On northern geography

[Rakka]

Instead, their manner of mapping is crude and direct. They measure distance by how long it takes to walk or ride or sail from one point to the next. So from Winterfell to the Wall is say 20 days travel on the Kingsroad, at 30 miles a day, gives you 600 miles or whatever.

This is a map created with the abovementioned method: http://cipher.uiah.fi/forum/materials/carta_marina/maps/one_map/3b_lafreri.jpg

This is a satellite image of the region: http://www.virtualtripping.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/sweden.jpg

So either the map is only vaguely accurate, or it is accurate as a tweaked equal angle projection goes. I don't know if Martin has said anything about the map in the books being the one that's mainly known to Westerosi, or whether it is indeed accurate, so I don't want to assume anything. (Is anyone else peeved that the maps in fantasy books are always accurate and the one that the protagonists use? At least in A:tLA it was addressed.)

[Free Northman]

This is a map created with the abovementioned method: http://cipher.uiah.f.../3b_lafreri.jpg

This is a satellite image of the region: http://www.virtualtr...8/09/sweden.jpg

So either the map is only vaguely accurate, or it is accurate as a tweaked equal angle projection goes. I don't know if Martin has said anything about the map in the books being the one that's mainly known to Westerosi, or whether it is indeed accurate, so I don't want to assume anything. (Is anyone else peeved that the maps in fantasy books are always accurate and the one that the protagonists use? At least in A:tLA it was addressed.)

I think Martin has pretty much said that the maps are based on medieval knowledge. But the point is, Martin has also confirmed that the Wall is 300 miles long. So that pretty much tells us exactly how big the rest of the North is in comparison to it. At least insofar as the maps are accurate.

My point is not that the maps are accurate, but that the North's size is not overstated compared to the South. If the North is innacurate, then the South will be inaccurate to the same extent.

[Rakka]

If the maps are based on estimates, then knowing the lenght of the Wall doesn't help that much in determining the size of the continent. Also there's no reason why distortion would be constant: look at this medieval map, for example. This is a good one, too. The coastlines' forms are pretty accurate, but the dimensions otherwise are very wonky especially in the northern Europe. Unless Martin says whether the map is accurate or not, I wouldn't use the lenght of the Wall to say anything about the sizes of the continents there.

http://blogs.library.auckland.ac.nz/images/blogs_library_auckland_ac_nz/arts/worldmap.JPG

[Free Northman]

If the maps are based on estimates, then knowing the lenght of the Wall doesn't help that much in determining the size of the continent. Also there's no reason why distortion would be constant: look at this medieval map, for example. This is a good one, too. The coastlines' forms are pretty accurate, but the dimensions otherwise are very wonky especially in the northern Europe. Unless Martin says whether the map is accurate or not, I wouldn't use the lenght of the Wall to say anything about the sizes of the continents there.

http://blogs.library...ts/worldmap.JPG

We know of a few points of of consistency, actually.

The Wall is stated to be 300 miles long. And in Dance, we are told that Deepwood Motte is 300 miles from Winterfell, as the crow flies.

When you compare the distance between Winterfell and Deepwood Motte on the map, it matches virtually exactly the length of the Wall.

There is also the fact that Martin himself said that we can use the Wall as a rough measuring tool to calculate distances in Westeros.

So overall, the map seems to be pretty consistent with current information at our disposal.

[Darth Rivers]

So it is not adjusted for projection?

[Shylock]

Speaking about the total size of the world compared to earth; most people seem not to understand the Known World Map linked earlier. It is NOT the entire world; only the world KNOWN to the Maesters of the Citadel. Planetos (as many have taken to calling it) is larger than earth. Using Free Northman's Estimates from an older thread we can calculate the approximate difference in size:

The world is round. And it is slightly larger than Earth. This has been confirmed by Martin himself.

Based on the climate, the Equator would be roughly where Sothoryos is, with 60 degrees latitude running roughly through the Wall, and the Neck lying roughly at 45 degrees latitude.

The distance from the Neck to the equator would therefore be 3 times the distance from the Neck to the Wall. Meaning about 3600 miles.

Since the south coast of Dorne lies about 1500 miles south of the Neck, it means that the equator lies about 2000 miles south of Dorne.

Se we have:

60 degrees latitude - the Wall
45 degrees latitude - the Neck
25 degrees latitude - the coast of Dorne
0 degrees latitude - the equator, Sothoryos

These Latitude measurements makes sense given GRRM has stated both Essos and Westeros are in the Northern hemisphere (I believe the latitude measurements were also confirmed my GRRM in an interview although I cannot find that source atm). Given we know the distance from the south of Dorne to the Wall is 1000 leagues or 3000 miles we can calculate the size difference between Earth and Planetos by comparing this distance with the same North/South distance on Earth (2433Miles). So 3000/2433 = 1.23 meaning Planetos is ~23% Larger than our Earth.

P.S. on a side note Danaerys only has ~4000miles to sail to reach KL going West; If she were to try and go east it would be ~20 000 Miles this means DANNY CANNOT SAIL EAST TO GO WEST which is another notion that just will not die around here :bang: