Geographical Map

The Geographical Map tableau is accessed from the Toolbar and from the Atlas (gazetteer) window by clicking the "Geographical Map" button.

The map of the Earth is used to obtain geographical coordinates for the location of a birth or other event when it cannot be found in the Atlas, and for astrocartographic displays.

Apart from the basic depiction of land and sea, the map can display:

• cities, with size marking conformant to city size and the map scaling,
• city names, with the font size of legends intelligently related to city size and the map scale factor,
• the currently established geographical location(s), i.e. the Event Data,
• various astrocartographical information,
• night regions, etc

If you have ZET 7 Geo a scaled topographical (relief) map of the world is available to you. Here is a fragment of this map at a scale of 1 pixel/kilometer:

Tooltip information is available for map features. In addition, the Status Line at the bottom of the window shows the longitude and latitude under the mouse pointer and the scale factor currently being used.

To pick coordinates for use in birth or event data, zoom in on the region of interest (see the section below), position the mouse pointer, and click the right mouse button. From the popup menu select "Utilize Coordinates". Note: if you pick coordinates from an empty region (i.e. not from any city location), this operation does not change the time zone in effect.

To animate the tableau use the Dynamics of Time and Dynamics of Location control panels. These are useful primarily for astrocartographical research.

Map Tools

The following tools are available at the right end of the Toolbar in the Geographical Map tableau:

• "Drag" tool - click the Toolbar icon to select, then click and drag with the mouse in the tableau while holding down the mouse button,
• "Marquee Zoom" tool - click the Toolbar icon to select, then click in the tableau and drag the mouse while holding down the mouse button to open up a rectangular frame on the tableau. When you release the mouse button the map is zoomed to the framed area. (You can set the color of the marquee rectangle on the Color tab of the Geographical Map Settings dialog),
• Zoom buttons - click the upper (bullet) button to zoom in, and the lower (point) button to zoom out. Zooming the map will not deselect the current map tool. Zooming can also be performed using the arrow cursor keys on the keyboard. (You can set the properties of the zoom buttons on the Grid tab of the Geographical Map Settings dialog),
• "Measure" tool - click the Toolbar icon to select, then click in the tableau to set an origin and drag with the mouse. An "elastic" line is drawn between the origin and the position of mouse pointer, and the distance between them is displayed on the Status Line (the direct distance and, in brackets, its longitudinal and latitudinal components).

When the Drag, Marquee Zoom, and Measure tools are deselected, it is possible to reset the "current location" markers shown by a red spot (core data) or a blue spot (background data). Click a marker with the mouse and drag it to its new position in the tableau while holding down the mouse button.

A total of 12 zoom levels are available. They are labelled in the status bar at the bottom of window from Scale 32 - 1"/pix (highest magnification = one arc-second per screen pixel) thru Scale 1/64 - 32'/pix (lowest magnification = 32 arc-minutes per screen pixel). The magnification doubles (halves) at each zoom step.

Here is an example of a zoomed (Scale 8 - 4"/pix) map fragment:

The display of city names is adjusted automatically at each zoom level. The quantity and the style of the map legends displayed can be selected on the Misc. tab of the Geographical Map Settings dialog.

Introduction to Astrocartography

One method of astrocartography calculates points on the Earth at which the planets in the nativity (or transit, etc) appear to be in conjunction with the angles of the native's (or transit, etc) chart at the time of erecting the horoscope. Let's consider what this means.

Taking first the prime vertical, the set of locations on the Earth at which "Sun on MC", "Mercury on IC", etc will be true (i.e. where these planets will appear conjunct with the meridian) will form vertical lines on the standard (Mercator) map projection of the Earth's surface - since they connect places of equal longitude. Less evidently, if we draw lines connecting the places in which planets are in prime aspect to the Asc-Desc axis, then (on the same map projection) we arrive at sinusoids. By mathematical interpolation it is also possible to derive loci for the intermediate cusps and houses.

From the astrological point of view, we are especially interested in geographical points - and, by extension, the latitude in general - at which two natal planets are simultaneously conjunct with the angles of the horoscope chart, whether it is a nativity, transit, etc. The map will depict these as the intersection of two projection lines. These points of intersection are the so-called paranas, and their astrological interpretation is broadly as follows: if you want success, relocate to the places where Jupiter is at MC. If you want to get married, move to where your natal Venus is on the Descendant, and so on. See the above graphic for an example of these astrolocality lines.

