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this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2026
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I'm so sick of this shit. You want an accurate map? Buy a globe. There is no accurate flat map projections. All are wrong. Different projections have different flaws and serve different purposes.
Yes, you're very clever.
I think the world needs a revolution in consciousness.
I like Isaac Asimov, have owned shoes with toes, and mostly use my VR headset for 3d modelling. I tried Dvorak, but gave up when I realized it would be exhausting to use any other keyboard everywhere else.
Maps are especially used in education, i see it very hard to include a globe with every book and set up a big ass globe in every classroom but whatever
i remember during the breakup of yugoslavia our history teachers, who thought it important that we not only were familiar with but had memorized the capitals, names and locations of all the countries in the world and states in the us (literally that's all we did one year for history. memorize locations and names and blah blah. that damn animaniacs song was a godsend to anyone who had a vcr). so they were bitching and moaning that they were having to buy new map rolls what seemed like every year because another country was declaring independence.
i was too young to tell whether he was being sardonic, like "they had to fight for independence and all i gotta do is get a new map pack woe is me" or if he was really complaining. but they have the good projectors now. should be a lot easier.
The problem with projectors is that then kids can't see the globe at home, unless you ask them to see it online but a 8 years old kid hardly will be able do it (and i assure you, depending on parents being able to do it is a BAD idea, there is lots of parents who can't or that will simply show the wrong thing) and it also means that you have to depend on internet access, what if internet access is down or electricity got fucked? (those projectors or smart whiteboards are so shitty that they would not be able to have an offline version)
Waterman butterfly looks very striking though, woulf make an awesome background on a UN logo
Really? You know the Waterman? Have you seen the 1909 Cahill map it's based…
Lol, good luck "accurately" mapping our irregular oblate spheroid on to a globe (i.e. a regular sphere). You're correct that map projections inherently make concessions and introduce inaccuracies. But a globe would just require a different kind of projection in this context. And that projection hides more subtle inaccuracies. Globes are not an answer to the problem of map projection distortion.
I cannot disagree with that last sentence…
Edit: for context the sentence used to start with “Gloves aren’t…” but there’s been a ninja edit from OP above.
Also, unless you're using a paper map, you should never have to see a flat map projection.
We all carry around supercomputers in our pockets that can easily do the math to render a globe. If we want to use a bigger screen, they have even more powerful processors.
Does anybody actually use paper maps at all anymore? I guess sometimes people mount them on the wall and point at them, but I mean using a map to calculate distance, find a path, etc.
What's ridiculous is that even though computers should be rendering the world as a globe, some websites (even Google Maps) still sometimes use Mercator. It's especially ridiculous when it's something like a flight-tracking website where the flight is going in a straight line on the globe, but is rendered as a curved path on a stupid map projection.
I mean the good thing about a flat projection is that you can see everything at once. When you're comparing data points of different countries it is nice to see them on a flat map. Neither the actual size nor the angles really matter in that case.
Why would you need a map for that? That seems like something where a table is more useful.
It's more appealing visually and generally easier to navigate because you don't need to search a country on the list, it's easier to find it on a map
To be noted: usually those maps are paired with a table and aren't made to give precise information
if i'm going hiking, yes. i don't trust the phone to maintain a connection in the wild.
If you're going hiking, I'm betting your map isn't a world map, therefore the projection isn't an issue.
For most navigation people are going less than 50 miles projecting it onto a virtual globe would be pointless and not in any way shape or form beneficial.
So, you're saying a more-or-less flat section of a globe should seem flat. Ok... and?
You said
"that even though computers should be rendering the world as a globe,"
They shouldn't a projection is actually useful for most people in most instances. Your screen is flat and rendering a 3D image within it would actually mean you can use less of it and see less information in a more confusing view which would ultimately be weird and pointless to the people viewing mostly what is in fact stylized data like which roads cross.
Your screen is flat, and the surface of the planet is essentially flat. If a program starts with a mercator projection and zooms in on a particular area it's always going to be a distorted view.
Whaat? That's nonsense.
You were so close. The countries in the UN judged that Equal Earth was better suited for the currently expressed needs than Mercator. Detailled purposes changed, prefered projection was changed accordingly.