#Comment_121886790

Yeah. The perception is that third world means underdeveloped but it originally meant not explicitly NATO/US or Warsaw Pact alligned.

zell12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121886337#Comment_121886337

What's with the integral part of Russia, Kaliningrad? What flag is that? Also, it is misshapen in that map, as is Slovakia, as is Armenia, and Ukraine, and Belarus, and.. ok i'll stop now

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121886790#Comment_121886790

By that definition Switzerland was indeed a Third World Country, as were Austria, Sweden and Finland (while, say, Nicaragua was a First World Country).

But that sense of "Third World Country" pretty rapidly fell out of use. The countries concerned were much more likely to refer to themselves as "non-aligned", and "Third World" pretty soon came to refer to economic development rather than political alignment.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121886314#Comment_121886314

whats does this even mean?

cdeb

I think it means how badly each country would be affected in a global recession. We saw here what happened us in 2008 because we were so highly indebted. In an African country, many people probably still live subsistence lives (or at least lives that aren't as tied in to the global economy), so they would feel a recession much less. They don't have huge mortgages and so long as the crops keep growing, they's feel less of an impact.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121887384#Comment_121887384

makes a lot of sense, financialisation is a bit of a train wreck alright, and it ll do its best to push into less developed parts of the world to cause the exact same problems for them to, if we allow it.....

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121884184#Comment_121884184

The idea of a meridian existed for thousands of years by the 18th century, in Greek antiquity. Different countries used different ones as suited them, and knowledge was limited. As the world globalised, more aligned to common meridians. Here is a list of some of the various ones used. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_meridian#List_of_historic_prime_meridians_on_Earth

The international date line was not set by change. It developed some what naturally, the the pacific became the natural border where people didn't align to both east and west neighbours. But it shifted based on various colonies (Philippines, under Spain aligned to Mexico for centuries). This are all geographic influences, and would have been a major factor in the in the prime meridian being set in centre-ish europe.

The paragraph you quote refers to the final decision between London and Paris. Two options about 2 degrees apart. The difference between the two is marginal. But the point is the other 358 degree range had been discarded by that point.

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121886642#Comment_121886642

Yup. The countries are a 2D map cropped to a circle, and not a spherical projection of the countries. Neither projection is correct, but its a tiny graphic indicated the concept of lines of latitude and longitude, not a scale accurate map.

On a related note. The global "map" that we are all familar with is not to scale. As a result, Greenland and similar places towards the poles are much smaller than people think.

Capt'n Midnight

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