Map Evidence Lab
Maps
Historical maps, projections, geographic evidence, scriptural cosmology, and institutional symbolism — with sources, uncertainty, and clear separation between artifact facts and interpretation.
Interactive globe
Spherical reference (orthographic)
Drag to rotate. Use arrow keys when focused. This is a rendering of a spherical model — the same underlying latitude/longitude dataset used everywhere else in this lab, drawn with the orthographic projection so you're seeing one hemisphere as if from infinite distance.
What this globe is — and what it is not
- A spherical model is a mathematical object (latitude/longitude coordinates on a sphere).
- A globe rendering is a picture of that model — this page shows the orthographic projection of it.
- A rectangular map projection flattens the sphere onto a rectangle (Mercator, Equal Earth, etc.).
- An azimuthal projection flattens from a chosen center point onto a disk (used by the Gleason chart and the UN emblem).
- A historical illustration is a drawing that may or may not correspond to any specific projection — read its provenance.
This lab does not fade a flat map over the unflattened globe: those two geometries can't be aligned as ordinary images. The Compare Continents tab shows the valid ways to compare.
Dataset · Natural Earth 1:110m coastline / countries (via world-atlas TopoJSON) · Public domain (Natural Earth)