There are two variations on this technique of astrocartographical projection. The first is interested in lines covering places in which a planet of interest is precisely on the Ascendant, i.e. where, as seen from the Earth, the planet has the ecliptical longitude of the Ascendant (and similarly, lines involving aspects of the planets and the Descendant, MC and IC). In the second, places on the globe are considered of interest at which the planet crosses the horizon (and similarly, the celestial meridian and prime vertical).

ZET caters for both the above variants of astrocartography. While broadly similar, they produce somewhat different results when a planet of interest "has latitude", i.e. its orbit has taken it away from the plane of the ecliptic.

Local Space Astrology

In the Local Space Astrology method of astrocartography, the celestial coordinates of planets are translated into a system of horizontal coordinates (i.e. bearings) at a given location.

While Local Space projections are available on the Geographical Map, a separate Local Space window can also be displayed by clicking the "Miscellaneous" button on the Toolbar and selecting it from the menu. It contains a compass rose to remind you that bearings are being shown:

• Lines marking places on the Earth where the Sun, Moon and planets are at the zenith,
• Images of the astrological houses - lines of projection of the great circles of houses on the surface of the Earth (for more about the circles of houses, see the topic Celestial Sphere),
• Lines marking places on the Earth where planets form aspects to angular house cusps, indicating places where, at the given moment, those aspect are operating particularly strongly. Astrological relocation is based on choosing places which, in relation to the planets in the horoscope, favourably satisfy a given criterion. While times of birth are fixed and unalterable, locations can be chosen in relation to a birth chart that are advantageous to some goal,
• Symbolic projections of cities onto the ecliptic - the geographical coordinates of cities are treated as equatorial coordinates (Right Ascension and declination), and then transformed into ecliptical coordinates. The resulting symbolic projection of the city can be considered as another heavenly object in a natal (or transit, etc) chart, which can participate in aspects and other astrological analyses,
• Projections of heavenly objects onto the geographical map (stars, planets, asteroids) - points can be derived indicating places in which planets, asteroids and stars are on the zenith at the time of interest (real horizontal projection),
• Symbolic projection of stars - stars can be considered as having a symbolic equatorial projection, in which their celestial equatorial coordinates are made conformant with geographical coordinates, and the resulting point considered as a projection of the object onto the Earth. This allows the astrological influence of stellar objects on terrestrial regions to be analysed. (This is the inverse of the symbolic projection of a city onto the ecliptic),
• Symbolic projection of the planets - lines of projection of celestial objects for points considered to have the same zodiacal longitude as a given object (but different zodiacal latitude), a symbolic equatorial projection of these points onto the Earth then being derived. These lines are interpreted as zones of influence of the object(s) in the region. You can choose any set of planets and one star for this,
• Local Space - lines of geographical azimuth bearings derived from the positions of the planets,
• The facility to creates astrocartograms not only for planets, but also for any asteroid, virtual object, or pars,
• Selection of any subset of the 10 planets and other objects of interest,
• Selection of any pair of angular houses, or all of them,
• The option to displaying either conjunctions only, or all the major aspects.

The popup menu

Click the right mouse button in the tableau for a popup menu of options:

• Geographical Map Settings - opens the Geographical Map Settings dialog,
• Astro*Carto*Graphy Settings - opens the A*C*G Settings dialog,
• Geographical Atlas - opens the Atlas window of city names and coordinates, e.g. so you can pinpoint a particular city on the map,
• Utilize  Coordinates - transfers the coordinates of the location under the mouse pointer to the Event Data (or Your Location) window. The local event (birth) time is not changed. Note: if a city is selected when you invoke popup menu, then the time zone value and name of the time zone table is also transferred, otherwise the time zone value is not changed and time zone table name field is cleared,
• Get place of Relocation - utilize the Relocation tecnique, changes birth location data. Universal (GMT) birth time is not changed.
• Reading of Relocation - display the interpretation text (if enabled) for Relocation to selected point.
• Select Star - this and the next menu item are enabled if the mouse pointer is positioned on the projection of a star on the map. This option retrieves the name and designation of the star into the appropriate field of the A*C*G Settings dialog.
• Star Interpretation - select for an astrological reading (interpretation) of the specified star (subject to the availability of texts).
• Save Placemark - save current map state (position and scale),
• Goto Placemark - restore saved map position and scale,
• Upgrade GTOPO - this item is temporary visible, if need to updrade the topographical map (for Geo modification only).