30 Maps to Rethink the World
Apr. 27th, 2023 01:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulyhttps://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/maps-distort-how-we-see-the-world
I'm posting this link separate from a link list in order to say something in defense of the Mercator projection. Oh, don't get me wrong, every complaint listed in that link is totally valid. However, that doesn't mean the Mercator projection is crap.
The Mercator projection isn't so great in the classroom, but it is really good for doing the one thing that most people throughout history have ever really needed a map to do, which is set a course from here to there.
Mercator specifically designed a projection to preserve angles, and boy howdy, he succeeded. And if you're using a map for navigation, well, that's what you want.
The problem isn't the Mercator projection, which is great at its intended purpose. The problem is people using it for all sorts of other purposes it wasn't really intended for, such as as the one and only map on a wall in a classroom.
I'm posting this link separate from a link list in order to say something in defense of the Mercator projection. Oh, don't get me wrong, every complaint listed in that link is totally valid. However, that doesn't mean the Mercator projection is crap.
The Mercator projection isn't so great in the classroom, but it is really good for doing the one thing that most people throughout history have ever really needed a map to do, which is set a course from here to there.
Mercator specifically designed a projection to preserve angles, and boy howdy, he succeeded. And if you're using a map for navigation, well, that's what you want.
The problem isn't the Mercator projection, which is great at its intended purpose. The problem is people using it for all sorts of other purposes it wasn't really intended for, such as as the one and only map on a wall in a classroom.
