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Maps distort how we see the world

unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com

131–140 of 351 posts

Re: Maps distort how we see the world

#131
post #6

Interesting post with eye opening stats (even after reading many posts like this I'm still amazed at how big Brazil is!) Another interesting effect maps have on worldview that was not mentioned is the placement of North at the top ( https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/7960/why-is... ). The fact that in the South of Egypt was referred to as "Upper Egypt" has confused me to no end, since "clearly" it's the…

> This is an interesting example where an important geological feature trumps the maps.

I’m not convinced. Historically, Arabic and Egyptian maps had south on the top (https://muslimheritage.com/maps/)

Re: Maps distort how we see the world

#132
post #6

Interesting post with eye opening stats (even after reading many posts like this I'm still amazed at how big Brazil is!) Another interesting effect maps have on worldview that was not mentioned is the placement of North at the top ( https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/7960/why-is... ). The fact that in the South of Egypt was referred to as "Upper Egypt" has confused me to no end, since "clearly" it's the…

There was Upper Canada vs Lower Canada. On a map, they were inverted, but it was in reference to the St-Lawrence river and water from the Great Lake. You would first arrive in Lower Canada (from Europe) and keep navigating to reach Upper Canada.

Re: Maps distort how we see the world

#133
Probably 99% of the time I look at, or use, a map, it's at a scale where the Mercator projection is entirely fair, and highly useful. For probably half of the uses I have for maps, whatever distortion relative to an actual globe it introduces isn't even noticable. Then there are the rare times I look at a map at something approaching hemispheric scale. But come on, people, I've been told since 4th grade about the distortions of a world map at that scale. I literally can remember Ms. Kraft in 4th grade explaining how the map made Greenland look nearly as big as Africa, when in fact it was more like the size the larger countries in Africa.

And, anyone who has traveled internationally much at all is well aware that, say, Europe is a hell of a lot smaller than it looks on a world map - because we fly, for the most part, great circle routes, and flight times give you a very good measure of how far things are. First time you look at a flight to Sydney, the size of the Pacific Ocean, relative to the North Atlantic, pretty much hits you over the head.

So, while I find articles like this kinda fun for a couple of minutes (what strange comparison will this author pull out of their hat to make the point that flat maps distort world persectives?), it's mostly for entertainment value. There really isn't much to see.

Re: Maps distort how we see the world

#134
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it’s a huge stretch to claim there was no bias involved. the biais is in putting europe front and center and at the top. Have you seen maps that place the americas in the center? How about maps with north and south swapped?

Maybe more accurate is that there wasn’t some nefarious bias that was meant to oppress people. Europe was at the center because they made the maps. It’s a simple reason. If some other culture has been dominant we’d be using a projection that makes it more useful for them.

The vast majority of items are manufactured in Asia now, especially globes. By your logic, should they unilaterally start printing Asia in the center?

Re: Maps distort how we see the world

#135
Extremely well put-together article. Contains many examples I've seen in disparate sources before.

I will use it as an example of how data visualization can distort.

I often wonder if similar things happen with tabular data, but we just can't "see" it so clearly.

Re: Maps distort how we see the world

#136
Yeah, it must be the Mercator projection why the global south is poor.

Never mind New Zealand and Australia...

Never mind that the whole post-USSR Asia is on the same level as some African countries...

It must be those damn maps.

Re: Maps distort how we see the world

#137
post #112

There was a memorable scene from "The West Wing" on the biases imposed by most map projections, in particular, how Mercator makes North America look huge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLqC3FNNOaI

The video quality of that clip was so bad I uploaded a new 1080p version to YouTube: https://youtu.be/dxhWybPCEpI If you want to avoid YouTube, here's just the video: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/szn691fdcgvxwh8/map_proj... edit: updated YouTube link to include the full version

It ends too soon. The funniest part is when they talk about the northern hemisphere being on top and then them putting it on the bottom and her saying it is freaking her out.

Re: Maps distort how we see the world

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Every flat map projection distorts something, so every projection has to optimize some parameter and trade off other utility. I'm constantly amazed at how hung up people are on apparent size of countries. If size is your thing, use some other projection! That's the point of the post. The trade-offs between different projections are rarely discussed, considered or even mentioned outside very small cohorts because th…

People have a problem with this post and these kind of posts because they imply it was deliberately done for evil reasons. The point of any article isn't just its factual content; it's the hidden message from the way it's said. I don't know if you intended to say it the way you did when you started off with the comment about poverty in the first two sentences, but by doing so, you set the tone for the rest of your ar…

Probably eddythompson80 is not Tomas Pueyo.

The comment about poverty was compatible with believing it was deliberate and evil, careless, or excusable but unfortunate.

Re: Maps distort how we see the world

#139
post #105
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The trade-offs between different projections are rarely discussed, considered or even mentioned outside very small cohorts Not true. They're honestly discussed all the time to the point of becoming tiresome.

Right? Is there a person above 25 that hasn’t seen the episode (or clip) from The West Wing about map projections at this point?

I'd like to think you're being ironic here, but I suspect you're not, so no: the vast majority of the world is outside the US and has not, in fact, seen an obscure episode of a TV drama about American politics.

For others who haven't, here it is: https://youtu.be/vVX-PrBRtTY

Although the projection it proclaims as superior, Gall-Peters, has grievous flaws of its own.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall%E2%80%93Peters_projection

Re: Maps distort how we see the world

#140
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The video quality of that clip was so bad I uploaded a new 1080p version to YouTube: https://youtu.be/dxhWybPCEpI If you want to avoid YouTube, here's just the video: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/szn691fdcgvxwh8/map_proj... edit: updated YouTube link to include the full version

It ends too soon. The funniest part is when they talk about the northern hemisphere being on top and then them putting it on the bottom and her saying it is freaking her out.

Doh! Thanks for the spot. The 2nd part is actually from a different scene, but I combined them both and updated the links above.
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