{"id":1791423,"date":"2021-07-16T09:50:57","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T13:50:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1791423"},"modified":"2021-07-16T09:50:57","modified_gmt":"2021-07-16T13:50:57","slug":"xkcd-the-greenland-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/07\/xkcd-the-greenland-special\/","title":{"rendered":"xkcd: The Greenland Special"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"xkcd:<\/a>
Randall Munroe, \u201cBad Map Projection: The Greenland Special,\u201d xkcd, 14 July 2021<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At some point, xkcd cartoonist Randall Munroe is going to put out a book focusing on his map-related cartoons, isn\u2019t he. The latest in his \u201cBad Map Projection\u201d series (previously: All South Americas<\/a>, Time Zones<\/a>, Liquid Resize<\/a>) is The Greenland Special<\/a>, an equal-area projection except for Greenland, which uses Mercator.\u00a0And I thought he was messing with us before<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At some point, xkcd cartoonist Randall Munroe is going to put out a book focusing on his map-related cartoons, isn\u2019t he. The latest in his \u201cBad Map Projection\u201d series (previously: All South Americas, Time Zones,… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[233],"tags":[936,192,597,571,604,273],"class_list":["post-1791423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-unusual-maps","tag-fun","tag-funny","tag-greenland","tag-map-projections","tag-mercator","tag-xkcd","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1829565,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/04\/xkcd-on-greenlands-size\/","url_meta":{"origin":1791423,"position":0},"title":"xkcd on Greenland’s Size","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"3 April 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"The 25 March 2024 xkcd honours Greenland\u2019s place as a measure of cartographic distortion. It\u2019s also, unexpectedly, a riff on the idea of the 1:1 scale map (cf. Borges), especially if you consult the comic\u2019s alt text: \u201cThe Mercator projection drastically distorts the size of almost every area of land\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"xkcd: Greenland Size (25 Mar 2024)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/greenland_size_2x.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1805995,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/02\/xkcd-the-goode-homolosine-to-the-rescue\/","url_meta":{"origin":1791423,"position":1},"title":"xkcd: The Goode Homolosine to the Rescue!","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"6 February 2022","format":"image","excerpt":"Randall Munroe\u2019s map projection humour is increasingly on point, as last Friday\u2019s xkcd demonstrates. (The mouseover text is even better: \u201cThere are two rules on this ship: Never gaze back into the projection abyss, and never touch the red button labeled DYMAXION.\u201d) Previously: xkcd: The Greenland Special; xkcd: All South\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/sea_chase.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/sea_chase.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/sea_chase.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/sea_chase.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1807135,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/05\/xkcds-madagascator-projection\/","url_meta":{"origin":1791423,"position":2},"title":"xkcd\u2019s Madagascator Projection","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"1 May 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"Uncharacteristically for xkcd\u2019s Bad Map Projection series, the Madagascator is actually totally legitimate as a projection. Not that it\u2019s any less mischievous, mind. Update, 3 May: Turns out there was more to this xkcd cartoon. See Mercator: Extreme.","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"xkcd: Bad Map Projection: Madagascator (29 Apr 2022)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/bad_map_projection_madagascator.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/bad_map_projection_madagascator.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/bad_map_projection_madagascator.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/bad_map_projection_madagascator.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1788218,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/01\/xkcd-all-south-americas\/","url_meta":{"origin":1791423,"position":3},"title":"xkcd: All South Americas","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"21 January 2020","format":"image","excerpt":"xkcd is back with another bad map projection: in this one, it\u2019s all South Americas. The alt-text:\u00a0\u201cThe projection does a good job preserving both distance and azimuth, at the cost of really exaggerating how many South Americas there are.\u201d Previously: xkcd\u2019s Time Zone Map; xkcd\u2019s Liquid Resize Map Projection; xkcd\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Unusual Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Unusual Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/unusual-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/bad_map_projection_south_america.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/bad_map_projection_south_america.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/bad_map_projection_south_america.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1786810,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/12\/blame-the-mercator-projection\/","url_meta":{"origin":1791423,"position":4},"title":"Blame the Mercator Projection","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"10 December 2018","format":"image","excerpt":"Last Friday's xkcd suggests that the Mercator projection's reputation can be used to convince anyone of any false geographical fact. Not that\u00a0I\u2019d suggest you do that, mind. No.","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"xkcd (7 December 2018)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imgs.xkcd.com\/comics\/mercator_projection.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1832472,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/06\/xkcd-exterior-kansas\/","url_meta":{"origin":1791423,"position":5},"title":"xkcd: ‘Exterior Kansas’","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"28 June 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"Randall Munroe, \u201cBad Map Projection: Exterior Kansas,\u201d xkcd, 26 June 2024. In the latest iteration of xkcd\u2019s series of bad map projections, Randall puts Kansas\u2014the putative centre of the contiguous 48 states\u2014at the edge of the map.","rel":"","context":"In "Unusual Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Unusual Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/unusual-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"xkcd:","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/xkcd-exterior-kansas.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/xkcd-exterior-kansas.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/xkcd-exterior-kansas.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/xkcd-exterior-kansas.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/xkcd-exterior-kansas.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/xkcd-exterior-kansas.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1791423"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1791427,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1791423\/revisions\/1791427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1791423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1791423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1791423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}