Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-08
FAIRBANKS SHOWN
AS WORLD CENTER
Map Produced by E. w. Saw
yer Designed to Draw At
tention to Alaska.

Exactly how the northern half of the
earth looks to q citizen of Fairbanks,
Alaska, with some very startling results,
is shown in a Great Circle map with
Fairbanks as a geographical center of
Europe, Asia and North America, which
has been published by permission of the
Department of the Interior. The map
was originated and produced by Ernest
Walker Sawyer and has attracted con-
siderable attention in governmental and
scientific circles.
II have shown this map to hundreds
of scientists and educators" says Mr..
Sawyer. and universally they express
surprise that London Is north ~ degrees
east of Fairbanks and only 1920 miles
from Fairbanks"
The primary purpose of the map is
"to draw attention to Alaska and its
tremendous strategic position and value,
Mr. Sawyer explains.
A persual of the map shows that
Toxic, London and New York are all
about the same distance from Fairbanks.
The same is true of Canton, China;
Rome and st. Thomas. A straight line
from Seattle to Toxic goes through the
from San Francisco and Los Angeles
to Tokyo pass only $50 miles south of
Seward, Alaska.
Long Distance From Pole.
The map shows graphically that
Alaska is long distance from the
North Pole. It is interesting to note
that a straight line drawn to the north
from Fairbanks passes through Lentn-
the
Pole. The Magnetic Pole is so degrees
east of Fairbanks.
The Great Circle distance, as COM
puted by experts in the General Land
Office from Washington to Fairbanks
is 3,270 miles. The Great Circle dis
lance from Fairbanks to Honolulu is
but very little less, 040 miles.
On an imaginary circle around Fair
banks the degrees of longitude from
Fairbanks as the center are marked.
Lines drawn from Fairbanks through
these points could be carried to any
part OF the northern hemisphere.
This map" explains Mr.. Sawyer, "is
considerably different from the ordi-
nary Mercator'S projection. This is a
great circle projection, having Fair
banks as the center. The distances
from Fairbanks to any point are cor
rect as to scale and are measured along
small circle, such as at Tokyo, Paris or
Los Angeles, the distance is accurate.
The intersections of the parallels of
latitude and longitude are also accurate
and those small circles and interSec-
tions were used as control points to
draw the coast lines.
Little Distortion in Map.
'The directions are the leaving direc-
tons as taken along the great circle
from Fairbanks to the control point.
1t is remarkable how little distortion
occurs in the map as compared to
Mercator's projection. The Arctic Sec
ton especially has almost no distor-
ton. In fact it is only when you get
5000 miles from Fairbanks that the
distortion is at all apparent. AS you
know, Mercator's projection is not ac-
curate either as to distance or direction.
This map. therefore is, believe, supe-
rior to Mercator'S projection.
The Carnegie Institute has adopted
this as a base for its studies of geophy-
steal phenomena, and you will find on
the map the locations of the stations
which the GeophySical Union is locat-
ing to study the polar and magnetic
regions"
Mr., Sawyer contends that geography
should be studied from the position of
the observer, not from a distorted view
point as is given by Mercator's projec-
ton, which ordinarily creates in a
child's imagination an utterly preposter-
Gus idea that the world is like a
cylinder"
Every child" he says, should be
taught geography from a globe and he
should be able to visualize what the
world is like when viewed from Wash
ington, Chicago or Fairbanks"
Mr.. Sawyer says that "airplanes
ships, radio. and also the air and water
currents, disease and animal and bird
migrations are along lines laid down as
the base of this map"