Relief globes

Globes were thee-dimensional representations of the earth. But if you consequently would reproduce the world you should create a relief globe that considers also the terrain surface of the earth. So, relief globes were the only consequent representations of the earth, if there would not be the problem of exaggeration: Even Mt. Everest would be so tiny in a globe of a diameter of some decimetres, so that it is inevitable to exaggerate a relief globe. As larger the scale as less the exaggeration can be. Most suitable is a carefully chosen graduated exaggeration, which emphasizes the flat regions like coastal areas and hilly landforms without distorting the high mountains too much [1]. Often, on relief globes the landmasses are as well moulded as the sea floor.

The construction of a relief globe is rather complicated and different methods and materials are adopted. The first relief globes of the earth date of the 18^th century. They were constructed in France in 1752 by Philippe Buache and in 1777 by his pupil Pierre Lartigue (1744 – about 1828). In Germany, Karl Wilhelm Kummer (1785 – 1855) made a relief globe in Berlin 1820 [2]. Sometimes, relief globes were created for blinds. The oldest wooden relief globe of the USA for example was made for this purpose in 1837 [3].

Not only the surface of the earth has been depicted in relief globes, but also other orbs were constructed as models. The first known relief globes were models of one half of the moon [4] and in the 1960ies, the moon landing expeditions were prepared using lunar relief models, whole globes [5] and sections envisaged as landing places [6].

Until the first launch of a satellite in the 1950ies, a relief globe was the only way to show the whole terrestrial globe at a glance and to depict the relations between the continents in their real proportions [7].

Today, one common production technique uses the method of thermoplastic relief moulding. Several segments (at least two hemispheres) were vacuum-formed separately and then merged together. Relief globes sizes range from a few centimetres diameter to several meters.