# Wall map projections around the world **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 9, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-map-projections-around-the-world/249548 "2004-06-09T23:31:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-map-projections-around-the-world/249548/1 "2004-06-09T23:31:26Z")
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… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-map-projections-around-the-world/249548/2 "2004-06-09T23:39:40Z")
That’s how we have them here in the states as well. [Google](http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=world+map) shows this to be pretty standard as well. (except for a couple maps in the .jp (Japan) top level domain). ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-map-projections-around-the-world/249548/3 "2004-06-09T23:40:25Z")
All the maps I remember from school had North and South America as the center of the universe, so to speak. I don’t think it’s unusual that maps in a certain geographic area display that area in the middle. After all, it’s where the eye goes… ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-map-projections-around-the-world/249548/4 "2004-06-09T23:44:12Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-map-projections-around-the-world/249548/5 "2004-06-09T23:47:01Z")
It’s not so much where the eye goes, as where you can draw a vertical line without hitting a landmass. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-map-projections-around-the-world/249548/6 "2004-06-09T23:49:44Z")
So I was right… London really _is_ the centre of the universe 😉 (well, OK, it’s actually a spot somewhere in the Gulf of Guinea, off the coast of Africa) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-map-projections-around-the-world/249548/7 "2004-06-10T00:21:04Z")
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.) ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-map-projections-around-the-world/249548/8 "2004-06-10T00:25:59Z")
And maybe that’s why, the Greenwick Meridian, the 0º Meridian, the _Prime_ Meridian passes through… hmm what was that country again? 😃 No offense. If America had set the latitude and longitude standard, I wonder what country it would pass through. LOL ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-map-projections-around-the-world/249548/9 "2004-06-10T00:36:56Z")
It’s certainly possible to purchase a “Pacific centered” world map if you want one. There’s a nice, inexpensive one for sale [here](http://www.masonsmaps.com/prod155.htm) that’s centered on 150 degrees east. Using that meridian as the center gives a nice split down the Atlantic. ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-map-projections-around-the-world/249548/10 "2004-06-10T02:55:10Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wall-map-projections-around-the-world/249548/11 "2004-06-10T03:13:20Z")
Of course, in the Antipodes [MacArthur’s Universal Corrective Map of the World](http://www.flourish.org/upsidedownmap/mcarthur-large.jpg) is popular.