Wikipedia:Graphics Lab/Map workshop/Archive/Feb 2018

Archives of 2018: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

How to change projection

Could you explain me how can I change the projection of any SVG-map? The problem is I'm planning to work with historical (I mean old) maps and they often have very particular projection. So I need some soft or smth that can convert any random-projection-SVG-map into a standard-projection one and vice versa. I hope you understand my problem and pain and could give me some tips. --Yakiv Gluck (talk) 11:59, 6 February 2018 (UTC)

SVG has an operation "transform" which can perform any specified linear mapping to any image. This includes translations, rotations, and shears. It should be good enough for most purposes as long as the map only covers a small proportion of the earth's surface. Specifying what transformation you want may be difficult, particularly if you start with "any random-projection". Something that might help you, and maybe even exists, is software that, for a set of tie-points (at least three, ideally a few more), accepts their co-ordinates in your map and in the real world, and calculates the transform matrix that will give you the best linear mapping.

If you do use such a technique, I recommend that your transformed maps should include a comment containing a link to the original untransformed SVG, a list of the tie-points used and their coordinates, and the transform function applied. Maproom (talk) 16:57, 6 February 2018 (UTC)

Guatemala - Belize Territorial Dispute

{{resolved|1=Snow Lion Fenian (talk) 03:08, 10 March 2018 (UTC)}}

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Dispute boundary between Belize and Guatemala_(GADM).svg

Article(s)

Guatemala

Request

Perhaps someone could edit the above map of Guatemala to highlight the territory it claims from Belize (above-right) in light green? After all, it would make it consistent with other such Wikipedia maps displaying countries with territorial disputes (e.g. India/Pakistan, Russia/Ukraine, Egypt/Sudan etc.). User:Snow Lion Fenian

Graphist opinion(s)

Dispute boundaries are very tricky, because there are political implications for getting them wrong (or right, for that matter). For a start, the colours are unconventional. Also, control maps shouldn't include labels, "just expose the areas of control, and don't include complex labels and explanations." This map also has an issue in that the disputed territory marked on this map doesn't match the district boundaries within Belize, and also doesn't match the disputed boundary points on the Natural Earth Data. I'd be more comfortable with editing/combining this map if the disputed territory map linked to an official source for the location of the dispute boundary. This map suggests that a road might border the disputed territory (probably George Price Highway, as seen in these maps, but it doesn't extend to the land edge); it'd be useful to know if that were indeed the case. gringer (talk) 13:14, 9 March 2018 (UTC)

@Gringer: I understand. So would you consider this request obsolete then? User:Snow Lion Fenian

No, the underlying request is reasonable (and important), but the images surrounding this should be changed a bit. I've created a location map for Belizean–Guatemalan territorial dispute#Recent_developments with conventional colours. Unfortunately it's from GADM data, which means it can't be used for commercial purposes (and therefore doesn't fall under Wikipedia's free content definition). I'll have a go at creating a combination orthographic projection map (at lower resolution) using Natural Earth data which can be used everywhere. People will then be directed to the article with a higher-resolution for more details. gringer (talk) 23:07, 9 March 2018 (UTC)

 Done Updated orthographic image to add in an inset (from the Free Natural Earth dataset) gringer (talk) 02:07, 10 March 2018 (UTC)

@Gringer: Okay, thanks, I really appreciate it. User:Snow Lion Fenian

Commonwealth Games - Birmingham & Durban

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Article(s)

Commonwealth Games

Request

Could someone please change South Africa back to red and remove Durban from the map, as it is no longer scheduled to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games (after all, as far as I'm aware, Montreal was supposed to host the cancelled 1942 Games, yet isn't marked as such either). Also, since the city of Birmingham, England, has been chosen as the new hosts of the 2022 Games, perhaps you could also mark them as such. Thanks. User:Snow Lion Fenian

Graphist opinion(s)