9 replies to this topic

[Unit Seven]

Hi all,

Have had a map to do for a client of ours—one of those great jobs where they need it done the same day and as they are a good client of one of our software products I agreed. To top it off the client asked for A4 300ppi and when I supplied and spoke to the designer doing the layout (who I asked to contact me at the start) I found out it was going on a metre wide banner and vector would be fine.

Anyway he was asking for distances to cities which they could put into a table next to the map and I suggested instead I put lines on the map showing these distances from New Zealand. Interested to see if I went about this the correct way.

What I did was created a world map in Azimuthal Equidistant centred roughly on the centre of New Zealand. I then ran buffers out every 1000km to the edge of the projection. This I figured would give accurate distances from New Zealand.

These lines were then densified an projected back to a more useful world projection for the rest of the compilation and labelling. Mollweide on 180 as the company is called Globe Holdings Limited and Mollweide has more of a 'globe-like' view than the Robinson projection sample they showed me to start with.

If there was more time I would of liked to put major cities on with distances to them to give soem more context but I think this works for what they are doing—def nicer than the sample they showed me and asked me a higher res version of.

Does that look like the correct way to go about setting up these type of distance lines to get reasonably accurate distances from a given point? If I had of done the buffer from another projection am I correct in assuming the projection distortions would of messed with the distances? The job has gone so I hope what I thought was going on here was correct and if not that no one notices.

Sam.

Attached Files

•  Map_A4_Flat.png   275.19K   170 downloads

[François Goulet]

Given that the circumference of the Earth is roughly 40,000 km, the farthest point from New Zealand should be located at approximately at 12,000 km which is about where the Portugal is on your map. So, you shouldn't be far from the truth! And it looks good too!

Just one little thing: in the Atlantic, it's written "1616;000". You could also add lighter lines over the continent so we could figure more easily the distance for inland cities...

I wouldn't have tought of that! Great concept!

[Unit Seven]

Great—thanks that's the kind of knowledge I knew someone here would have. But you meant 19,000km not 12,000 right?

As luck would have it they have asked me to make NZ red and label on one line so I managed to fix the 1616,000 and add another distance for 13,000km up by the Arctic Circle and to the East of South America.

Thanks

[Hans van der Maarel]

Looks cool, Sam. And I'm pretty sure Francois meant 19000. You and I are pretty much at opposite ends of the globe.

[Claude]

Hi Sam,
Cool colors and kiwi-centric projection. I be this map would really interesting to see with some shipping routes or flight routes overlaid. Just curious, why is Singapore singled out for labeling?
Claude

[François Goulet]

Great—thanks that's the kind of knowledge I knew someone here would have. But you meant 19,000km not 12,000 right?

Oups! My mistake! I must have had the diameter in mind when I wrote... or it could be for clumsy finger too...

[Unit Seven]

Hi Sam,
Cool colors and kiwi-centric projection. I be this map would really interesting to see with some shipping routes or flight routes overlaid. Just curious, why is Singapore singled out for labeling?
Claude

Good question...does, 'Cause the client asked for it' justify it? The map they gave me as a sample had a really random scattering of cities that I didn't think made much sense—was basically the first map they found that kinda matched what they wanted. I convinced them that continent names were better than citie names for their more general use but they asked for Singapore to be named so am guessing it's for a Singapore exhibition or conference or something as I think they are a NZ property development company.

Phew—thanks Francis. Projections and distance etc defiantly are not my strong point.

[DaveB]

Very similar to Will O'Neil's Japan-centered world map

A case of great minds think alike?

[gregory]

Not a big support but i found a mistake : ) I guess labeling the distance you moved label 3000 km and didn't change in place where it should be 5000 km.

[Rob]

Projections and distance etc defiantly are not my strong point.

i usually use Great Circle Mapper or some other online tool to spot check the GC dist of 4 or 5 different cities to make sure everything makes sense. Sometimes results that look correct, i've found, at the worst possible times, just aren't what they seem.

nice work.