If you are reading this blog, you probably know what google is. It is the search (advertising) company who’s name has become a verb, i.e. “I googled and found the meaning of ‘ergo’”. Besides providing search services, it also provides the popular gmail, calendar, google docs, and map services etc.
Dynamic Scaling
Recently, I discovered that on google maps, as you tour the globe fairly smoothly without leaving your desk, the little scale legend at the bottom left corner dynamically changes. The scale tells us how large or small the map actually represents. So if you are looking at some region, and it displays the scale marker is one inch length and the number reads 500mi, it means that one inch length on the map at that scale represents 500miles in real life.
This means that with a fixed-sized scale, two regions of different sizes would appear to be of different sizes accordingly. With a dynamic scale, as I mentioned earlier, two regions of different sizes may appear to be of a similar or identical size when in fact they are not.
Why Do That?
Why are they doing this? I don’t know. This could be a feature to allow . . . → Read More: An interesting feature about Google Maps
