Essays on cartography, surveying, geography and space, from the pen of a map engineer.https://abovethemaps.com/enhttps://abovethemaps.com/blog/zero-point/https://abovethemaps.com/blog/zero-point/Why does the line where longitude begins run through a London suburb? The zero point is not a law of nature — it is an agreement.Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://abovethemaps.com/blog/celestial-navigation/https://abovethemaps.com/blog/celestial-navigation/For thousands of years humanity found its way by asking the stars. How did the sky — a map with no lines drawn on it — become the most reliable chart of all?Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://abovethemaps.com/blog/mercator/https://abovethemaps.com/blog/mercator/You cannot fit a round planet onto a flat sheet of paper. The Mercator projection strikes a bargain with that impossibility — and it gives something up to do it.Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT