Real world map

Real world map


http://www.petersmap.com/




Maps That Prove You Don't Really Know Earth






http://www.petersmap.com/table.html

click on the links on the left to see what is wrong with the world map we all know.

eg.

The Greenland Problem
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The Mercator projection creates increasing distortions of size as you  move away from the equator. As you  get closer to the poles the distortion  becomes severe. Cartographers refer to the  inability to compare size on a Mercator projection as "the Greenland Problem." Greenland appears to be the same size as  Africa, yet Africa's land mass is actually  fourteen times larger (see figure below right). Because the Mercator distorts size so much  at the poles it is common to crop Antarctica  off the map. This practice results in the  Northern Hemisphere appearing much larger  than it really is. Typically, the cropping technique results in a map showing the equator about 60% of the way down the map, diminishing the size and importance of the  developing countries. Greenland: 0.8 million sq. miles Africa: 11.6 million sq. miles This was  convenient, psychologically and  practically, through the eras of colonial domination when most of the world powers were European. It suited them to maintain an image of the world with Europe at the   center and looking much larger than it really  was. Was this conscious or deliberate? Probably not, as most map users probably never realized the Eurocentric bias inherent in their world view. When there are so many other projections to chose from, why is it that today the Mercator  projection is still such a widely recognized image used to represent the globe? The answer may be simply convention or habit. The inertia of habit is a powerful force.