Cosmere Map Accuracy? (Spoilers for Isles of the Emberdark)

[dstokes7]

In Chapter 27 of Isles of the Emberdark, Starling states that the perpendicularity at First of the Sun (aka Drominad) is of extreme strategic importance in the Roshar-Scadrial War because "while Drominad wasn't super close to either Scadrial or Roshar, it was situated somewhat between them...". That makes it sound like the three planets are situated in a nearly straight line relative to each other, with Scadrial on one end, Roshar on the other, and Drominad roughly in the middle, perhaps situated somewhat off to the side.

Yet on the map of the Cosmere included in Arcanum Unbounded, it shows Scadrial positioned very close to Roshar, while First of the Sun is clear out in the boondocks! Far from being on a relatively straight line, the three are actually arranged like an extremely acute triangle! If that map is correct, then calling Drominad a strategic midpoint between Roshar and Scadrial is like saying Johannesburg, South Africa makes a great midpoint between Berlin and Moscow! Is the map from Arcanum Unbounded inaccurate/no longer cannon, or am I misunderstanding something?

[alder24]

You're looking at the two dimensional projection of the three dimensional space - the Z axis is completely missing from this map and you can't accurately estimate distances between stars. While Roshar and Scadrial might look fairly close on the XY axes, on the Z axis they might be separated by dozens or hundreds of light years and the opposite might be true when considering their distance to the Drominad system. And while we know this image represents a real sky visible from some location in Cosmere, we don't know where it is and how far away from other stars is that place.  

Spoiler

 

[Returned he/him]

I'm not sure the Arcanum Unbounded map is necessarily to scale or even especially accurate (like, it could be a projection to get everything into one plane for the image). So that's one possible explanation.

I don't recall in detail the section you quote and can't look it up right now, but might they have been discussing the perpendicularity as important in regards to travel through the cognitive realm? Physical arrangement is far less rigid there and does not really mirror the physical realm precisely. Travel between Scadrial and Roshar through the CR might be greatly aided by having a waypoint (especially one which allows travel to the physical realm, and therefore physical supply), regardless of the physical locations of the planets.

Edited 5 hours ago by Returned

[Frustration]

PR space is in three directions. Scadrial for instance could be dozens of lightyears closer to the place where the image was taken than Roshar is, and First of the Sun would be in the middle.