NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Thoughts on why 'north' is at the top of maps (BBC)
From: David C
Date: 2016 Jun 15, 20:07 -0700
From: David C
Date: 2016 Jun 15, 20:07 -0700
Have a look at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizard_of_New_Zealand
and scroll down to the section headed Cartography. I have not found an online copy of the Wizard's map after a very quick search. Maybe it has been made invisible (;
Although I live near lat S 41 I can understand why for hundreds of years maps have shown North at the top. Several thoughts, not entirely consistant, spring to mind:
(1) Who cares?
(2) With globalisation and digital technology why not make more use of available projections to suit the cirumstances?
(3) Do we want to confuse the public? Some people wonder why aircraft flying from NZ to South America do not take the direct (i.e. straight) route (-;
After this brief distraction now back to reducing sights.
