Context: The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution supporting the 2018 Equal Earth map projection as an alternative to the widely used Mercator projection.
The resolution, led by Togo, was supported by 164 countries, including India; the U.S. voted against it and six countries abstained.
Since UN resolutions are not legally binding, actual adoption by governments, schools and organisations remains uncertain.
The debate highlights a basic problem of cartography: a three-dimensional Earth cannot be represented on a two-dimensional surface without some distortion.
Why Does Every Flat Map Distort Earth?
Earth is not a perfect sphere; its shape is affected by rotation, the Moon's gravitational influence, and irregularities caused by the distribution of continents and oceans.
Map projection is the mathematical transformation of Earth's three-dimensional surface onto a two-dimensional map.
Every projection involves trade-offs involving four major properties:
Area: Relative size of landmasses.
Shape: Actual outline and appearance of regions.
Distance: Actual distance between locations.
Direction: Correct compass bearing between locations.
Therefore, no single flat map can preserve all four properties simultaneously.
Major Types of Map Projections
Conformal Projections
Preserve angles and local shapes but distort area, particularly at higher latitudes.
Example: Mercator projection.
Best suited for: Navigation, because compass directions can be represented accurately.
Equal-Area Projections
Preserve the relative area of landmasses but may distort their shape and distance.
Example: Equal Earth projection.
Best suited for: Population density, climate, land-use and other thematic/statistical maps.
Equidistant Projections
Preserve distance accurately from particular reference points or along specific lines.
Useful where accurate distance measurement is the primary requirement.
Compromise Projections
Do not preserve any one property perfectly but balance distortions of area, shape, distance and direction.
Examples: Robinson and Winkel Tripel projections.
Best suited for: General-purpose world maps.
Azimuthal/Planar Projections
Project Earth onto a flat plane from a central point.
Particularly useful for polar regions and certain flight-distance or directional studies.
Mercator Projection: Purpose and Features
Developed by Gerardus Mercator, a Flemish geographer and cartographer, in 1569, primarily to assist sailors with navigation.
It is a conformal cylindrical projection, where Earth's surface is conceptually projected onto a cylinder.
A constant compass direction appears as a straight line, allowing navigators to maintain a fixed bearing.
For example, a straight route between Mumbai and Muscat on a Mercator map can represent a constant compass direction.
Why Does Mercator Distort Size?
On the Mercator projection, meridians and parallels intersect at right angles, while the spacing of parallels increases towards the poles.
This preserves local shapes and angles but causes progressive inflation of land areas away from the equator.
Consequently, regions such as Greenland and Antarctica appear disproportionately large compared with equatorial regions.
Africa, for example, may appear comparable in size to Greenland, even though Africa is about 14 times larger.
The Colonial Criticism of Mercator
Mercator was designed primarily for navigation, not for accurately comparing the sizes of continents.
However, its widespread use has been criticised for creating a Western-centric visual representation of the world, particularly because Europe and other high-latitude regions appear larger than their actual relative size.
Critics argue that this can reinforce perceptions associated with the historical dominance of European powers and colonialism.
However, the distortion was primarily a consequence of the projection's mathematical purpose, rather than an explicit attempt to portray European territories as larger.
Search for Alternative Projections
James Gall (1855): Developed the Gall projection.
Arno Peters (1973): Popularised an equal-area projection that accurately represents relative areas but significantly distorts the shape of landmasses.
Arthur Robinson (1963): Developed the Robinson projection as a compromise projection, balancing distortions of size and shape.
Winkel Tripel (1921): Developed by German cartographer Oswald Winkel to reduce distortions in area, distance and direction.
The National Geographic Society adopted Winkel Tripel in 1998, replacing Robinson for its world maps; its use subsequently spread to schools, textbooks and institutions such as the World Bank.
Equal Earth Projection
Developed in 2018 by an international team of cartographers.
It is an equal-area projection, meaning the relative sizes of landmasses are represented accurately.
Its meridians curve towards the poles, producing some distortion of shape and distance.
It seeks to reduce the visual size imbalance created by Mercator, particularly for regions of the Global South.
It is considered particularly suitable for thematic and statistical data, where accurate comparison of land areas is important.
Which Projection Should Be Used?
Purpose
Suitable Projection
Main Advantage
Navigation
Mercator / conformal
Preserves angles and compass directions
Population, climate, land-use data
Equal Earth / equal-area
Preserves relative areas
General world maps
Robinson / Winkel Tripel
Balances multiple distortions
Polar studies
Azimuthal/planar
Useful for polar regions and central-point measurements
