{"id":1844848,"date":"2025-08-15T11:45:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T15:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1844848"},"modified":"2025-08-22T09:47:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T13:47:00","slug":"in-case-you-thought-the-war-against-the-mercator-projection-was-over-long-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/08\/in-case-you-thought-the-war-against-the-mercator-projection-was-over-long-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"In Case You Thought the War Against the Mercator Projection Was Over Long Ago"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A new front has been opened in the never-ending war against the Mercator projection. The African Union endorses<\/a> Correct the Map<\/a>\u2019s campaign to replace the Mercator projection (which diminishes the relative size of Africa) with the Equal Earth<\/a> projection. I think it\u2019s awfully interesting that they\u2019re proposing Equal Earth instead of the Peters map<\/a>: Equal Earth is a better choice for maps of the world than the Peters or the Mercator, but then so are dozens of other projections. That the campaign against<\/em> the Mercator is no longer necessarily a campaign for<\/em> the Peters is something to take note of. [Andrew Middleton<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though I\u2019m still wrapping my head around the idea that campaigning against the Mercator is still a thing. Really, still<\/em>? After all, it\u2019s been decades since the Mercator was the dominant projection on wall maps<\/a>. A quick look at the catalogues of Stanfords<\/a> and World of Maps<\/a> suggests maybe one in ten wall maps of the world use the Mercator, and the ones that do seem to be second-tier publications at best (because it\u2019s been known for a long<\/em> time that the Mercator is shit at being a world map). I guess the Mercator is too good a metaphor for colonialism and foreign domination to let go of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then I have no idea which maps are used in classrooms, in Africa or anywhere else. And I\u2019m often surprised at how much Mercator I see in online maps and infographics, because the tools they use default to Web Mercator<\/a>. Web Mercator is perfectly fine\u2014at large scales. Most online map providers use Web Mercator at all<\/em> zoom levels (Apple Maps zooms out to a globe on Apple Silicon but not on older Intel Macs, Google offers globe view as an option on desktop). Web Mercator shows up a lot where an alternative would\u2019ve been better. So it\u2019s not like there isn\u2019t a point here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previously: The Peters Map Is Fighting the Last War<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new front has been opened in the never-ending war against the Mercator projection. The African Union endorses Correct the Map\u2019s campaign to replace the Mercator projection (which diminishes the relative size of Africa) with… 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":[{"did":"did:plc:hhxrnk4vub7jtlcl3ve26kjo","date":"2025-08-15T15:45:16+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:hhxrnk4vub7jtlcl3ve26kjo\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3lwh75fkgna25","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:hhxrnk4vub7jtlcl3ve26kjo\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3lwh75fkgna25\",\"cid\":\"bafyreia7z5brmxeukz4oaa6logawpqbtmk7g64bzkqtwbl7isr6v3we3pu\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreiekdfv5zfp7c5pk4olbqfrbvfap6a35qx3mpk2xbcvtbx4biwd4sa\",\"rev\":\"3lwh75fknhy25\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1259,571,604],"class_list":["post-1844848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-cartography","tag-equal-earth","tag-map-projections","tag-mercator","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4073,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/03\/the-peters-map-is-fighting-the-last-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":1844848,"position":0},"title":"The Peters Map Is Fighting the Last War","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"28 March 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"News of Boston public schools' decision to go with the Peters projection has gone viral over the past week, and my teeth have not stopped itching. Largely because this is very much old news: Arno Peters began promoting \"his\" projection 44 years ago, and the Peters map has been making\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":1844891,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/08\/the-correct-map-does-not-exist\/","url_meta":{"origin":1844848,"position":1},"title":"‘The Correct Map Does Not Exist’","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"25 August 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Miguel Garc\u00eda \u00c1lvarez weighs in on the Correct the Map campaign to replace the Mercator projection with Equal Earth: I think the Equal Earth projection is an excellent compromise. But as a cartography enthusiast, it pains me deeply every time someone talks about the \u201ctrue\u201d map, the \u201ccorrect\u201d map, or\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":6037,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2015\/11\/how-the-mercator-projection-won-the-internet\/","url_meta":{"origin":1844848,"position":2},"title":"How the Mercator Projection Won the Internet","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"27 November 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I've said it before: if you want to start a fight among cartographers, ask them what their favourite map projection is. Earlier this week I did just that: I felt mischievous and wanted to try out Twitter's polling feature, so I ran a poll asking my Map Room followers what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"OpenStreetMap, using Web Mercator, all zoomed out","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonathancrowe.net\/images\/2015\/osm-web-mercator.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonathancrowe.net\/images\/2015\/osm-web-mercator.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonathancrowe.net\/images\/2015\/osm-web-mercator.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonathancrowe.net\/images\/2015\/osm-web-mercator.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4283,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/04\/the-74-on-boston-schools-and-the-peters-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1844848,"position":3},"title":"The 74 on Boston Schools and the Peters Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"18 April 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Education news website\u00a0The 74 has its own\u00a0coverage of the Boston schools\/Peters map\u00a0controversy (is it safe to call it a controversy?), with extensive quotes from Matthew Edney, who does not mince words.\u00a0(Comparing both projections to Comic Sans? Ouch.) [Caitlin Dempsey] Previously: More on Boston Schools and the Peters Map;\u00a0The Peters Map\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":4102,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/03\/more-on-boston-schools-and-the-peters-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1844848,"position":4},"title":"More on Boston Schools and the Peters Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"30 March 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"Atlas Obscura\u2019s Cara Giaimo has an in-depth look at the reaction to the decision by Boston public schools to adopt the Peters projection in teaching materials. It's well worth taking the time to read; the general gist from several cartographers and commentators is that swapping the Mercator for the Peters\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":4051,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/03\/the-peters-projection-comes-to-bostons-public-schools\/","url_meta":{"origin":1844848,"position":5},"title":"The Peters Projection Comes to Boston’s Public Schools","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"20 March 2017","format":"link","excerpt":"In a development that just might\u00a0make academic cartographers pull out their remaining hair in frustration,\u00a0Boston's public schools began using the\u00a0Peters projection in social studies classes last week. The news coverage (see the\u00a0Grauniad\u2019s) is the usual straw man argument about the Mercator and the false dichotomy between it and the Peters,\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\/2017\/03\/gall-peters-wikimedia-1024x654.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/gall-peters-wikimedia-1024x654.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/gall-peters-wikimedia-1024x654.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/gall-peters-wikimedia-1024x654.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1844848","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=1844848"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1844848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1844860,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1844848\/revisions\/1844860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1844848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1844848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1844848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}