Paging CC Ecosse - Mull and Moidart rides, first week of Sept, 2016?

[ColinJ]

It'll be the BBC's weather maps to blame for that

I remember when they first introduced the new graphics, how Scotland was depicted as a small blob stuck to the top of a medium blob which was northern England, which was stuck to a huge blob for London and the rest of SE England!

They tweaked the software to make it a bit less blatant, but the same description still applies ...

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I didn't realise that conventional trains run on that line too.

Did you think JK Rowling made it for tourists?

 

[ColinJ]

Did you think JK Rowling made it for tourists?

I forgot that there was a ferry to Skye at the end of it!

There are several small lines round here that only have steam trains on now and are run by enthusiasts for their own pleasure and used mainly by tourists.

Mind you, our most famous one is the Keighley & Worth Valley railway which featured in the 1970s film The Railway Children and they do run diesel trains as well.

 

[Pale Rider]

I remember when they first introduced the new graphics, how Scotland was depicted as a small blob stuck to the top of a medium blob which was northern England, which was stuck to a huge blob for London and the rest of SE England!

They tweaked the software to make it a bit less blatant, but the same description still applies ...

Ah, time to mention that rare thing, a distinguished Belgian - Mercator - and his map.

Mercator's Projection inevitably distorts shapes due to it portraying the surface of a sphere on a flat plane.

This distortion gets more pronounced further from the equator.

The Mercator projection portrays Greenland as larger than Australia; in actuality, Australia is more than three and a half times larger than Greenland. As on all map projections, shapes or sizes are distortions of the true layout of the Earth's surface. The Mercator projection exaggerates areas far from the equator.
Mercator projection - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercator_projection

 

[Edwardoka]

Ah, time to mention that rare thing, a distinguished Belgian - Mercator - and his map.

Mercator's Projection inevitably distorts shapes due to it portraying the surface of a sphere on a flat plane.

This distortion gets more pronounced further from the equator.

The Mercator projection portrays Greenland as larger than Australia; in actuality, Australia is more than three and a half times larger than Greenland. As on all map projections, shapes or sizes are distortions of the true layout of the Earth's surface. The Mercator projection exaggerates areas far from the equator.
Mercator projection - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercator_projection

Mercator, while causing massive disparities at the latitudinal extremes (as demonstrated by the Mercator puzzle game) has almost entirely negligible effect when you compare it side by side with a spherical projection centred on the UK (Google Maps vs Google Earth, for instance).
I understand that BBC weather maps now use a spherical projection, albeit one which is tilted in such a way that Scotland looks disproportionately small.
Or, to more accurately reflect editorial policy within the BBC, "far away"

What a strange conversation to have on a ride organisation thread

 

[Pale Rider]

Mercator, while causing massive disparities at the latitudinal extremes (as demonstrated by the Mercator puzzle game) has almost entirely negligible effect when you compare it side by side with a spherical projection centred on the UK (Google Maps vs Google Earth, for instance).
I understand that BBC weather maps now use a spherical projection, albeit one which is tilted in such a way that Scotland looks disproportionately small.
Or, to more accurately reflect editorial policy within the BBC, "far away"

What a strange conversation to have on a ride organisation thread

Fascinating things, maps, I can stare at them for ages just for the sake of it.

I wonder if dodgy projection works on gradients as well.

For example, my paper map of Mull indicates we are in for a hilly ride.

That cannot be right, surely?

 

[Edwardoka]

For example, my paper map of Mull indicates we are in for a hilly ride.

That cannot be right, surely?

Have never been so couldn't possibly say, but it has loads of lovely crinkly edges and it seemed hilly enough from the Barra ferry.

 

[ColinJ]

Put it this way ... I ended up on my back at the side of the road several times, trying to recover enough to carry on! Motorists were stopping to check that I was ok ...

Don't worry though - it was because I had a mystery tummy bug which stopped me eating and put me off drinking. I just completely ran out of energy.

It was certainly hillier than I had expected, but not horribly so.

 

[ColinJ]

As for the weather maps ... surely, given the power of modern compter graphics, the 'politically correct' way to do it would be to be taking a 3D view straight towards the centre of the Earth, spin the globe round until the point of interest was directly underneath, and zoom in or out to suit?

The problem with the BBC view is that it is a slanting view from south to north which exaggerates the size of the south relative to the north.

 

[Edwardoka]

As for the weather maps ... surely, given the power of modern compter graphics, the 'politically correct' way to do it would be to be taking a 3D view straight towards the centre of the Earth, spin the globe round until the point of interest was directly underneath, and zoom in or out to suit?

The problem with the BBC view is that it is a slanting view from south to north which exaggerates the size of the south relative to the north.

I use forecast.io and earth.nullschool.net for weather, anyway, some people making something out of nothing (although I wouldn't see if that way if I lived in the far north and was relegated to a handful of pixels...)

 

[Fubar]

Jeez you disappear for a couple of days and the conversation turns on its heid - surprised you haven't been modded for going off topic...

Anyhoo I wouldn't trust any forecast more than 24 hours in advance, and I'm sure it's pancake flat... Isn't it??

 

[ColinJ]

Jeez you disappear for a couple of days and the conversation turns on its heid - surprised you haven't been modded for going off topic...

I would be mighty peeved if somebody told me that I was off my own topic!

Anyhoo I wouldn't trust any forecast more than 24 hours in advance, and I'm sure it's pancake flat... Isn't it??

I agree about most forecasts. Occasionally we get a very stable weather system sitting over the UK with weather unchanging for a week or more. I'd trust longer range forecasts then, but when the weather is fast-changing, the forecast only has to be out by a few hours to be useless!

As for 'pancake flat' ...

If my pancakes looked like that, I'd be complaining to the pancake chef!

 

[Brandane]

Is THIS the circuit of Mull you are planning to do @ColinJ ?
I would reckon that to be somewhere at the limits of my capabilities regarding climbing/distance in a day, but I might be up for it as I have some time off this coming week (but plan "A" is to head for Ireland on the motorised bicycle , weather dependent!). Sooooo; is there a definite date/time for the commencement of the Mull ride?

 

[Edwardoka]

but I might be up for it

 

[Brandane]

Guaranteed! (Maybe I'd better go to Ireland ).