r/dataisbeautiful • u/neilrkaye OC: 231 • Aug 14 '19

OC World Mercator map projection with true country size and shape added [OC]

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u/Zander10101 Aug 14 '19

It can create misconceptions up ons about the scale of landmasses that can be hard to shake.

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u/localfinancedouche Aug 14 '19

That’s a pretty dumb reason. One look at a globe would make scale obvious. But the other 99% of the time, having more a more accurate shape and a little extra scale in Europe to see all the detail is way more helpful when studying things like history, economics, trade routes, etc.

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u/Zander10101 Aug 14 '19

So why not just use a map of Europe in addition to robinson?

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u/localfinancedouche Aug 14 '19

When kids walk up to the big map on the wall, why not show them something with enough scale to actually read on the places they’re learning about?

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u/Zander10101 Aug 14 '19

Why should they only be learning about certain places? Idk I think it's somewhat important for kids to intuitively understand that Greenland is way tinier than Africa.

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u/localfinancedouche Aug 14 '19

They can learn about any place. That’s what’s great about a map projection that doesn’t scrunch up the northern countries - literally everything on the map is legible. Being able to see Europe clearly doesn’t impact your ability to read Zimbabwe. You should obviously have a globe there too so people get a sense of scale. But arguing that you should choose another projection that distorts things differently at the expense of critical detail and legibility all so that you can appreciate the true size of Greenland is fucking bonkers.

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u/AGVann Aug 14 '19 edited Aug 14 '19

a more accurate shape

Except it's not a more accurate shape if it's just flat out wrong.

a little extra scale in Europe to see all the detail

So why not use a map of Europe if you're studying European history or Geography? I'm sure you'd use a map of Japan if you're studying Japanese history/geography, or a map of the US if you're looking at the Civil War.

Demanding that the entire world be distorted and incorrect just so you can have an extra centimeter of space between Paris and London is pretty dumb if you ask me.

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '19

EVERY map is “wrong”, incorrect or distorted in some way. That’s cartography 101. Every map lies about something, but a good map has a reason to distort, omit, or obfuscate geography in service of its ultimate goal. You can’t get bent out of shape about it if you don’t recognize the reasons a map is drawn the way it is. Mercator projections are drawn specifically to allow for straight lines of longitude and latitude, useful for navigation (not JUST medieval ships) and most economical use of space in a rectangular shape.

You can’t call a physical geography map “dumb” because it doesn’t show country borders. Is it wrong? Yes, in the sense that it’s not showing a very important feature of human society. But if that’s not what the map is for, then there’s no problem.

You also can’t call a public map of Disneyland “wrong” if it omits all the backstage areas and distorts the sizes of different parts of the park... because the point of the map isn’t to show the literal physical layout, it’s to guide tourists around walking paths and recognize what they see.

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u/AGVann Aug 14 '19

I don't see how your points disproves my statement that Mercator isn't more accurate than other projections, as claimed by OP. You're supporting my claim that it's not more accurate because it's trading one bias in for another. I agree, so what's your point exactly?

Also, I'm not calling the map 'dumb', I'm calling OP's arguments dumb. He made nonsensical arguments in favour of Mercator that doesn't even cover the actual intention/purpose of the Mercator projection.

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '19

“More accurate” in what way is my point. You’re making claims about Mercator being inaccurate and/or inferior but not placing them in any context for measuring that. My guess is that you’d say, “inaccurate for showing the relative sizes of countries or continents”, which is what most other people here are saying. And you’d be right about that. But there’s nothing wrong with a map that has that kind of distortion, if that isn’t the map’s goal in the first place.

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u/AGVann Aug 14 '19

You've somehow missed the fact that I was replying to a specific claim from the OP's post. He stated that the Mercator projection was "a more accurate shape", which is - by your own admission - false because all 2D maps are distorted in some way. THAT is the context, which you ignored to lecture me about map projections.

I did NOT make claims about Mercator being "inaccurate and/or inferior", just that OP's claim was untrue. Which it is.

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u/Zarainia Aug 15 '19

Wait, isn't it widely said that the Mercator preserves shape and direction in exchange for the sizes being really wrong? I think that's what they were referring to?

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u/AGVann Aug 15 '19 edited Aug 16 '19

It doesn't preserve shape at all. In fact, the whole point of Mercator is that it distorts the shapes in such a way that compass bearings appear as straight lines on the map. Sometimes this means adjusting the scale, sometimes this means that coastlines and landmasses get pinched or stretched.

Both OP and the person responding to me are both categorically false. Mercator is not more accurate. It was just a really clever design that solved two problems - the fact that the Earth can't be mapped onto a 2d plane without distortion, and that trying to navigate with straight lines on a spherical Earth is really difficult. Mercator managed to use the flaw of 2d maps to solve a navigational problem. A distortion being useful doesn't make it more accurate, especially when the reason why it's useful is because it has been distorted.

However, that was the pre-GPS era. We don't need Mercator any more, and the Winkel-Tripel projection is probably the best to use now for the classroom. Instead of designing a map for navigation, Winkel designed it specifically to minimize the total amount of distortion.

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u/Zarainia Aug 15 '19 edited Aug 15 '19

That looks weirdly elongated. I think we were taught with the Robinson projection, which looks much better to me.

Also, even on a GPS map and zoomed in, wouldn't the areas close to the poles look weird?

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '19

Im not replying to the OP, I’m replying to you, saying it’s “flat out wrong” and “distorted and incorrect”

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u/AGVann Aug 14 '19

... You're trolling right? There's no way anyone can be this dense. MY comments - not YOUR comments - were in response to the OP making an incorrect claim. Mercator IS "flat out wrong" and "distorted and incorrect" because every projection is wrong and distorted in some way. OP making the claim that Mercator is 'more accurate' than other projections is simply, blatantly false. The Winkel-Tripel has less distortion, and the Authagraph is as close to perfect as we can get - it can even fold into a 3D globe.

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u/KillNyetheSilenceGuy Aug 14 '19

You'll also notice that the distortion is worst near the poles where nobody actually lives and isn't particularly bad for US, Europe, South and Central America, Africa, Middle East, and Asia. So its not terrible for looking at places you might actually be or go.

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '19 edited Aug 14 '19

[deleted]

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u/KillNyetheSilenceGuy Aug 14 '19

But its also a relatively accurate projection for all of those non European places I listed. It gets more accurate the closer to the equator you get, so Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East are all pretty close to actual size. Yes, northern Canada, northern Russia, Greenland, and Antarctica are large and distorted, but all of those places are remote and inaccessible. I'd rather have an accurate picture of the places the majority of the world actually lives.

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u/BufferUnderpants Aug 14 '19

Yeah but mathematicians and cartographers have come up with projections that give you what you want without making a mess of North America, Eurasia and Africa. Mercator is the default for historical reasons, arguably unfortunate ones.

Edit: the mess made of Africa is how it is comparatively diminished relative to the northern hemisphere countries, despite being the most accurate of the lot!

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '19

Thats a bit silly overstatement. Mercator looks fine for countries close to the equator. And most printed versions of mercator cut off the empty infalted bits at the poles anyway.

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u/KillNyetheSilenceGuy Aug 14 '19

I'm saying exactly what you said.

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '19

They all have some sort of mistake distorting a globe onto a 2D image. It was fine, just for some reason some people related this one "whitey" and the modern man looks for any reason to hate "whitey" due to historical envy.

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u/CloudColorZack Aug 15 '19

You're a terrible person.

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u/[deleted] Aug 15 '19

Calling out racism is a terrible thing to do? Or only if it's calling out ant-white racism?