Equal Earth projection

So Greenland looks roughly the same size as Africa, even though it's actually 14 times larger or thereabouts.

Then there's the Equal Earth Projection, which is endorsed by UN General Assembly resolution to improve size accuracy for continents like Africa.

It preserves true relative area, meaning continents and countries are sized accurately next to each other, but it loses shape and angle accuracy, particularly in polar and high longitude regions where the land gets compressed or warped.

Then there's the Golpeter's projection, where land area proportionality is preserved, but it sacrifices their shape.

Map.

Meketa Projection in favor of the Equal Earth Projection which shows Africa's true size proportional scale.

Jesus, bro.

You could

The purpose of the Correct the Map resolution is, quote, balancing global cartographic representation and promoting equitable representation of the world's regions, particularly Africa.

The resolution encourages the use of the Equal Earth map instead of the Makata map, designed more than 450 years ago to help sailors navigate, but that had the effect of flattening a globe in a way that produces distortions, and the further away you get from the equator, the larger land masses appear.

So, on the Makata map, Greenland can look roughly comparable in size to Africa, when Africa is actually 14 times larger than Greenland.

164 countries voted in favor of the Correct the Map resolution.

We need the good representation of each region in the world.

Everything have to be true on geographical level, true history, true for humanity is what we are doing and what we will hope all the next generation will trust also.

This week, you met with the three cartographers behind the Equal Earth Projection.

Could you tell us what you discussed in terms of the implementation of the Correct the Map resolution?

Anyway.

With what is called the Equal Earth Map, which is a more geographically accurate representation.

And the upshot of this is that Europe including Ireland, is smaller and Africa is bigger.

He makes the point that on the old map, Ireland looks about two-thirds the size of Madagascar, but actually Madagascar is seven times bigger than Ireland.

It encourages countries to move away from the Mercator for most uses other than navigation.

towards a projection called Equal Earth.

On Equal Earth, Africa looks about 14 times the size of Greenland, because it is.

164 countries voted in favor, 6 abstained.

The United States voted against, arguing the UN had more pressing matters and describing the initiative as ideological.

After long enough, familiar feels true.

So try something with me.

Picture the equal Earth map.

Good question.

So what happened recently is the UN, this is where German's question comes from, the UN recently adopted an equal Earth map, it's called.

And an equal Earth map is not 100% accurate because it's very difficult to make an accurate map of a 3D surface on a 2D plane.

It is a more realistic view of our planet's land masses.

So Africa is truer to size.

They still use it.

But it's just recommended.

Schools, governments, tech companies, international groups, we all use the equal Earth map from now

Wrong podcast.

However, the UN suggests using maps like the Equal Earth Projection that do a much better job with minimizing distortion and making Africa, and everything else, correctly proportioned.

Equal Earth isn't the first time experts have tried to make better maps.

In 2017, the Gall-Peters map picked up some steam in American school districts because it focuses on getting the size of the continents right.

This map was designed by German historian Arno Peters in the early 1970s.

The Peters map does fix the Greenland Africa size issue, but other places, like Russia, look way smaller than they are.

And it's a bad idea to use this map for navigation unless you want to write an epic memoir about being lost at sea.

And in 2018, the same year that the Equal Earth map was released, Google Maps replaced the Mercator with an interactive 3D globe on its desktop view.

Because the size of US became [chuckles] reduced in, in the, in the new, uh, map that they have come, come up with.

And this is where, um, if we can see the, the map there, you will see that, um, you know, the new, uh, new world map is known as Equal Earth, whereas the one we have been using for last four centuries is the Mercator, you know, uh, map.

Now even the, the map itself, you know, has this, uh, very subtle bias in it, the way it was prepared.

You know, if you look at the Europe, it looks much bigger than what it, what it is.