I've only just begun poking around in the various maps here, but I've already seen some absolutely beautiful work and attention to detail. What really intrigues me is that there's a strong focus on tectonic action, geographic effects on weather patterns, topographic contours, etc.. It's what should be considered, yes, I just normally don't run into people who go that in-depth (I'm a math & physics nerd, so this grabbed my attention big-time).

That got me wondering. Out of purely idle curiosity:
1) Has anyone here taken ellipticity into account in their mapping?
2) If you have, then did it make any significant difference in the results, their aesthetics, etc.?
3) Would you recommend for or against bothering with it -- and why / why not?

Ellipticity math reference: https://math.stackexchange.com/quest...of-ellipticity (please pardon the fact that the linked question's answer is my own, but it really does have the info. all in one spot, to include both fourth order flattening and fourth order eccentricity, which you just don't run into very much at all).