Just want to point out… their “equal” and “correct” map is missing New Zealand…
You mean the homepage infographic? Thats not the map. If you click download you can get accurate full maps based on this projection.
Why don’t they just put the actual map on their site? The video and slider map make usa canada and mexico look like islands…
There’s a big “Download” url: https://equal-earth.com/ here’s the standard english one https://www.equal-earth.com/Equal-Earth-Map-0.jpg
(Maps missing New Zealand is a meme)
Why does the map on the website need that draggable divider when both versions show both types of projection?
I was wondering the same thing.
You can’t see the reduced size versions inside the originals? They’re outlined in a different color.
That’s what I’m saying, both versions show both outlines.
The coloring changes, but both show the same information.
Probably a very difficult thing to program? The color changing is a good workaround.
I just thought that it worked well with as a static image.
But maybe someone had a bit of fun doing that divider effect.
Yeah, that’s basically what I was thinking.
it’s still a very strange design
It’s a bit hard to find out where it actually originated from and who’s behind it. Judjing by their social media handlers, it’s a marketing agency Hello Makeda. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t trust marketing agencies to be good judges on geographical projects.
They are only using the cause to promote their brand social responsibility probably. In any case, the issue with the distorted view of the map that ideologically and politically benefited one side has been known for decades, and most of the countries that were colonies now use the correct one.
This is such a garbage take. There is no way to “show our world as it truly is” in two dimensions. I’m all about showing other projects and orientations. Classrooms should have “upside down” maps and Albert maps for example. But we should also teach that each projection has benefits and drawbacks. I was taught that decades ago. Have we stopped?
The way the world’s going, the next accepted projection will be depicted on the backs of four elephants atop a turtle.
Bring on the Wizzards
I do hope we get the luggage…
Wait a minute. I have seen this exact visual somewhere
Its the same take that’s applied to any party seen as a “status quo”. Your boss, the CEO, police, the state, movies, everything is “projected” to show something that it isn’t to subtly manipulate the basis of your decisions.
What? Map projections are not projected to manipulate you psychologically. They are projected to manipulate a three dimensional object onto a two dimensional surface.
I didn’t say they were made for that. They are used for it tho.
99% of people dont know that there other projections. I dare you to ask people which map projection is their favorite.
Ideally yes we should stick to standard and make sure everyone knows thay there are many variants and none of them perfectly represent the sphere were on but thats not happening.
I don’t believe that 99% figure for a second. Unless geography is removed from all curricula worldwide. Even still, that ignorance would not signify what this movement implies. It is a useful map; end of story. If the movement were, “We should increase public knowledge of geography and how projections work,” fine. But it isn’t.
Africans: You know, 14th century mercator maps are horribly disproportionate over 1/2 the map and are the maps of reference for most online apps, software and textbooks. There are better projections that balance location for actual land mass, we should probably use those.
lemmy: garbage take.
There aren’t better maps. Only maps with different tradeoffs. ALL 2d maps of spheres are disproportionate.
There absolutely are better maps for specific purposes. Or do you think this map would be no better or worse for the purpose of teaching school children?
Oh boy! Are you serious? Let me be more precise, in case. There aren’t actual projections that are better in all cases than the Mercator projection. There are maps that are better in given cases. ALL maps have trade offs. The one you shared, included. It certainly benefits from the humor of pointing out why this is an issue in the first place.
in all cases I think the part tripping you up
We can do better with teaching, news and infographics than a map that is just designed for ship navigation.
It’s like you’d run over a dozen kids in the trolly problem rather than a geriatric because there’s no perfect solution.
No, there aren’t perfect maps. There ARE better maps.
Mercator’s one trick is north is always straight up, so it’s great for navigation with a compass. If you’re navigating the oceans on a ship, or even using GPS in your car, Mercator is GOAT because you don’t have to twist it as your drive to keep north up. Unfortunately, we default to Mercator just about everywhere in places where it really has disadvantages.
If you’re just looking at the map to locate things, or compare countries there are dozens of better maps and our decision to default to mercator for most uses us
It’s now trivial, in 2025, to depict the world as a 3D shape, this is coming a few decades after it matters, imo.
Whatever map that uses Eurasia rather than pretend Europe is it’s own continent is fine by me
This is the best idea I’ve heard since that one weird website I found that said every country should put a sky blue pennant above their flag to remind us we share a planet.
Mercator distorts landmass to fit the grid, so it is good for navigation, simply draw a straight line between two points and follow it. Also, the plea on that site is just…weird. Africa is not taken seriously because it is displayed too small on maps - what? It is a large, chunky continent that can be compressed without too much detail loss - Europe, not so much.
Maybe Greenland’s size on the projection is what got Trump all worked up. :P
Yes, but thats only for navigation. The map was chosen to be used as the standard in colonial time, because it brainwashed the colonies to believe that the people subjugating them were from great and big countries on the other side of the world. There would be a lot more revolts if people actually knew that they were being held captives by weak dudes from some small european piece of land that was only a fraction of the size of their country.
The globe in the thumbnail is really bothering me. Does the artist not know how to align objects?
It’s also using mercator projection
It was probably done for free by some volunteer dude… You can contact them and offer to fix it for free probably
I might just do that, thanks!
