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Mercator v Reality (i.imgur.com)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by Blaze@sopuli.xyz to c/map_enthusiasts@sopuli.xyz

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With a human face

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[–] Repelle@lemmy.world 31 points 2 months ago (6 children)

Yeah, it’s actually a really great map for its purpose of navigation, which is a pretty damn important aspect of map usage. I’m tired of everyone shitting on it because of that scene in west wing.

[–] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

It’s great for navigating at sea, but bad for looking at the world as a whole. Nowadays most people use maps for the latter; hence the complaints.

[–] Repelle@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Sure, that’s why I qualified with “for its intended purpose”. It’s not a great classroom map but it is perhaps the most historically important projection. The problem is this idea of “Mercator bad” has entered public consciousness. For example, the start of this thread mentioned “how not-great the mercator is” without any such qualifications.

[–] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 months ago

Maybe one day I’ll get a Cahill-Keyes projection on the wall. I think it’s useful to see how surface areas compare.

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