{"id":1839289,"date":"2025-04-10T19:16:35","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T23:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1839289"},"modified":"2025-04-10T20:49:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T00:49:40","slug":"daniel-huffmans-asymmetric-monstrosity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/04\/daniel-huffmans-asymmetric-monstrosity\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Huffman’s Asymmetric Monstrosity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Daniel<\/a>
Daniel Huffman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Foreshadowed on Mastodon in January<\/a>, the horror that Daniel Huffman has created is now upon us. Behold the Asymmetric Monstrosity projection<\/a>, an equal-area\u2014yes! every part of it\u2014projection that grafts together pieces of the Equal Earth, cylindrical equal-area, three pieces of Mollweide and five sinusoidals (each on different central meridians) into a patchwork atrocity with an uneven graticule and interrupted labels. Stop twitching long enough to read Daniel\u2019s explanation as to why this was perpetrated<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

First off, it was fun and interesting for me to think about how projections can be glued together. This map is a Frankenstein\u2019s Monster\u2013like creation, but it doesn\u2019t leave anything out, nor does it have mismatches at the joints. Landmasses fit together seamlessly at the boundaries of any given transition zone between projections, because with a little math and the right tools, you can make two projections (of the right variety) match each other at a given location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other goal is to educate, through entertainment. It looks funny, thus drawing attention; and in doing so I hope it will jar people into realizing how distorted all<\/em> projections are. This projection is just as valid as any other<\/strong>, in terms of how faithfully it represents the earth. It\u2019s equal-area, showing everything in proper size proportion. It has interruptions, sure, but so do many others. It is a composite, yes, but so are other projections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it\u2019s in the same vein as those \u201csouth-up\u201d world maps that you can buy, or ones centered on the Pacific. Many audiences would find them unfamiliar, but the maps use their uniqueness to make people realize that there\u2019s really no right<\/em> way to portray the world, and that our conventions are frequently arbitrary.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s available for free download at pretty high resolution, or you can buy it as a print<\/a>, and while Daniel doesn\u2019t actually expect anyone to do it, honestly, why not?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Foreshadowed on Mastodon in January, the horror that Daniel Huffman has created is now upon us. Behold the Asymmetric Monstrosity projection, an equal-area\u2014yes! every part of it\u2014projection that grafts together pieces of the Equal Earth,… 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":[29],"tags":[571],"class_list":["post-1839289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-cartography","tag-map-projections","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1818807,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/09\/the-return-of-the-map-projection-trading-cards\/","url_meta":{"origin":1839289,"position":0},"title":"The Return of the Map Projection Trading Cards","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"27 September 2023","format":"link","excerpt":"Daniel Huffman\u2019s map projection trading cards are making a comeback. \u201cWhile my colleagues and I did our best to let everyone know about these cards, some people inevitably missed out during the first print run. I\u2019ve had many people contact me asking and hoping to get their hands on a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Memorabilia"","block_context":{"text":"Memorabilia","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/memorabilia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Map projection trading cards (Daniel Huffman)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/huffman-map-projection-trading-cards-1024x514.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/huffman-map-projection-trading-cards-1024x514.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/huffman-map-projection-trading-cards-1024x514.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/huffman-map-projection-trading-cards-1024x514.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1810762,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/12\/projection-connections-a-genealogy-of-map-projections\/","url_meta":{"origin":1839289,"position":1},"title":"Projection Connections: A Genealogy of Map Projections","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"22 December 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"Fresh off of producing a (now sold-out) line of map projection trading cards, Daniel Huffman has produced a 16\u00d724-inch poster showing the surprisingly close and entangled relationships between the various map projections. I first learned about a couple of these connections several years ago. I don\u2019t quite remember how or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Projection Connections: a diagram showing the relationships between various map projections by Daniel Huffman","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/projection-connections-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/projection-connections-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/projection-connections-1024x683.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/projection-connections-1024x683.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1807896,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/06\/map-projection-trading-cards\/","url_meta":{"origin":1839289,"position":2},"title":"Map Projection Trading Cards","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"30 June 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"Daniel Huffman\u2019s map projection trading cards are now a thing you can order. Daniel, earlier this month: A couple months back, I floated an idea for making some fun trading cards based on map projections. I\u2019m very happy to report that several dozen of you responded and contributed designs to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Memorabilia"","block_context":{"text":"Memorabilia","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/memorabilia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Projection Collection (Daniel Huffman)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/huffman-map-projection-trading-cards-1024x514.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/huffman-map-projection-trading-cards-1024x514.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/huffman-map-projection-trading-cards-1024x514.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/huffman-map-projection-trading-cards-1024x514.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1809903,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/11\/will-using-fullers-projection-get-you-in-trouble\/","url_meta":{"origin":1839289,"position":3},"title":"Will Using Fuller’s Projection Get You in Trouble?","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"17 November 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"Buckminster Fuller\u2019s Dymaxion map: is the projection it uses patented, trademarked or copyrighted to the extent that you have to pay a licencing fee or face a lawsuit? Daniel Huffman digs into this very question, which apparently has been circulating around the cartographic world for some time. \u201cHere\u2019s the summary\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1813401,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/03\/confused-by-cartographic-conventions\/","url_meta":{"origin":1839289,"position":4},"title":"Confused by Cartographic Conventions","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"23 March 2023","format":"link","excerpt":"Daniel Huffman writes that \u201cthere are certain cartographic conventions out there for which I don\u2019t understand the logic.\u201d (Such as that thematic or choropleth maps should be on equal-area projections.) \u201cI do not suggest that these conventions are wrong; only that I lack a clear, intuitive rationale for following them,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1788630,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/04\/landforms-of-michigan\/","url_meta":{"origin":1839289,"position":5},"title":"Landforms of Michigan","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"6 April 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"Daniel Huffman finally finished a map he\u2019d been working on, off and on (though mostly off), for years. Landforms of Michigan appeared in draft form on this 2016 blog post about mapping terrain using Photoshop layers; last week, Daniel says, \u201cI finally overcame my inertia enough to finish it.\u201d It\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/landforms-of-michigan-910x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/landforms-of-michigan-910x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/landforms-of-michigan-910x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/landforms-of-michigan-910x1024.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839289","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=1839289"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1839308,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839289\/revisions\/1839308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1839289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1839289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1839289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}