this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2025

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YSK There's a campaign to replace the distorted Mercator world map with the fairer Equal-Earth projection (correctthemap.org)

submitted 1 year ago by drmoose@lemmy.world to c/youshouldknow@lemmy.world

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[–] theherk@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

There aren’t better maps. Only maps with different tradeoffs. ALL 2d maps of spheres are disproportionate.

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[–] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 6 points 1 year ago (1 child)

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?

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[–] theherk@lemmy.world -3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

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.

https://xkcd.com/977/

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[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 year ago

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.

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[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 year ago

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

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