#Alternate north america map skin#

Muhammad al-Idrisi/Konrad Miller Pacific-centredДЄnother convention of world maps is that they are centred on the prime meridian, or zero degrees longitude (east-west). The Arabian Peninsula can be seen in the centre of the map but, of course, pointing upwards rather than the more familiar downwards. For example, in 1154 Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi drew a south-up map of Europe, Asia and northern Africa for his book the Tabula Rogeriana. Purposefully reversing the typical way world maps are drawn has a similar political effect to using the Peters projection, putting more developing countries in the generally poorer southern hemisphere at the top of the map and so giving them greater significance.Д«ut some of the first known world maps put south at the top as a matter of course. Equally, we could do east-up, west-up or any other compass bearing. ThereвЂ™s no scientific reason why north is any more up than south. Here are four other map styles that each come with their own political implications. The difference between the Peters and Mercator projections shows how significant changing the way a map is drawn can be. But if you want a better idea of the relative size of the worldвЂ™s landmasses, you need a map that distorts shape but preserves area, like the Peters projection does. Accurate compass bearings are very important if you are a 16th century seafarer. The Renaissance cartographer Gerardus Mercator did this to preserve the shapes of countries, so the map could be used to accurately calculate compass bearings.

So this isnвЂ™t just a cartographerвЂ™s dilemma вЂ“ itвЂ™s a political problem. It alters the way you see the size вЂ“ and, some people argue, the way you see the importance вЂ“ of different parts of the world. But, in reality, Africa is 14 times the size of Greenland. The Mercator projection depicts Greenland as larger than Africa. And different projections distort maps in different ways. The distortions this introduces are massive. As you did so, the map drawn on its surface would distort.

#Alternate north america map skin#

Imagine drawing a world map on an orange, peeling the skin to leave a single piece and then flattening it. Why does this problem occur? Simply put, the world is round and a map is flat. ItвЂ™s especially problematic given that the first world maps based on the Mercator projection were produced by European colonialists. So the developed вЂњglobal NorthвЂќ appears bigger than reality, and equatorial regions, which tend to be less developed, appear smaller. This is what happens with the more commonly used Mercator projection, which exaggerates the size of the Earth around the poles and shrinks it around the equator. Although it distorts countriesвЂ™ shapes, this way of drawing a world map avoids exaggerating the size of developed nations in Europe and North America and reducing the size of less developed countries in Asia, Africa and South America. Why? Because the Peters projection accurately shows different countriesвЂ™ relative sizes. Boston public schools recently announced that they will shift to using world maps based on the Peters projection, reportedly the first time a US public school district has done so.