How a Map Can Lie to You
That familiar world map on your wall is lying to you. Because of a mathematical puzzle known as the 'orange peel problem', every flat map inevitably distorts our spherical planet.…
Tag: mercator projection
The Mercator’s Hidden Tool: Rhumb Lines
The Mercator projection is famous for its geographical distortions, but these 'flaws' hide its true purpose. It was designed to perfectly represent one thing: the rhumb line, a path of…
The Gall-Peters Bias: A Map’s Politics
The world map hanging in your classroom was a lie, but not a malicious one. This article explores the hidden politics of map projections, contrasting the familiar, colonial-era Mercator with…