# Correct world map **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 12, 2001, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correct-world-map/87042 "2001-10-12T14:17:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AndrewD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@AndrewD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewD)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correct-world-map/87042/1 "2001-10-12T14:17:57Z")
On an episode of West Wing last season, they showed a ‘corrected’ map of the world, where the longitude and latitude hadn’t been distorted. The map is named after the guy who came up with it, and I can not remember his name. Right after the show I looked it up on the internet and found it, but can’t now not knowing his name. Does anyone know the name of the map I am referring to? I searched the archieve here and only see a discussion on the Robinson and Van der Grinten maps. It’s not those. Thanks for any information you can provide. Andrew ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correct-world-map/87042/2 "2001-10-12T14:24:14Z")
This link says it was a Peter’s projection: [http://www.ncccusa.org/news/01news13.html](http://www.ncccusa.org/news/01news13.html) More info on that map here: [http://www.webcom.com/~bright/petermap.html](http://www.webcom.com/~bright/petermap.html) ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correct-world-map/87042/3 "2001-10-12T14:26:55Z")
Are you thinking of a Mercator Projection map? If so [here](http://www.lysator.liu.se/~johol/fwmg/projections.html) is a pretty good description of how they work. FWIW the _only_ map that is accurate in every respect is a globe. Anytime you flatten a globe out to make a flat, 2-D map you will get errors of one sort or another. A Mercator Projection has all longitude lines parallel making distortions greater teh further away you get from the equator. In this case countries like Greenland look HUGE when, in fact, they are much smaller. Different maps trade off different errors depending on what you want the map for and what is most useful. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@AndrewD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewD)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correct-world-map/87042/4 "2001-10-12T14:32:11Z")
Thanks a lot. It was the Peter’s Projection map. Thanks again. Andrew ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correct-world-map/87042/5 "2001-10-12T14:39:32Z")
What was probably the same episode caused **spooje** to ask (more or less) the same question in this thread: [maps and the size of continents](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=83298) The name you’re looking for is **Peters projection** , which is explained [here](http://www.petersmap.com/page3.html) There is no right or wrong projection of a globe on a plane, but simply projections that retain different aspects. [quoting myself in a that previous thread] > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tc \* > The problem is that the earth is (roughly) spherical, whereas your map has to be flat. (Makes for easier storage if nothing else.) > > There are several ways to map a sphere to a plane, but there will always be distortions. > > Have a look at [Carto Corner](http://atlas.gc.ca/english/carto/cart003.html) for their take on the subject. > > > [@](#): > > > > The Challenge: The Earth is a spheroid, and the best way to represent it is with a globe. This scale model retains all of the desired properties necessary to produce the perfect map: area, distance, direction, and shape are all accurately represented. However, when this spheroid is projected on to a flat map, all these properties cannot be retained simultaneously. In fact, each projection is a compromise, showing some properties accurately, while at the same time, allowing others to be distorted. The extent to which these properties are preserved, provides another method of classifying projections. > > They have quite instructive illustrations as well! ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correct-world-map/87042/6 "2001-10-12T15:02:52Z")
The links to the Peter’s Projection say that it is controversial but no one explains that controversy. As **tc** pointed out there isn’t really any right or wrong to this. Any time you try to represent a 3-D surface in 2-D plane you are going to get distortions of one sort or another. Which you choose is simply related to what you want the map for. Some are better for some things, others are better for other things. I copied the quote below but accidentally closed the page I got it from so I don’t have a link to the quote. I got this after travelling multiple links and ended up with a syllabus at some university but I haven’t been able to retrace my steps. Still, the quote is worthwhile since it shows that maps basically fall into three categories. > [@](#): > > Projections can be identified by the distortions which they avoid - in general a projection can belong to only one of these classes: > [ul] > [li] Equal area projections preserve the area of features by assigning them an area on the map which is proportional to their area on the earth - these are useful for applications which require measuring area, and are popular in GIS.[/li][li] Conformal projections preserve the shape of small features, and show directions (bearings) correctly - they are useful for navigation.[/li][li] Equidistant projections preserve distances to places from one or two points.[/li][/ul] So what’s the fuss over the Peter’s Projection? As long as you know what it’s trying to represent (or rather preserve…in this case area) you’re good to go. I wouldn’t use that map for navigation but if I want to know how big Greenland is relative to Africa then I’ve got the right map. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correct-world-map/87042/7 "2001-10-12T17:28:19Z")
Actually, the Peters projection DOES distort latitude and longitude. The Mercator projection is the one that doesn’t distort latitude and longitude, which is why it is so useful for navigation. The problem with the Mercator projection is that it distorts area. If you look at a globe, you’ll see that the lattidunal circles get smaller and smaller…but they are all represented as the same length by the Mercator projection. In the extreme case, the North and South Poles are represented by lines, when of course they are really points. The Peters projection attempts to correct the area distortion of the Mercator projection by “squashing” the latitudinal lines closer and closer together the farther north/south you go, and “stretching” them apart the closer to the equator you go. In this way, continents and countries are represented with the correct areas. But this means that the shapes of the continents must be distorted, and directions can no longer be computed accurately. What really annoys me about the Peters projection is all the political crap that is assigned to it. Anyone who calls the Mercator projection “racist” is an idiot. The Mercator projection has distortions, but so does the Peters projection. Racism has nothing to do with it. The Peters projection is not a “correct” world map, since there is no such thing. Personally, I find Peters projection maps to be ugly. If you want a map that shows areas better than the Mercator projection then go with the Robinson projection. The Robinson projection is a compromise of all the different distortions that 2D maps can have. The disadvantage of the Robinson projection is that no one factor is perfectly accurate. If you MUST have an equal-area projection then the Mollweide Homolographic projection is better than the peters since it doesn’t make the world look squished, and it conveys the exact same information as the Peters projection. It looks better than the Peters projection because the shape distortion mimics the way continents look as they fade over the edge of the globe. But of course, this is a matter of aesthetics. I just think the Peters projection looks ugly. Every 2D map of the world is going to have some distortion. But the political claims for the accuracy of the Peters projection are bunk. