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Thread: Gall-Peters Projection - You have to see this.

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    Info Gall-Peters Projection - You have to see this.

    Do you think you know what the world looks like? If you like maps you have to, I don't use the term lightly, look at map projections and the Gall-Peters projection. I find it amazing that our maps are so wrong in terms of relative size.

    We generally use the Mercator projection:

    "The Mercator projection increasingly inflates the sizes of regions according to their distance from the equator. This inflation results, for example, in a representation of Greenland that is larger than Africa, whereas in reality Africa is 14 times as large. Since much of the technologically underdeveloped world lies near the equator, these countries appear smaller on a Mercator, and therefore, according to Peters, seem less significant. On Peters's projection, by contrast, areas of equal size on the globe are also equally sized on the map. By using his "new" projection, poorer, less powerful nations could be restored to their rightful proportions. This reasoning has been picked up by many educational and religious bodies, leading to adoption of the Gall–Peters projection among some socially concerned groups, including Oxfam,[6] National Council of Churches,[7] New Internationalist magazine,[8] and the Mennonite Central Committee.[7]"

    From the wikipedia link.

    The Gall-Peters is more clear on actual relative size.




    Here's a good bit from TV on it:

    http://www.upworthy.com/we-have-been...-for-500-years

    Here's some info about the actual Projection:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall%E2...ers_projection


    Dollhouse Syndrome = The temptation to turn a map into a picture, obscuring the goal of the image with the appeal of cute, or simply available, parts. Maps have clarity through simplification.

    --- Sigurd

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    Software Dev/Rep Hai-Etlik's Avatar
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    The whole Gall-Peters thing is idiotic. Modern global wall reference maps all use non-cylindrical map projections like Robinson and Winkel Tripel, not Mercator. It's a solution in search of a problem, and has problems of its own, precisely equal in magnitude to Mercator.

    There's nothing inherently wrong with Mercator, it does exactly what it is supposed to do. That it was used for general reference maps was probably a bad idea, but that was a poor choice of projection for the task, not any sort of inherent flaw in the projection. Gall-Peters is no better though. Where Mercator distorts area, Cylindrical Equal Area (Of which Gall-Peters is just one parameterization) distorts angles. The hybrid maps like Robinson and Winkel Tripel strike a balance, which is why they are used for general reference maps. When a true equal area map of the globe is needed, Mollweide or Hammer are far better options, or if you absolutely insist on a cylindrical equal-area projection, Hobo-Dyer at least doesn't look quite as ugly as Gall-Peters.

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    I don't disagree with you but I do think that the politics around the Mercator are very interesting. The Westwing clip is really eloquent in this respect. I found the site illustration of how big Africa really is to be surprising.

    I'm sure every projection has drawbacks and advantages that may not even effect a fantasy world map. Here in the real world however things are different.

    This is food for thought about map projections. Fitting a globe on a flat sheet of paper is not easy.


    Sigurd


    Dollhouse Syndrome = The temptation to turn a map into a picture, obscuring the goal of the image with the appeal of cute, or simply available, parts. Maps have clarity through simplification.

    --- Sigurd

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sigurd View Post
    I don't disagree with you but I do think that the politics around the Mercator are very interesting. The Westwing clip is really eloquent in this respect. I found the site illustration of how big Africa really is to be surprising.

    I'm sure every projection has drawbacks and advantages that may not even effect a fantasy world map. Here in the real world however things are different.

    This is food for thought about map projections. Fitting a globe on a flat sheet of paper is not easy.
    The "politics" were manufactured by Peters and his crowd. Cartographers had long been aware that Mercator was less than ideal for the goal of general reference wall maps but publishers insisted on them, mostly because the look nice and because it was convention. Winkel Tripel was proposed in 1921 for instance.

    Peters made ridiculous claims about the Gall-Peters projection that were patently untrue (That it preserved linear scale for instance), focused far to much on area equivalence at the expense of any other property, and even claimed cartographers were either complicit in some scheme to put down the equatorial nations, or so incredibly stupid about their specific field that they hadn't noticed that Mercator distorts area.

    The majority of modern cartographers reject cylindrical projections (Including both Gall-Peters and Mercator) for global general reference maps (except for the specialized use of Mercator in zoomable web maps). Fully equal area projections aren't used because shape is important, but neither are fully conformal projections used. A general reference map benefits most from a balanced approach, which is what is actually used. The major players in making such maps (National Geographic, Rand McNally, etc) had all switched to hybrid projections by 1990, and some as early as the 60s.

    Anyone actually using Gall-Peters for reference is every bit as clueless about cartography as the people who were using Mercator in the same roll. It's like people who think reusable shopping bags are inherently environmentally friendly and so use them, but then don't re-use them more than a few times each.

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