Читать книгу Geography For Dummies - Jerry T. Mitchell - Страница 69

Suppose you live in New York City and are preparing for a trip to Singapore, almost halfway around the world. In planning your trip, you decide to minimize your flying time and also to stop somewhere for a day or two, just to break up your travels. A friend suggests a stopover in Rome, Italy. But another friend tells you to layover in Helsinki, Finland. You have no idea which choice is best, so you decide to find out by plotting the two cities on a map (see Figure 4-2).

(© John Wiley & Sons Inc.)

FIGURE 4-2: New York City to Singapore: Map # 1.

Accepting the principle that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points, the map seems to make your choice pretty clear, doesn’t it? The itinerary to Singapore via Rome is apparently much shorter than the route via Helsinki. As a result, you call your travel agent and make the appropriate bookings.

Upon hearing your travel plans, your second friend is shocked. “You’re not going by way of Helsinki?” To show your friend the wisdom behind your choice, you take out your map and note the obvious: The linear distance from New York to Singapore is shorter via Rome. Whereupon your friend produces a map of her own (see Figure 4-3).

Looking at the map in Figure 4-3, three things are suddenly obvious.

 First, the global view in this map is much different than in Figure 4-2.

 Second, the results are different, too. In Figure 4-3, going to Singapore via Helsinki appears much shorter than the route via Rome.

 Third, one of these maps is lying, but which one?

(© John Wiley & Sons Inc.)

FIGURE 4-3: New York City to Singapore: Map #2.