2951: Bad Map Projection: Exterior Kansas

2024-06-27T19:38:52Z

Kcris: removing addition on account of the fact I'm stupid and can't read maps

{{comic
| number = 2951
| date = June 26, 2024
| title = Bad Map Projection: Exterior Kansas
| image = bad_map_projection_exterior_kansas_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x706px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Although Kansas is widely thought to contain the geographic center of the contiguous 48 states, topologists now believe that it's actually their outer edge.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a TOPOLOGICAL CORNFIELD - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is the seventh comic in the series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]] displaying Bad Map Projection #45: Exterior Kansas.

This comic portrays an unusual projection of a map of the contiguous United States (possibly based on the {{w|azimuthal equidistant projection}}?). Maps of individual countries are common, especially in academic settings. It is typical for such maps, which only display a limited area of the globe, to use a projection that does not severely distort the shape of the country or its internal borders, but a country that is large enough (as with the United States) will always noticeably suffer from certain distortions of at least one element chosen from distances, areas or angles. This usually occurs at its extremities (though some projections can be made more faithful to its extremities at the expense of distorting its interior).

Here, however, Randall has opted for a much different projection. Rather than placing the geographical center of the country in the middle and the borders on the outside, this map has gone the opposite direction, with the border of the US toward the center, and the geographical center of the contiguous US (Kansas) and surrounding states distorted to surround the entire map. This, understandably, results in the shape of both the national and state borders being largely unrecognizable as it effectively puts ''every'' bit of the chosen map features out towards the distorted extremities. Much of the internal area of Kansas itself (should one wish to display further internal features) may be located far beyond the comic's edges, perhaps even to infinitely far away on the projected plane.

If Alaska and Hawaii were present in this map and represented in geographically accurate locations (as opposed to inset, as is common in many maps of the United States), Alaska would be near the top of the empty space "inside" the border, while Hawaii would be near the center, if even visible. Both would be rather small, with Hawaii particularly compressed (to an extent dictated by the exact projection method used). Additionally, if all 50 states were included, the geographical center would be further to the northwest, resulting in an "Exterior South Dakota" projection.

This map is of the same polar/azimuthal-style projection that one sees on the {{w|flag of the United Nations}}. Some maps of that style depict an "exterior Antarctica".
[[File:Azimuthal_equidistant_projection_SW.jpg|300px]]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Map description could be improved? Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A distorted map of the contiguous United States with the states labeled, where the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the Canadian and Mexican borders are located closest to the center, with there being a gray void in the middle of the map, while the central U.S. states are distributed in the edges of the panel, with Kansas being in all of the four corners of the map.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Bad Map Projection #45:
:Exterior Kansas

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]
[[Category:US maps]]

2951: Bad Map Projection: Exterior Kansas

2024-06-27T19:38:04Z

Kcris: Canada as a small island in lake ontario appears to reference 2082

{{comic
| number = 2951
| date = June 26, 2024
| title = Bad Map Projection: Exterior Kansas
| image = bad_map_projection_exterior_kansas_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x706px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Although Kansas is widely thought to contain the geographic center of the contiguous 48 states, topologists now believe that it's actually their outer edge.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a TOPOLOGICAL CORNFIELD - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is the seventh comic in the series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]] displaying Bad Map Projection #45: Exterior Kansas.

This comic portrays an unusual projection of a map of the contiguous United States (possibly based on the {{w|azimuthal equidistant projection}}?). Maps of individual countries are common, especially in academic settings. It is typical for such maps, which only display a limited area of the globe, to use a projection that does not severely distort the shape of the country or its internal borders, but a country that is large enough (as with the United States) will always noticeably suffer from certain distortions of at least one element chosen from distances, areas or angles. This usually occurs at its extremities (though some projections can be made more faithful to its extremities at the expense of distorting its interior).

Here, however, Randall has opted for a much different projection. Rather than placing the geographical center of the country in the middle and the borders on the outside, this map has gone the opposite direction, with the border of the US toward the center, and the geographical center of the contiguous US (Kansas) and surrounding states distorted to surround the entire map. This, understandably, results in the shape of both the national and state borders being largely unrecognizable as it effectively puts ''every'' bit of the chosen map features out towards the distorted extremities. Much of the internal area of Kansas itself (should one wish to display further internal features) may be located far beyond the comic's edges, perhaps even to infinitely far away on the projected plane.

If Alaska and Hawaii were present in this map and represented in geographically accurate locations (as opposed to inset, as is common in many maps of the United States), Alaska would be near the top of the empty space "inside" the border, while Hawaii would be near the center, if even visible. Both would be rather small, with Hawaii particularly compressed (to an extent dictated by the exact projection method used). Additionally, if all 50 states were included, the geographical center would be further to the northwest, resulting in an "Exterior South Dakota" projection.

This map is of the same polar/azimuthal-style projection that one sees on the {{w|flag of the United Nations}}. Some maps of that style depict an "exterior Antarctica".
[[File:Azimuthal_equidistant_projection_SW.jpg|300px]]

This map also depicts Canada as a small island. This could be a reference to [[2082: Mercator Projection]], where cueball claims Canada is a "smallish island in Lake Ontario" and only appears to have a land border because of the mercator projection.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Map description could be improved? Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A distorted map of the contiguous United States with the states labeled, where the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the Canadian and Mexican borders are located closest to the center, with there being a gray void in the middle of the map, while the central U.S. states are distributed in the edges of the panel, with Kansas being in all of the four corners of the map.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Bad Map Projection #45:
:Exterior Kansas

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]
[[Category:US maps]]

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2951: Bad Map Projection: Exterior Kansas

2951: Bad Map Projection: Exterior Kansas