Why does the earth look like this?

[motion]

The universe is 3-dimensional, expanding in all directions since the big bang. There is no up or down. So, why is the earth always depicted like this? I must be missing something here. Help, anyone?



Couldn't the earth just as easily look like this?

[sjf911]

"North-centrism" Which hemisphere did the majority of modern civilizations and therefore maps develop in?

[BRPORSCHE]

There is an answer to this question, I am not smart enough to know the answer, but there is an answer.

I'll take a stab at it though. When the astronaunts looked back at Earth from the Moon I know they saw the first Earth. I guess you would have to be standing upside down to see the other way around?

[motion]

Steve's answer must explain something... Tom, what about ancient navigation maps that show basically the same thing we show today?

[tabs]

The earth is FLAT...these pictures were all taken in a photgraphy studio... if you go to the edge of the earth, instead of falling off you are just go to the reverse side...thus if you are in Australia you are down under...and hence the term "down under"

[stomachmonkey]

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_159.html

[motion]

Fascinating... so it is only a convention.

Check this from Wiki:

The famous photo of Earth from Apollo 17 (Blue Marble) originally had the south pole at the top, as in this view, with the island of Madagascar visible just left of center, and the continent of Africa at its right. However, the image was turned upside-down to fit the traditional view.

[Jim Richards]

NASA is run by a bunch of rabid hemispherists.

[JCF]

That 's the way it is depicted on the Bizzaro earth.

[DARISC]

Because we walk upright, and have chosen to define "up" as where our heads are, relative to our feet.

And, we know that the earth rotates on an axis, one end of which is approximately below the North Star.

We have to turn our heads "up" to see the North Star.

Therefore it's logical that we would place a dot "up" at the top of a piece of paper to represent the North Star.

And we would draw a circle somewhat "down" from the dot to represent the Earth.

Also, I think most people visualize a spinning sphere (in this case the Earth) as they visualize a spinning coin or a spinning top, i.e., on an axis plumb to the center of the Earth

That's my hypothesis.

And I'm sticking to it.

[Paul K]

In Europe, they look at the view of 'their bit'. Interesting question though- I had a geography professor who had a bunch of maps which were printed at different angles- kinda cool.

[dipso]

The first picture is just the way it looks if the north pole is north. The second picture is the way it looks if you were somewhere else and not north north at the time.

[jmshepard]

My boss has a map in his office from the Australian MOD. It has Australia in the center top position. It takes some time to orient oneself to that perspective.
Jim S.

[jmshepard]

Like this one:

[Rick Lee]

This is how it should look. Middle Kingdom in the middle.

[Jim Richards]

Are you talking about that big province of Taiwan (ROC)?

[BeyGon]

Maybe because the early explorers were in what is now called the Northern Hemisphere, they made the maps and coined the terms we use. Why would they make themselfs at the bottom?

[RWebb]

We took the pictures, so we get to say which way is up.

If the Aussies had gotten there first, it might be different. OR maybe they like living down there, even if they are always at risk of falling off.

[Hugh R]

That Australian orthoprojection map really shows the problem of taking one point of sight (view) and taking a globe and making it flat. It makes AU look as big as the US. It is big, but not that big it also makes Canada look smaller than the US, which it isn't

[911Rob]

the Big "N" man, the Big "N"!!!

You'll find it on every survey or site plan.