UN votes to adopt new world map to reflect Africa's true size

[gregmcc]

UN votes to adopt new world map to reflect Africa's true size

The Togo-sponsored resolution was backed by 164 nations - the US the only nation to vote against it.

www.bbc.co.uk

The UN General Assembly has voted to replace the traditional world map with one that more accurately reflects the size of Africa.

The "Correct the Map" resolution, sponsored by Togo and backed by African Union (AU) members, passed with the support of 164 nations, including France and the UK. The United States was the only nation to vote against it - and there were six abstentions.

The Mercator map, which has been in common use since the 16th Century, has come in for criticism as it shows Africa as similar in size to Greenland, even though it is 14 times larger.

 

[gregmcc]

The United States was the only nation to vote against it

Why am I not surprised.

 

[RedViking]

Looks weird.

 

[wbot]

What's the point of this? Sounds as useless as renaming things.

 

[Segg]

And politicians wonder why the public lose faith in institutions like the UN? Pandering to absolute nonsense like this.

 

[Nom Chompsky]

What leftist bollocks is this?

Usual UN nonsense.

 

[Mirai]

Africa is much bigger than it looks on Mercator. Hence it should be far richer and more developed, surely. With so much abundant resources?

 

[bwana]

Why am I not surprised.

It's wildly out of date.

 

[Brian_G]

Strange that it wasn't fixed a long time ago.

 

[Brian_G]

 

[Gordon_R]

For those interested in how this map projection works. It is inspired by the similar Robinson projection:

Equal Earth projection - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[WoodWhisperer]

Let me guess…. this new map… the earth is flat…

 

[airborne]

I've wondered about this because it doesn't reflect reality, I was caught out by this for most of my life up until quite recently because I just assumed all the maps in use in schools/universities/news reports must be an accurate reflection of the earths actual land surface area. Turns out I was wrong

 

[wingnut771]

Is the UN going to make Russia look smaller on a map at the same time?

 

[Brian_G]

Well the US is looking quite a lot smaller.

 

[Gordon_R]

I've wondered about this because it doesn't reflect reality, I was caught out by this for most of my life up until quite recently because I just assumed all the maps in use in schools/universities/news reports must be an accurate reflection of the earths actual land surface area. Turns out I was wrong

All whole-earth 2D maps are a compromise between showing accuracy in area, and trying to show direction, orientation and navigation. Mercator maps are 100% accurate in compass directions, but absolutely the worst in showing area. They conveniently show countries in Europe and North America as larger than anywhere else in the world, which happened to suit the colonialist political agenda.

The Robinson projection (mentioned above) is an excellent compromise between area and orientation consistency, but definitely does not show areas accurately. Google:

The Robinson projection curves its meridians gracefully and slightly exaggerates high-latitude landmasses (like Greenland) to make the overall world shape look "right". Equal-area projections like Equal Earth were specifically designed to mimic the familiar, attractive look of the Robinson map but keep land areas mathematically true to scale.

P.S. If you look carefully, it does show New Zealand too... /s

 

[theratman]

What leftist bollocks is this?

Usual UN nonsense.

Shem

 

[vigras rojara]

Shem

Bloody woke maps.

 

[ponder]

Won't be able to use it in geography class as it's useless when it comes to doing calculations. It has zero particle application in real life things like navigation etc., it's sole purpose to please idiots.

 

[theratman]

Won't be able to use it in geography class as it's useless when it comes to doing calculations. It has zero particle application in real life things like navigation etc., it's sole purpose to please idiots.