If there exists a constant, characteristic speed, then one may speak of the characteristic conversion of space and time. For example, the speed of light in a vacuum is a defined constant in the SI system of units. So in physical science and its applications one may speak of the characteristic conversion of space into time and vice versa. This means that even if in some sense light curves (as by gravity), then the path of light is a geodesic, that is, equivalent to a straight line.
In other contexts, there may be no such characteristic speed but still there may be a constant speed within a specified context, which serves as a contextual conversion of space and time. This allows a map with a consistent scale, for example this map of the London Tube:
http://www.oskarlin.com/images/timetravel_no_zones_old_colours.pdf
Informally, this is done quite often. When asked how far away something is, we answer with the travel time by car or other mode.
Now the surprising thing is that the Lorentz transformation arises just because there exists such a conversion between space and time. It shows how to transform particular velocities in the context of a conversion speed between space and time. See the previous posts on the Lorentz transformation.