There’s a New Map in Town

Mercator projection

Growing up, going through school, the maps we saw in our Social Studies classes were all Mercator projection maps. The problem with the Mercator map, which was created for ship navigation, is that it makes northern regions appear disproportionately large, while Africa and other places closer to the equator appear smaller than they really are. They may work a treat for sailors but they give the rest of us a pretty skewed view of our planet.

Togo's Foreign Minister Robert Dussey said maps are far more than simple representations of geography.

"Maps shape our understanding of the world. They guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions," (source) 

So, there’s a relatively new map out and it’s absolutely fascinating. It’s the Equal Earth projection map. It’s an equal-area, pseudocylindrical world map that shows continents and oceans at their true sizes relative to each other.

At Al Jazeera there’s a quiz:

Can you guess the real size of each country on the new world map?

Pick which country is bigger, then watch it morph from Mercator to Equal Earth projection to see how close you were.

I played and, surprisingly, got eight out of ten right. Maybe most stunning to me was the Greenland/Algeria question. Which is bigger? I mean – c’mon – on all the maps we’ve been looking at since we were tiny tots, Greenland is HUGE, right? It looks to be about the same size as the entire continent of Africa and Algeria’s just one country on the continent. OF COURSE Greenland’s bigger, right?

Wrong!

Algeria measures 2,381,741 square kilometers in size. Greenland is 2,166,086 square kilometers.

The United Nations feels it’s wise for schoolchildren and people in general, to have a reality based picture of the planet. As much as I’d love to live in a fantasy world of my own invention, I’m down with the U.N. going with actuality.

To address this, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted 164 to 1 on Friday to adopt a resolution promoting the Equal Earth projection, which shows continents in their true proportions, as an alternative to Mercator.
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Gerardus Mercator, Flemish geographer, cosmographer
 and cartographer. Creator of the 1569 world map.

The United States was the only country to vote against the resolution calling the measure a “radical ideological project”. (source) 

Emmmm, given that our ambassador to the U.N. is Mike Waltz, the completely moronic Trump toady who included a reporter in an insufficiently secured group chat discussing war plans, I’m unsurprised that we were the single no vote. So, the U.S. is the only anti-reality nation. Yeah, that’s a real shocker, huh? 🙄

I only mention it but the U.N.’s resolution is not legally binding and doesn’t mean anyone’s got to give up their precious, inaccurate Mercator projections. The U.N. is just gently encouraging the use of a more accurate map.

Are you a teacher or a map nerd? Go to the Equal Earth website and download the file(s) (it’s FREE and shit!). You can then go to your local print shop and have them print it out. Yes, this will cost bucks but still, it’s cool, huh?

The Equal Earth Wall Map is for schools, organizations, or anyone who needs a map showing countries and continents at their true sizes relative to each other. Africa appears 14 times larger than Greenland as it actually is. And wherever you live, the map has you covered. Download a choice of three versions centered on these regions: Africa/Europe, the Americas, and East Asia/Australia.

Other features include:

•  It’s free. Download the map and print as many copies as you want.
•  It’s big. The map measures 55” wide x 29” tall (1.4 x 0.74 meters). You can print it even larger thanks to the very high resolution.
•  Just enough detail.  The 2,600+ map labels provide geographic context without overwhelming you with too much information.
•  Professional design. With pleasing colors, readable type, and clear visual hierarchies, this is a map that you will want to look at. (source) 

Just FYI – the cost to print a 55” wide x 29” tall (1.4 x 0.74 meters) color map could run in the neighborhood of $60 - $75. Double that price if you want it laminated (which would be a smart plan if this is going up in a classroom).