Why in all world maps (I've seen) North America is bigger than Africa?

Who cares? HAIL to the US! Africa has less significance then an avarage American city in the world... mybe the sizes reflect that.
 
SPQR300 said:
Who cares? HAIL to the US! Africa has less significance then an avarage American city in the world... mybe the sizes reflect that.
Click to expand...

I hope to see here irony :rolleyes:

Edit:
btw: on every map Europe is also to big :)
 
It's because North America is closer to the North Pole (than Africa is to the South Pole), and in most projections, areas closer to the poles appear larger (because otherwise it's hard to make a map of a spherical object on a flat surface).
 
when you unwrap a globe and put it into a square, the top and bottom parts get enlarged. so in all square maps you'll see high latitude countries like canda and russia much bigger than they really are.
 
Reminds me of a map I saw once that purported to be a special projection that made the continents appear the "correct" sizes. Africa was bigger than Asia, Europe, and both Americas combined. Europe was smaller than Hawaii. And North Korea accounts for 2/3 of all Asia outside of China.
 
There are projections that perserve relative sizes, but they instead mess up the shapes of areas at higher latitudes.

Anyway, given the number of European civs in the game I think an exaggerated Europe is a blessing.
 
I live in the United Kingdom (don't see myself as 'European') and IMO we just aren't large enough :p
 
The Last Conformist said:
Anyway, given the number of European civs in the game I think an exaggerated Europe is a blessing.
Click to expand...
But that doesn't apply with North America. Americans and Aztecs. That's the same number as Africa: Mali and Egypt.
 
The Last Conformist said:
Anyway, given the number of European civs in the game I think an exaggerated Europe is a blessing.
Click to expand...
Indeed, it has to be so really.

soulless2004 said:
I live in the United Kingdom (don't see myself as 'European') and IMO we just aren't large enough :p
Click to expand...
Well fact is that the UK is EUROPEAN.
 
The snag is that when people play a World Map they expect it to look like the classic projection you see everywhere, which greatly enlarges the landmasses near the poles.If you changed it so the landmasses were the right size much of North America and the northern areas of Eurasia would be distorted out of shape. I think there'd be far more complaints if the world map didn't match the classic projection people are used to. As mentioned it is beneficial for Europe to be larger than is strictly accurate given the concentration of civs there. With North America, remember that large parts of Canada are tundra and ice, and so not any real advantage for the civs there. I can't see any way of altering this size distortion without annoying a far greater percentage of people by ending up with a world map where the continents appear the wrong shape.
 
i got a globe/globus. Get one and you will understand.
 
" It correctly represents the size of the countries and therefore gives due prominence to countries in less developed parts of the world that are otherwise under-estimated because "size matters". "
Wikipedia

How the world really looks:
 
The map projection is a good example, Civ doesnt use this projection, but uses something akin to mercator.

Anyways , its a shame the game just couldn't cope with an even larger map; on the hugest Earth scenario for example , if you put Madrid where it is IRL its "20 square" borders contain the whole Iberian Peninsula. Britain again is one city, and France and Germany can't even exist !( they're too close together).

In the "New World", build Washington where it is , and your next southerly coastal placement will be somewhere near Miami: LA, San Francisco and Seattle will be one city (unless you crush them together).

In Asia even, China will be reduced to a max 4 cities and India 3 (thats 2.6 billion people in 7 cities?!

No, Civ IV doesnt work in any work with an Earth map, best sticking to randomly created ones
 
I think shows us that the power of a civilization has almost nothing to do with the size of the landmass but is more dependant on the people within the country.
 
No, it just shows that civ 4 cant simulate reality without a massive map. :)
 
Dispite hearing about this several years ago - I think on 60 minutes no less I still think It looks odd.

Anyone ever thought of making a map/Scenaro for the years 2001-21001
each turn is a year. Basicly you have the BIG 3 powers US, EU, China. Then add Russia - old SU and posibly India a potential power in the future.

then fill in the rest as minor powers .... right Can any of the 3 super powers win dominaton or even conqest ...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
[BTS] Who are your favorite Leaders/Civs?
Replies
13
Views
783
PPQ_Purple
PPQ_Purple
G
a missed opportunity
Replies
5
Views
559
PPQ_Purple
PPQ_Purple
WildWeazel
[MOD] BIGGER BETTER WORLDS
Replies
7
Views
411
vmxa
vmxa
mastrude
Civ IV Excel Calculator Nerds
Replies
7
Views
721
Quintillus
Quintillus
NickGabben
City Defense Discussion
Replies
11
Views
304
Plains-Cow
Plains-Cow
Top Bottom