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The story
On September 4, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution — with 164 countries, including Japan, in favor — encouraging the use of the “Equal Earth” map projection, which represents each country’s land area more accurately. The widely used “Mercator” projection, devised in the 16th century, preserves compass directions for navigation but makes countries at higher latitudes look larger than they really are, a distortion often illustrated by the fact that Africa appears roughly the same size as Greenland on Mercator maps. The resolution is not legally binding, and the United States voted against it, calling it a “radical ideology.” On 5ch, users discussed everything from why the Mercator projection became so entrenched to whether alternative projections are actually better, and how map distortion shapes people’s impressions of countries’ sizes.
What people said
The Mercator projection was devised in the 16th century. Under it, countries far from the equator, such as the United States and Russia, appear larger than they actually are, while African nations and South American countries like Brazil appear smaller. The African continent looks about the same size as Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory, but its actual area is roughly 14 times that of Greenland.
The resolution — which holds that distortions in Mercator-based maps have spread misperceptions — was put forward chiefly by African nations including Togo. It was approved by 164 countries, including Japan. Six countries, including Ukraine, abstained, and the United States voted against it. The resolution carries no legal force. A U.S. representative denounced it as "radical ideology" and argued it would do nothing to serve international peace.
Mercator projection vs. Equal Earth projection
Here's a map showing each country's economic size.
Every African nation should have this hanging in their office.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HRjeDtDacAAHWBR.jpg
Japan looks way too big lol
Whatever happened to the 'Lost 30 Years'?
There's no such thing as a map centered on Japan (weather maps excluded).
https://kuboon.github.io/equal-earth/
https://works.tentaip.space/apps/eqearth/
An Equal Earth map with Japan at the center
It's not centered on Japan, it's centered on 150°E longitude.
The area's probably accurate, but the shapes are super warped.
Mercator's obviously out, but isn't there a somewhat better projection than this?
Then again, these days you can check real sizes properly on Google Earth and the like, so maybe there's no need to scrap it entirely.
What was that called, something like the Holstein projection?
Wouldn't that work?
Maybe it's time to just stop putting it on paper at all.
https://user.numazu-ct.ac.jp/~tsato/tsato/graphics/map_projection/
Looked at on a globe, they actually face each other across Greenland.
That's why Trump wants Greenland.
Even without going this extreme, just cutting a slit through the middle of the ocean could ease the shape distortion for regions pushed out to the edges, no?
This is on a whole different level from that 'JUICE=JUICE is having a moment' scam.
Background and Key Points
The Equal Earth projection is a relatively new projection, devised in 2018. Like the Mollweide projection, it preserves land area accurately, but it differs in rendering continents with more natural-looking curves. Because any map projection must flatten a sphere onto a plane, it’s impossible to preserve area, angle, and distance all at once — and the Mercator projection was designed to prioritize angular (directional) accuracy over area. That’s why it became the standard for nautical charts, and it’s also why the claim in the thread that Mercator “preserves distance correctly” is easily confused with its actual property of preserving direction. Concern that map distortion skews perceptions of countries’ true size isn’t new: similar debate arose in 2017 when public schools in Boston switched classroom maps away from Mercator to a different projection. It’s also easy to overlook that this UN resolution doesn’t obligate member states to adopt the new projection — it merely “encourages” its use.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “[Good News] UN Resolution Encourages Using \”Equal Earth\” Projection Instead of Mercator World Map, Japan Also in Favor… Country Sizes More Accurate.”
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