Maps are no longer merely tools for determining locations and boundaries; the image they present of the world can also convey perceptions of size, power, and influence. In a significant move, the United Nations General Assembly adopted this month a new geographic projection map known as "Equal Earth."
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According to a report published by the British newspaper The Guardian, the map was designed by three cartographers: American cartographer Tom Paterson, software engineer Boyan Shavrich, and geography professor Bernhard Jenny in 2018.
The new map aims to provide an accurate alternative to the 16th-century Mercator map, which has long faced sharp criticism for exaggerating the sizes of countries in the northern hemisphere, such as North America and Europe, at the expense of other continents, particularly Africa.
While the Mercator map, according to The Guardian, offers useful accuracy for navigation by making cardinal directions fixed, it exaggerates the sizes of regions near the poles, making areas like North America and Europe appear relatively larger than they actually are on the Earth's surface. The "Equal Earth" map, on the other hand, attempts to better preserve the true relationships between the sizes of the continents, though it makes other compromises, particularly at the map's edges.
Geographer Bernhard Jenny: People generally believe that maps accurately represent the Earth, but this logic breaks down because we live on a curved surface, which raises a problem.
However, some details of the politically themed versions of the new map sparked diplomatic objections. Japan requested an amendment concerning the Kuril Islands, which are disputed with Russia, while Ukraine abstained from voting because the colors of Crimea differed from the rest of its territory.
the nature of the Earth itself, saying, "People generally believe that maps accurately represent the Earth, but this logic breaks down because we live on a curved surface, which is problematic, as the globe cannot be easily transformed into a flat rectangle."
He likens the process of converting the spherical surface of the Earth into a flat map to "the peel of an orange," which always entails compromises in shape, area, distance, or direction.
Shafrich, however, believes that the importance of the map goes beyond its official adoption, because it allows for increased awareness of map reading, stressing that "there is no single cartographic projection capable of providing a completely accurate representation of the world," and that every map involves trade-offs.
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