Error in Googlemaps?

[Saint_Cad]

Look at this map with a short 5th side to Colorado.
Diagonal border

But according to the Colorado Constitution Article I

The boundaries of the state of Colorado shall be as follows: Commencing on the thirtyseventh parallel of north latitude, where the twentyfifth meridian of longitude west from Washington crosses the same; thence north, on said meridian, to the fortyfirst parallel of north latitude; thence along said parallel, west, to the thirtysecond meridian of longitude west from Washington; thence south, on said meridian, to the thirtyseventh parallel of north latitude; thence along said thirtyseventh parallel of north latitude to the place of beginning.

In other words, all straight lines.

So is there an error in Googlemaps or an explaination for the diagonal border?

[Squink]

~100 feet EW deviation over about 500 feet NS? It looks like a surveyor’s correction for the error involved in trying to map a plane rectangle onto a sphere.

[bup]

I was going to say the same, but if you pan upward there are little jags like that going in both directions - sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right.

A longitude in that projection would consistently bear slightly right.

So I don’t know what the deal is.

[Squink]

@bup

I was going to say the same, but if you pan upward there are little jags like that going in both directions - sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right.

Perhaps the surveyor got stuck with a noisy Theodolite, or just did a bad job?

[Omphaloskeptic]

The USGS 7.5’ map for that area doesn’t seem to show any jagged diversions like that. (Compare this hybrid Google map, with one of the diagonals at the bottom and a recognizable road at the top, with this USGS map at about the same scale. I would have to guess it’s just inaccurate digital data in the GIS, but I don’t know.

[Bytegeist]

The error is real.

[Omphaloskeptic]

@Bytegeist

The error is real.

That’s a good one, but it’s on the other side of Colorado from the OP’s link. Google Maps does show that one, too, but that’s a much longer kink than the little bitty ones I think he’s asking about.

[Bytegeist]

@Omphaloskeptic

That’s a good one, but it’s on the other side of Colorado from the OP’s link.

Well consarn it, you’re right. I need to slow down before posting.

Maybe this addresses the oddities of the Kansas-Colorado border. (Particularly “Errors in Measurement”, near the bottom.)

[Colophon]

I would assume it’s an artifact of transferring the GIS information onto Google Maps and translating it from spherical to planar projection. The relevant topo map shows a straight line border - I checked it on Topozone too (note the creek bed which is clearly visible on the aerial image near the jog).