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correct-world-map/87042/8 "2001-10-12T18:01:08Z")
While it might be mentioned in some of the links here, the supposed controversy has to do with what parts of the world get better representation. The reasoning goes something like this : The Mercator projection adds more distortion to area the further you are from the equator. This means that places like Europe look larger relative to say, Africa or South America. Since Mercator was a Africa-hating European White Male, he obviously must have chosen this projection in order to make European men grow to 12 feet in height while their African counterparts remained at their current size. Other Equatorial-continent-hating White Europeans (male & female, but mostly male, one presumes) continued using this projection in the hopes that they could build giant houses that the now-tiny citizens of the middle of the earth could not enter. But the plan was foiled when Peters the Valiant created a new map, on which all nations could be treated as equal. Now all human beings are the same size. As clearly explained above (see Lemur’s post for more), the Mercator projection makes navigation a lot easier than an equal-area map. That’s why it got used. Those who accuse the projection and its use as ‘racist’ (from what I’ve heard, this is brought up, maybe not overtly, in the West Wing episode) are apparently unaware that the devices known as ‘globes’ have been around for quite some time. Disclaimer : Some facts in the preceding post have been distorted proportionately to their distance from rational thought. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@AndrewD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewD)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correct-world-map/87042/9 "2001-10-12T18:46:52Z")
Thanks for the information everyone. I was not claiming any map to be rasist or anything. A friend at work didn’t believe me when I told her that Africa was 9 times larger than Greenland, which was my reasoning for wanting to show her the Peters map. It doesn’t distort area as badly as the others. Thanks for all the great links. Andrew ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correct-world-map/87042/10 "2001-10-12T20:13:08Z")
Thank you **panamajack**! I’m a cartographer and that is exactly how I feel about it…kudos also to **Lemur866** who proves that even lower primates have a keen sense of cartographic taste. I’m a Goode Homolosine kinda guy myself… ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correct-world-map/87042/11 "2001-10-12T20:34:49Z")
I know you weren’t making the claim Andrew, but I can’t believe that “The West Wing” is repeating that old canard. Here’s another link, discussing the claim that non-Peters maps are “racist”: [http://geography.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa030201a.htm](http://geography.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa030201a.htm) > [@](#): > > Dr. Thomas Feldman succinctly summarized the opposition to the Peters projection. > > Please, let’s use this map as an example of what it is – a scam capitalizing on the cartographic ignorance of most people and, sad to say, many teachers at all levels, and which survives quite nicely in a climate of political correctness where it is inappropriate to criticize anyone who claims to criticize the “the status quo”… > I’m afraid that keeping the debate alive only confuses the ignorant — they’ve been led to believe they know what “racist” maps look like because some teachers keep comparing a Mercator to a Gall-Peters in an inappropriate and misleading racial context. And here’s a nice comparison of the Mercator, Robinson and Winkel Tripel (now favored by National Geographic) projections: [http://www.thesavvytraveller.com/insights/series/natl\_geo/national\_geographic\_wall\_maps\_world.htm](http://www.thesavvytraveller.com/insights/series/natl_geo/national_geographic_wall_maps_world.htm) If you look at this, you can see that it is simply false that the Peters projection is the only “non-biased” map out there. Yes, equal area maps are great. But the Peters projection is a BAD equal area map. The Robinson or Winkel Tripel projections are GOOD equal area maps. ---
**Author:** ![mapsmith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@mapsmith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mapsmith)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2001, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correct-world-map/87042/12 "2001-10-14T20:00:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by caveman \* > \*\*Thank you **panamajack**! I’m a cartographer and that is exactly how I feel about it…kudos also to **Lemur866** who proves that even lower primates have a keen sense of cartographic taste. I’m a Goode Homolosine kinda guy myself… \*\* Ah yes, another Goode’s person. To add my two Cents to the discussion. Any time the map is transferred to a plane from the Globe, distortion of either size, shape, or direction must occur. The Peter’s Projection distorts shape and direction to keep size (area) correct. The Peter’s Projection should actually be referred to as the Gall-Peter’s Projection and was designed in the mid-1920’s (at roughly the same time as the Winkel Projection) to provide a counterpoint to the Mercator. The Mercator distorts size and shape to keep direction correct. The Robinson (and Winkel, and Van der Grinten) distort all three to give an “impression” of what the earth looks like. (See Frasier’s AAG Presidential article on giving the people what they want) The Peter’s Projection corrects the purported bias of the Mercator by moving the Equator to the middle of the map and expanding the percentage of the map given to the tropics (where 70+% of the earth’s population lives) and less to the northern Temperate zones where the original map makers lived. This is the basis for the racist/non-racist comments. But the Goode’s Homolosine tends to keep most of the size, shape and direction coherent by putting the errors in the “interrupted areas” in the ocean. mapsmith, owner of Tucson’s Map and Flag Center, Master or Arts in Geography from the University of Arizona, Terminal Map Geek.