Adrian D. Shaw wrote:

Felly sgrifennodd Jonathan Stott :
Which I have done. Still awaiting a reply (I guess they might have one
or two to look at), but you can see what I wrote he
http://www.jstott.me.uk/temp/complaint.txt

I can see why they've done what they have for your first point (distorting
the shape of the UK so that Scotland looks small, etc). But in these days of
widescreen TVs it was probably the best they could come up with. I suppose
if they were designing the site for somewhere like Switzerland, Austria or
Nepal, it might not be necessary.

IIRC, there was a short spell some years ago where this distorted view
of the UK was used by the BBC, but it disappeared after a suitable
face-saving interval.

I think it was tied in with the arrival of geostationery satellites
which give a similar distorted view for obvious reasons.

However, there is a simple solution (tongue in cheek here): rotate the UK
by 90 degrees. That way, we'd all fit nicely into a 16x9 picture without
any distortion. I wonder how many people would notice?

It would depend I suppose if London were at the latitude Shetland is at
the moment, or the other way round. Ayrshire at 47 N would be
splendid... Oh- you mean rotate just on the screen - what a pity

--

Peter

Adrian D. Shaw wrote:

Felly sgrifennodd Jonathan Stott :
Which I have done. Still awaiting a reply (I guess they might have one
or two to look at), but you can see what I wrote he
http://www.jstott.me.uk/temp/complaint.txt

I can see why they've done what they have for your first point (distorting
the shape of the UK so that Scotland looks small, etc). But in these days of
widescreen TVs it was probably the best they could come up with. I suppose
if they were designing the site for somewhere like Switzerland, Austria or
Nepal, it might not be necessary.

IIRC, there was a short spell some years ago where this distorted view
of the UK was used by the BBC, but it disappeared after a suitable
face-saving interval.

I think it was tied in with the arrival of geostationery satellites
which give a similar distorted view for obvious reasons.

However, there is a simple solution (tongue in cheek here): rotate the UK
by 90 degrees. That way, we'd all fit nicely into a 16x9 picture without
any distortion. I wonder how many people would notice?

It would depend I suppose if London were at the latitude Shetland is at
the moment, or the other way round. Ayrshire at 47 N would be
splendid... Oh- you mean rotate just on the screen - what a pity

--

Peter

What an interesting idea. Maps always used to be drawn with East at the
top until along came Mercator and his new fangled ideas.

Some people might even prefer it on the grounds of religion, and then
at least the BBC would get a little bit of support!

Ian


Adrian D. Shaw wrote:

I can see why they've done what they have for your first point
(distorting
the shape of the UK so that Scotland looks small, etc). But in these
days of
widescreen TVs it was probably the best they could come up with. I
suppose
if they were designing the site for somewhere like Switzerland,
Austria or
Nepal, it might not be necessary.

However, there is a simple solution (tongue in cheek here): rotate
the UK
by 90 degrees. That way, we'd all fit nicely into a 16x9 picture
without
any distortion. I wonder how many people would notice snip

Adrian

What an interesting idea. Maps always used to be drawn with East at the
top until along came Mercator and his new fangled ideas.

Some people might even prefer it on the grounds of religion, and then
at least the BBC would get a little bit of support!

Ian


Adrian D. Shaw wrote:

I can see why they've done what they have for your first point
(distorting
the shape of the UK so that Scotland looks small, etc). But in these
days of
widescreen TVs it was probably the best they could come up with. I
suppose
if they were designing the site for somewhere like Switzerland,
Austria or
Nepal, it might not be necessary.

However, there is a simple solution (tongue in cheek here): rotate
the UK
by 90 degrees. That way, we'd all fit nicely into a 16x9 picture
without
any distortion. I wonder how many people would notice snip

Adrian

What an interesting idea. Maps always used to be drawn with East at the
top until along came Mercator and his new fangled ideas.

Some people might even prefer it on the grounds of religion, and then
at least the BBC would get a little bit of support!

Ian


Adrian D. Shaw wrote:

I can see why they've done what they have for your first point
(distorting
the shape of the UK so that Scotland looks small, etc). But in these
days of
widescreen TVs it was probably the best they could come up with. I
suppose
if they were designing the site for somewhere like Switzerland,
Austria or
Nepal, it might not be necessary.

However, there is a simple solution (tongue in cheek here): rotate
the UK
by 90 degrees. That way, we'd all fit nicely into a 16x9 picture
without
any distortion. I wonder how many people would notice snip

Adrian