Here in the UK, and in the rest of Europe, if you see a wall map it will have the Greenwich Meridian running down the middle, with the International Date Line more or less at the edges of the map, so Alaska is at the far left-hand side and Kamchatka and New Zealand at the far right (usually with a bit of overlap at either side). Is this standard, or is it just because we like to see ourselves in the middle, as it were?
In other words: do similar maps used in, say America, generally have the map centred on America? When I visited Australia I saw “upside down” wall maps available, but I guess that was rather tongue-in-cheek…
That’s how we have them here in the states as well. Google shows this to be pretty standard as well. (except for a couple maps in the .jp (Japan) top level domain).
Growing up in the US in the 70s I remember most world maps did seem to have North & South America in the center. I was a smart kid and knew geography (but not politics) and it seemed so stupid to split Asia down the middle like that. Most of them today are as you described, with the western & eastern hemispheres left and right.
I just checked all the Rand McNally and National Geographic wall maps I own and every one of them places 0° Longitude at the center. I do not ever recall seeing a map that split Asia. (I am not claiming that it has never been done, only that I have not seen it.)
It’s certainly possible to purchase a “Pacific centered” world map if you want one. There’s a nice, inexpensive one for sale here that’s centered on 150 degrees east. Using that meridian as the center gives a nice split down the Atlantic.
I own a wall map similar to the one in chukhung’s link. It was advertised as “New Zealand centred”. Unfortunately, it’s getting quite out-of-date now - there’s a country called “Zaire” on it, and it lacks Eritrea.
In my experience, Pacific centred maps are very common here. If I had to give a figure, I’d say about half the maps here are Pacific centred.
