[Q] Who's on top ? and why ?

[Thunderbird]

Okedokely, no one seems to know the answer in the history forum, so here goes again. :hihi:

 

If history had been different, and all the great explores and cartographers originated from Australia, would not all the globes and world maps be upside down today ?

Would the world look like this????

 

[InfiniteNow]

The short answer? Yes.

 

You also just reminded me of an episode of The West Wing. Clip below. Sort of funny considering your question.

 

 

YouTube - West Wing - Why are we changing maps? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8zBC2dvERM

 

 

 

It also informs views of the Peters Projection map, which more accurately displays the relative sizes of earths land masses.

 

Gall-Peters projection - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Thunderbird]

I really miss that show. Thanks INow.

[Mercedes Benzene]

Don't we also associate "up" and "down" with the direction of magnetic flux though?

[Jway]

The world does look like the picture in OP. It's just matter of perspective.

[Thunderbird]

Don't we also associate "up" and "down" with the direction of magnetic flux though?

 

I think you are forgetting that the poles reverses periodically, so the earth itself has no bottom or top up and down is the direction toward earth.

[Mercedes Benzene]

I think you are forgetting that the poles reverses periodically, so the earth itself has no bottom or top up and down is the direction toward earth.

 

The last reversal was about 800,000 years ago (Brunhes-Matuyama reversal), so for all of recorded history the orientation has been the same. Towards the center of the earth is only "down" with respect to gravity. If we look at it from a purely magnetic view, shouldn't there be an up and down?

[Turtle]

I think you are forgetting that the poles reverses periodically, so the earth itself has no bottom or top up and down is the direction toward earth.

 

That refers to the magnetic poles only.* The selection of "up" is arbitrary but a selection is necessary. Horns of a dilemma. :hyper: :hihi:

 

*Here's some info on Earth's 3 types of poles: :hyper: Planet Earth may have 'tilted' to keep its balance

[lemit]

So Mt. Everest is on top, unless the surveys are even more inaccurate than we think.

 

--lemit

[Thunderbird]

So Mt. Everest is on top, unless the surveys are even more inaccurate than we think.

 

--lemit

Correct,as opposed to the north pole. :smilingsun:

[SugarMoses]

I think the way it is now is more practical than to have south on top because in the northern hempisphere there is much more land up north than the south-most land in the southern hempisphere. Is that confussing? I mean if the South was on top, than most of the top part of the globe would be empty space (ocean) with just the tips of South America, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and other small islands. As is, we have Canada, Russia, Scandanavia, and other islands (Greenland, Iceland, etc.) on the top area of the globe. This is much more land mass than the southern hempisphere has equi-distance from the equator.

[HydrogenBond]

I think the world map, has less to do with top of the world, as it does with the center of the world. Whoever compiles the map, puts themselves at the center of the universe. After that, as they add territories, they try to keep the map in proportion to the distances, for practical reasons (travel and exploration) which then may shift the center of the map to keep the map efficient in terms of content and space. If we wish to be complete we then add the rest of the known territories, which we hope to possess. One may notice England aligns with the vertical center, with Greenwich mean time defined as center of all time zones.

 

If Australia had been the center, the top and bottom of the earth would have been designed based on where the most prized part of the original empire was. I would guess north would still be at the top because of the exotic things found closer to the equator relative to the southern capital. Why would one put icebergs at the top. We would have the Greenwich mean time called Sidney time, with Australia at the center of the map.

 

The modern map reached steady state because of the efforts of the British Empire, so this will become a center at least in 1-D with the final map made for both practical efficiency and vanity, since it needs to be used in the field but will be influenced by those who live in the ivory towers. That was the compromise.