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102

UN votes to adopt new world map to reflect Africa's true size (www.bbc.com)

submitted 8 hours ago by DamnianWayne@lemmy.world to c/world@quokk.au

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[–] NaibofTabr 11 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (2 children)

He had the backing of the French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who said his ministry was going to stop using the Mercator map.

Hmm, use it for what, exactly? In the present, nobody is using these maps for navigation, and hopefully not for any serious geography study beyond say the history of cartography... so I guess mostly lower-level education purposes? That's important, the way we teach children to think about the world certainly matters.

"Changing the map obviously doesn't change the world. But correcting a representation that distorts it is already an act of truth," he said.

The pedantic part of me wants to point out that every projection of a 3D object onto a 2D surface requires distortion, especially in a case like this where the entire surface area of the object is shown on a single unbroken plane. At some level, describing one projection as better than another is akin to saying that one way of drawing a cube on a sheet of paper is better than another. More important than picking a winner is having the discussion about the limitations of all forms of projection and how they affect our perceptions, in all subject areas.

If there is a real benefit to making a change like this, it's in provoking those discussions.

Besides, we all know the Waterman Butterfly is superior:

[–] tyler@programming.dev 5 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

The pedantic part of me wants to point out that every projection of a 3D object onto a 2D surface requires distortion

They literally say that in the article.

The distortion of his map is a result of the fact that it is impossible to accurately represent the surface of a globe on a two-dimensional chart. Whenever a map of the world is drawn, compromises need to be made.

[–] NaibofTabr 10 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

Right, so then why are they describing this as "correcting" the distortion, when in fact it is simply choosing a different version of distortion?

[–] tyler@programming.dev 1 points 57 minutes ago

They literally say that too.

In February, the AU's 54 member states adopted it, and said it "more accurately represents the sizes of all continents, particularly Africa".

[–] Seimhe@lemmy.world 6 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Did you read the article? I think your questions/complaints are answered there.

Tldr; the new map solves some distortions (to the tune of 14x) but also there’s a human element to this. It seems like an obvious and overdue improvement.

Retaining an inferior map because they won’t be used for navigation is an odd defence.

[–] warm@kbin.earth 5 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

It's a classic dumb argument: "if it wont solve it 100%, lets just leave it completely broken"

These are the people most easily manipulated.

[–] Seimhe@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I think for some the issue is also that Africa gets fairer representation this way.

[–] warm@kbin.earth 2 points 2 hours ago

Absolutely, its a good change that should have been made a long time ago. Globes should exist in every classroom too, children should be made familiar with the world around them.

[–] atro_city@fedia.io 1 points 6 hours ago

In the present, nobody is using these maps for navigation

Took a big whiff of the copium, did you?