{"id":4051,"date":"2017-03-20T09:31:41","date_gmt":"2017-03-20T13:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=4051"},"modified":"2017-03-20T09:31:41","modified_gmt":"2017-03-20T13:31:41","slug":"the-peters-projection-comes-to-bostons-public-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/03\/the-peters-projection-comes-to-bostons-public-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"The Peters Projection Comes to Boston’s Public Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Gall-Peters projection (Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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<\/a>. The news coverage (see the\u00a0Grauniad<\/em>\u2019s<\/a>) is the usual straw man argument about the Mercator and the false dichotomy between it and the Peters<\/a>, as though no other map projections have ever been used. (National Geographic has been using other projections since the 1920s, and currently uses the Winkel tripel<\/a>.\u00a0The last time I was at a map store, hardly any of the world maps for sale\u00a0used the Mercator.\u00a0See Mark Monmonier’s\u00a0Rhumb Lines and Map Wars: A Social History of the Mercator Projection<\/em><\/a>, which I reviewed in 2008<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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… 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":[29,139],"tags":[791,571,792],"class_list":["post-4051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-cartography","category-education","tag-gall-peters-projection","tag-map-projections","tag-peters-projection","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1786103,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/08\/the-equal-earth-projection\/","url_meta":{"origin":4051,"position":0},"title":"The Equal Earth Projection","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"9 August 2018","format":"link","excerpt":"In 2014 cartographer Tom Patterson and his colleagues, Bojan \u0160avri\u010d and Bernhard Jenny, introduced the eponymous Patterson projection, a cylindrical projection that reduced polar exaggeration while maintaining the familiar shape of continents. Patterson, who recently retired from the U.S. National Park Service, has teamed up with \u0160avri\u010d and Jenny to\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\/2018\/08\/equal-earth-projection-1024x512.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/equal-earth-projection-1024x512.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/equal-earth-projection-1024x512.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/equal-earth-projection-1024x512.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4283,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/04\/the-74-on-boston-schools-and-the-peters-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":4051,"position":1},"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":4051,"position":2},"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":4073,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2017\/03\/the-peters-map-is-fighting-the-last-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":4051,"position":3},"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":1786230,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/09\/more-on-equal-earth\/","url_meta":{"origin":4051,"position":4},"title":"More on Equal Earth","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"6 September 2018","format":"link","excerpt":"The Gall-Peters projection is a second-rate projection with first-rate public relations; cartographers' responses to the projection that focused on its cartographic shortcomings ended up missing the point. Something different is happening with the Equal Earth projection, which was announced last month as a response to Gall-Peters: an equal-area projection with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cartography"","block_context":{"text":"Cartography","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/cartography\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Equal Earth projection in colour","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/equal-earth-colour-1024x499.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/equal-earth-colour-1024x499.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/equal-earth-colour-1024x499.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/equal-earth-colour-1024x499.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1826549,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/02\/edney-on-arno-peters\/","url_meta":{"origin":4051,"position":5},"title":"Edney on Arno Peters","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"2 February 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"Matthew Edney has written a long blog post on Arno Peters and his map. I\u2019ve been struggling for months now on how to deal with Arno Peters and his world map. Every time I turn to the subject, I just get bogged down by the complexity of the scattered and\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":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4051","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=4051"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4054,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4051\/revisions\/4054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}