🚀 go-pugleaf

Albeit insensitive to the hypersensitive, there is only one trend current or
historical:  North at the top.

Which 'we' has heard a number of complaints and how many is the number?  You
did say "Aussies" and not 'Aussie', so I take it there are two of them
complaining.

Funny, the grass is always greener on the other side.  I've always wished I
lived on the "underside" of the world just to see if the toilets really do
flush the other way.  I also thought it was a sort of a mark of pride that
the Aussies call their country the "land down under".  I'll bet the those
who refer to Australia as the land down under can beat up the ones who
complain about North at the top of the map!

Frankly, if I encountered one of the maps drawn by your office, I would
think "what sort of silly stunt are these people trying to pull?"  Then I'd
cock my head to one side and use your silly map.  "...convey the earth's
rotation..." -- yeah right! lol  Never heard of a horizontal scroll bar?  Do
you really believe that if you were standing on the moon looking at the
Earth you would position yourself so that the Earth was spinning from bottom
to top?  I bet you're a lot of fun at parties!

Don Widders

<aloe@rev.net> wrote in message news:3b55275d.7415369@news.rev.net...
> We've heard a number of complaints from Aussies and others that the
> orientation of maps with north at the top manifests Eurocentrism. Some
have
> suggested a racial or economic bias.
>
> When our office draws maps for web pages, we try to use the scrolling to
> convey the earth's rotation (as might be seen from the moon). East goes at
> the top, so that the viewer will work down the image to arrive at the
west.
>
> What are current trends on this subject? We have seen special-purpose maps
> oriented in various directions. However, most maps have north directly at
> the top, or at least at the top edge.
>
> Is there a best direction to face maps? Is there a methodology for
choosing
> the drection?
>
> -- Eartha Underall <http://www.rev.net/people/aloe/geography>
>