Geometry just isn’t PC
i think the best solution (besides globes which are impractical on screens/posters) is having no standard, expose kids in school to 3 or 4 different projections so they learn there’s no standard and all protections are as valid and all with drawbacks and advantages.
I don’t get it,
from my memory of geography class in 5th to 8th grade, in elementary, we extensively learned about all kinds of maps, and projections, so teaching kids 3-4 is huge downgrade.didn’t mean only teach 3-4, just to not regularly use one projection. use a handful so no one instinctively learns to accept one.
even though you learned a lot of maps, it’s likely most maps you used when not learning about different projections were the same.
Most likely, because I would guess that >90% of my up to date (after middle school) use of maps was highly localised to plaxe of interest.
Which doesn’t really show projection type (or brings relevance of it to surface).
You’ve unlocked a weird memory. The Windows CD version of Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego did exactly that. It had that map screen where you’d pick where to chase the bad guy, and they used different map projections. I can find screenshots of the game showcasing a Mercator, Robinson and Goode Homolosine projections. And it’s not different editions of the game, it would change between missions.
Yeah I had a Peters Projection map when I was young and there wasn’t any big deal over it, somehow I just assumed everyone did.
Since this article gave you everything except the one thing you want to see, here’s what the Equal Earth projection looks like
Yes, it is an awful website with an awful promotion video. Sizing the countries down but not connecting them and not showing you the world map as it would look like in total is absolutely not furthering the cause. I’m so mad I’m not sure I even want to sign the petition to be honest. Granted, my school atlas did not have the mercator projection.
Yeh, I mean I can see how using Mercator is subconsciously strengthening colonialist thinking, but to imply that the angles-stable area-distorted map that was much more convenient for naval navigation, was specifically chosen to misrepresent the size of the global south is borderline paranoid.
What really disappoints me about that site is the button that reads “Download the Correct Map”. They destroyed all their credibility with one word.
Oh God I didn’t even notice that, you’re absolutely right. Or, dare I say, you are correct.
Damn Russia is still that big? I thought the distortion played a large part in its size on the original map.
Yeah, but now it’s tiny compared to Antarctica
Pfft. Antarctica is but a few islands in an ice-sheet trench coat. If the ice sheets melted, it would remain uninhabited except for some stalwart rancher folk.
you need to tag nudity as NSFW
Greenland’s not that big is it?
Yes it’s still quite big, but not nearly as big as Australia (as Mercator would suggest). On a globe it is quite obvious, but who has a globe at home in 2025…
I do.
This will never happen as long as Big Greenland pulls the strings of power in the cartography world.
It’s time the U.S. deals with big Greenland once and for Oil.
And they’re very big. Have you looked at a map lately? Do you expect tiny little Africa to stand up to that?
The Mercator projection was great for navigating oceans, baring remain correct. There are thousands of other map projections that do a better job preserving size, shape, directions, and distances. Any projection will be a tradeoff between these.
As far as I know the Mercator projection has mostly fallen out of use in education, and I don’t think there’s any standard that requires it anywhere. So I’m not sure exactly what this is about.
yeah, most of the world already moved on from it, but its still being used in many texts and countries.
I don’t think there’s any standard that requires it anywhere. So I’m not sure exactly what this is about.
Don’t give the right any ideas. They’ll be on about “geometric purity” or other such nonsense. Or anything but Mercator will just be “woke.”
“The woke liberal left wants to changes maps to make America smaller! Cause they hate America! We will stand against this liberal assault on American sovereinty with the new Trump Map, which shows the true size of America compared to every other country! Order your new Trump Map today for 399.98!”
Nah they all use the Azimuthal Equidistant Projection
I mean the problem with any projection of earth onto a 2d simplified shape surface is that it will be inherently distorted. The Mercator projection is scaled properly towards the equator but has to scale upwards more and more toward the poles to be able to fit the given area.
Even their own map, which for some reason isn’t shown in either the video or on the main page, isn’t accurate either. It’s better but is also warped in its own way, it would be nice if they had a little blurb that says something to that effect.
Here’s the actual map projection they are pushing for; https://equal-earth.com/equal-earth-projection.html
Fuck that. Let’s go for the euler spiral.
I hope someone travels Antarctic to Alaska on this map
It seems like the kind of thing that would give rise to the
~Earth movementThe Tildearth Society
A society predominantly attended by hobbits.
Tildearth desktop wallpaper
Hey this is great. Is there a1440p version?
I just threw it together for a joke, I could try to make a high res one after work tonight if I remember
I would actually use this, great idea
On linux tilde also represent home. Can have cute double meaning.
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I mean, I’m not exactly thrilled about it erasing my country… Did a cartographer from New Zealand make this as an act of revenge? 🤔
Which country? It seems to all be there. It might be cut in half or upside down, but it’s all there.
Oh wait, there it is! I was too disoriented to spot it, Denmark 😄
Wait, what the hell did Denmark do to New Zealand?
Idunno, maybe they want to go on a bicycling holiday and resent how far away we are 🤷
In color
We could also have made Mercator maps of varying position, but that might not center Europe.
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