African Union joins calls to end use of Mercator map that shrinks continent’s size
African Union joins calls to end use of Mercator map that shrinks continent’s size
We should encourage the use of more globes to represent world maps.
Like, seriously. Almost all maps are viewed on a computer screen, all computers easily have the ability to display a sphere and rotate it
I'm going to be honest, this just looks utterly useless for any country that isn't south africa, and ESPECIALLY useless for any country in the northern hemisphere.
Like, yes, sure, you've made all the country's areas roughly equal, but also every single country that isn't south africa is a distorted, warped mess that looks nothing like its actual shape.
Look at parts of europe- every country is a COMPLETELY USELESS shape. Three quarters of them have been turned into diagonal lines. How the fuck is that useful? Europe is the worst area in that regard, but by no means the only one.
It makes it literally useless as a map.
Every country looks distorted and warped based on your lifetime of experience looking at mercator projection. Every country looks warped and distorted when compared to globes. We learn geography on a flat surface which is inherently distorted because we live on a round surface
Actually, fun fact, the entire point of the Mercator projection is that it DOES maintain shapes/angles, just not scale. It's a nautical map, it's for sailing. That's why when you look at a mercator map and a globe, the countries look about the same, just potentially different sizes- because that's literally the point of it.
Who actually uses it as a map though? It's usually only seen briefly in apps, or in various symbols, or on a classroom wall. As a symbol, having the rights sizes would be a significant improvement. In an app, people will zoom in anyway, so at least they'd passively see the correct proportions when zooming out, instead of getting a false impression. In a classroom, it would seem all that more importantly to not give false impressions to kids.
The problem with that is that it gives a completely incorrect idea of what an individual country looks like, in a way that gives a false impression to kids about what the countries even look like. Suddenly they have to look at one map, and recognize a country, and then look at a zoomed in, more accurate map, and recognize it in a completely different shape. To be frank, most people's geography knowledge is already bad enough- doubling the amount of shapes they need to learn is basically a non-starter.
For classroom instruction, a globe should be being used anyway- that's the gold standard. Why go through all the work and effort of introducing a worse solution, that doubles the amount of studying, and is made completely useless when it can be replaced by a $10 globe?
“It’s [the Mercator projection] the world’s longest misinformation and disinformation campaign, and it just simply has to stop.”
No matter how we cut it though, all 2D projections will have some kind of distortion. They opted to preserve area, while the Mercator preserves angles. Arguably it is less important today to preserve angles, as we have automatic navigation systems. There are some alternatives that also preserve the area: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/The-Equal-Earth-compared-to-similar-equal-area-pseudocylindrical-projections.png
It's not a damn campaign. Activists never seem to be good at nuance.
This is truly the concern of our time.
This is like that one American Dallas county commissioner, William Price, getting offended it's called Black Hole.
The notion that projections perpetuate some racial agenda is exactly the pseudo-intellectual victimhood that takes away oxygen in the room for actual issues to be addressed.
Gerrymappering.
I really like the Dymaxion projection.
Me too! Also the Waterman Butterfly.
Cool! Didn't know that one, thanks!
I prefer to unfold a map to read it, as opposed to doing origami just to figure out where I'm going.
Me when someone calls my pp smol
Ok come up with something that's better and just as practical.
Like completely, or just as a default?
It's uniquely the best option if you like using compass bearings.
Or just want a map that you can cut a small piece (up to a square 10° of longitude) from and have it just work (no skewing or non-proportional scaling required) although non-interactive world maps should use Robinson, Winkel-Tripel or something.
Of course, "a square 10° of latitude", while the same size on the full map, will cover different areas. The side length is approximately:
If you're at the Amundsen-Scott research station, a square 10° of latitude won't do, as it covers just about your bed.
Which, at a global scale, is important in your life when exactly? The only time I move at a global scale I'm flying, and then the projection makes it look like my pilot doesn't know how to fly in a straight line.
Since the advent of widespread GPS, a lot less. It's historically interesting, and is still used as a backup by some ships, but it's not really necessary the way it was in the age of sail when it became the projection.
Again, if they just want to switch to something more balanced as a default when you just want to point at things on a map, that's entirely reasonable.
It was very much a real discussion back then as well. The writers didn’t invent this argument.
People have been complaining about maps in general since we first started making them. The Gall-Peters projection that they mentioned traces its origins back to 1855 when James Gall first introduced the concept.
In the 1970’s, Arno Peters made this projection well known. He specifically argued the point the show makes: other maps distort our perception of the world and it fosters problems with how we treat some countries.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall%E2%80%93Peters_projection
Such a beautiful scene.
"But you can't do that!"
"Why not?"
"Because you're freaking me out!"
Beat me to it. Except it's more like 25 years. Now get off my lawn.
Reminds me of the West Wing episode with the Petersen (?) projection map. Although I seem to remember that map format was under copyright and would have required a fee for every use. An intended consequence?
Looking at the correct map makes it clear that our Risk Continent Troop values need updated now.
I love how big Ukraine is on the Risk map.
16th century? Huh I would have expected a far more accurate version would have been made and accepted long ago.
Especially since during all the centuries since then accurate navigation was needed, even around Afrika, and not make journeys last far longer by keeping an incorrect map.
Nautical navigation is where the Mercator map is actually the most useful. Any straight line drawn in it stays true and any angles are preserved. That's why every nautical chart is done using a Mercator projection. It's just not so great when blown up to the size of the world, but that was never really it's intention.
I would have expected a far more accurate version would have been made and accepted long ago.
The earth is a three-dimensional globe, all two-dimensional projections will be incorrect, you can only choose which aspects (e.g. distances, areas or whatever) you want to keep correct.
I always that that countries made their own maps and always centered themselves on it.
That's why I use the dymaxian projection
Gall-Peters 4EVA!
I personally think that Eckert IV is a little more visually pleasing while otherwise achieving all the same benefits as Equal Earth, but both are good
https://xkcd.com/977/
Robinson always looked the best to me
What brand are your running shoes?
Damn the Goode called me tf out
Dymaxion.
Waterman is nice and all, but I don't like the way it splits Australia and New Zealand, or how it puts Antarctica in a separate bit like Alaska in USA maps.
Dymaxion offers a nice continuous view of all the continents, and can still be folded into a sufficiently spherical globe-like thingy.
It'd be nice to have an alternative version that made the oceans continuous, though, for people who like ships and stuff.
Shoes with toes wtf
I've heard they're very comfortable but they do look weird
I feel like it's missing a style I don't know the name of but can describe. Basically a map made up of 4-6 parts depending on it they want the north and south poles wherein it shows the earth at 4 different point roughly broken up by continents, Europe and Africa, Asia and parts of Oceania, Oceania, and North and South America.
As a Dvorak user, why not dymaxion
Dvorak users, assemble!
No credit for Mollweide projection ;(