[OSM-talk] Wrong scale in slippy map

[Lars Aronsson]

Jukka Rahkonen wrote:

> I believe also that the scale bar is not right. Distorsion is 
> one thing, it makes Sweden (and Finland) to look visually 
> ridiculous on the map,

At the deep zoom levels (zoom=6 and higher numbers), Sweden and 
Finland don't look "large", because you don't see other countries 
on the same screen.  At these deep zoom levels, the difference in 
scale between the top and bottom of the screen is also small.

Google Maps uses the same map projection, as do all tile-based 
online maps.  The projection is not the problem.  Google Maps 
shows the correct scale and it changes as you pan north and south 
within the same zoom level.  See for example
http://maps.google.com/?ll=57,17&z=6

At zoom=5 and lower numbers, where you see whole continents or the 
whole world, Sweden and Finland look large in comparison to 
Britain or Spain.  That is sad.  Perhaps a different projection 
could be used for these zoom levels?  It would make the whole 
system a lot more complicated.  Google Earth shows you a globe as 
you zoom out, instead of the flat map in Google Maps.


-- 
  Lars Aronsson (lars at aronsson.se)
  Aronsson Datateknik - http://aronsson.se