#FOSS #GIS developer who lives in #VictoriaBC.
Member of the #GeoServer PSC and project lead for #GeoWebCache. #Atheist.
I'm interested in #cooking, #BoardGames, #costumes, #MiniaturePainting, #ScienceFiction, #fantasy, #urbanism, #cartography, #bikes, #ElectoralReform, #cryptography (but NOT cryptocurrency), #RightToRepair, #CopyrightReform, #PatentReform
I play #BattleTech #AlphaStrike and various video games including #Factorio.
| GitHub | https://github.com/smithkm |
| BookWyrm | https://bookwyrm.social/user/smithkm |
| OSGeo Discorse | https://discourse.osgeo.org/u/smithkm |
We testified before Parliament this Tuesday: “You can’t fix Bill C-22 with light amendments.”
🚨What’s being decided right now will shape how Canadians experience the internet for years to come. Take action on Stop Bill C-22: https://openmedia.org/StopC22-mtd
Many adjustments. It now reads and writes GeoPackage features to get a template for the coastline and divides, and output the rivers, lakes, densified coastline, and some debugging info.
It also takes rasters to set precipitation, fractalness, and density and size of lakes and estuaries.
The "Third Way" in liberal politics involves *saying* things that working people love, but *doing* things that sociopathic plutocrats love. It works ...right up until voters notice that you're not *doing* the things. That realisation breeds cynicism and fury and paves the way for fascist strongmen.
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2026/05/30/rupture/#deeds-not-words
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@maphew All projections cause distortion, just different types distributed differently. This suggests that its specifically a problem with Mercator.
Also normal aspect Mercator is hardly pervasive any more. It's used in prerendered zoomable maps and for maps conveying direction information like wind direction. Both are intentional choices for good reasons.
If a classroom still has a Mercator general reference map, that map is probably older than the teacher.
@Canageek They were among my first proper mini painting (not practicing by painting army men or cheap bulk minis) Technically preceded by Dexter the Dinosaur from the Ticket to Ride Alvin and Dexter expansion. (Still haven't done Alvin) I like to think my first two lances of the First Taurian Lancers turned out pretty well.
@maphew Rather than "Projection X bad" "Projection Y Good" what needs to be taught is considering the purpose of a map and selecting a projection that best fits the particular set of needs of that map.
Mercator was designed to do a particular useful thing and it is the only projection that does it. If you need a map to be bearing preserving over a large area, you need Mercator.
The problem is that Mercator was used in inappropriate situations where a something else would have served better.
@maphew No that's a horrible analogy
If you have a 3D shape, take a perspective projection onto a 2D plane, then take a different 3D shape, and project that image from the plane onto it, then project that back onto a plane using another radically different projection, you get a mess.
This really doesn't say anything useful about the merits of the individual projections. You could swap the order that you do the steps and whatever is last is always going to be a mess.
OpenMedia
Cory Doctorow
Dave Thompson 🇨🇦
smithkm