Polyconic projection of the Earth centered on meridian 180 degrees west, showing a bowed gap where east meets west.

Polyconic projection of the Earth centered on meridian 180 degrees west, showing a bowed gap where east meets west.

I did a single polyconic projection of a Blue Marble image of the globe in an earlier article, comparing it to the sample projection in the proj (v.3) documentation.  Although seemingly elongated, I called it a success.  But when animated by reprojecting 360 times, varying the central meridian from -180° to +180°, I saw that something weird happens where the outside edges meet — there is sometimes, not always, a gap.  I don’ t know if this is just an artifact of the projection that is to be expected, or if there’s a problem somewhere in my method or the software.  You can see it in the picture at the right and in the animation below.

Read the rest of this entry »

Radar on Blue Marble image

Radar on Blue Marble image

This is a test run of the nation-wide (lower 48) weather radar animated on a Blue Marble image, with state outlines.  The YouTube link is here, and it’s embedded below, along with a short discussion of the necessary steps to make it, and what could make it better.

Read the rest of this entry »