Maps

[1ndex]

why do they all have USA on left and NZ right ?

Where is one that has NZ on left and USA right ?

[bibblebub]

most are centred on the Greenwich Meridian

[sandyRoe]

Is it something to do with the Internation Date LIne?
This one shows NZ smack in the middle

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IBVPgalgRAk/S89zGrafJAI/AAAAAAAABFE/Dsj8ag-lCHw/s1600/Upsidedown%2BMap%2BOf%2BThe%2BWorld--Optimized.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.deceptology.com/2010/04/upside-down-world-map-shows-north-is-up.html&;h=1105&w=1600&sz=333&tbnid=OtBNdpK9jwhrEM:&tbnh=84&tbnw=122&;zoom=1&usg=__xpa7pj5mAjC6hGdNO-GdaaOGVDk=&docid=CNYfwUYZEBRAGM&sa=X&;ei=1KfBUYS3Fcf_PL3IgcAI&;sqi=2&ved=0CDQQ9QEwAQ&dur=496

[bibblebub]

here's one as you want http://www.chinahotelsreservation.com/images/Map_of_the_World.jpg

[vulcan42]

I bought a world map a few years ago and then discovered why it was so cheap, New Zealand wasn't on it.

[1ndex]

fab, thanks both

[Baldric]

I'm still looking for one that includes Belgium!

[EdmundD]

It's because the Greenwich meridian - zero degrees is in the middle.

[jake-the-peg]

Well strictly speaking the Greenwich meridian is not the world's meridian any more it's now the IERS reference meridian

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IERS_Reference_Meridian


In practice it's only about 100 meters away

[jake-the-peg]

In case you're wondering why the good old Greenwich meridian had to change - it's not a French plot but rather due to satellite technology.

With all the continents moving about the place if we had a meridian that was fixed with respect to a lump of rock then it would move all over the place from the point of view of a satellite - not much but when you're trying to do sensitive scientific or surveying operations with respect to GPS in America you can't have 0 degrees moving about the place in Europe.

The IERS meridian isn't fixed to a point on the Earth's surface but lots of different observatories around the world send in data and it's fixed based on that

[jno]

if you had NZ on the left it would be cut off from the only country anywhere near it, Australia.

I think the problem is eurocentrism: maps printed here or heareabouts put the meridian in the middle. Others, particularly Americans, don't always see it that way

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6u8wyCcqofs/TsQozNve0WI/AAAAAAAAADw/Cod1gylvSzc/s1600/World+Map+Pacific.jpg

and as sandyRoe points out, there's no reason for thinking north means "up".