On Sun, 23 Aug 2009, Till Harbaum / Lists wrote: > Sounds like a perfect idea to cause confusion. The whole idea of maps is > to represent the real world a precise as possible.
I'd have to put another point of view here. Because I have spent a weekend without OSM, I've been reading books and it can be argued that the whole purpose of a map is to show what someone wants it to show, usually someone representing authority. You have to make compromises to put a (almost) spherical object on a flat plane, and 'precision' is not part of a Mercator projection. Mercator's projection was for the purpose of calculating direction of travel, in particular for seafarers. http://odtmaps.com/ will show you a few different projections quickly, to expand your horizons. _______________________________________________ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
