‘A map is nivver neutral’: meet the cartographers wha took on hunners o years o western bias

Three cartographers hae spoken o their astonishment at the UN’s near-universal adoption o a map they created tae mair accurately shaw the sizes o Africae and Europe, even tho they hae received a wheen o complaints frae some disgruntled diplomats.

The creators o the Equal Earth projection aimed tae provide an alternative tae the dominant 16th-century Mercator display, which critics hae lang fautit for giein the impression that northern hemisphere nations are mair muckle than they are – and therefore subtly reinforcin perceptions o whaur global pouer lies.

“It has been a richt thrang week for me,” said Tom Patterson, a renowned US national parks cartographer wha has had tae virtually come oot o retirement after bein inundat wi questions frae governments on details o the new projection.

The UN general assembly votit this month tae adopt the new map, which mair accurately represents the sizes o a haill continents, particularly Africae. It is hopit the projection will gradually replace Mercator on schuil waws and government websites.

Put forrit by Togo, the proposal was hugely successful, wi 164 countries votin in favour. The only “nae” vote came frae the US, whase UN representative, Yaryna Ferencevych, said resolutions sic as the “correct the map” effort were “barnacles on our wark here”. The US is ane o the countries that appears smawer on the new projection. It also maks Greenland – a territorial prize Donald Trump has openly coveted as a “big beautiful piece o ice” – seem significantly less dominant.

Six ither nations abstained frae the vote, and Patterson said he had been contactit by diplomats frae government embassies in Washington DC lookin for clarification.

Japan askit for a revision because it said the map made the disputit Kuril Islands appear tae belang tae Russia by puttin them in the same shade o yellow. Ukraine also abstained, as Russian-occupiet Crimea was a different colour tae the rest o the country. Ukraine’s representatives at the UN said this openit a “Pandora’s box” and violatit international law.

The cartographers see these objections as stemmin frae somethin o a misunderstaundin. The map votit on at the UN is simply a mathematical projection o the land and sea, withoot human-made borders or shadin. The confusion arose due tae a website run by Patterson that offers free Equal Earth projections. He had annotatit these wi geopolitical lines and the names o countries, and has been rushin this week tae update them, includin switchin colours and changin spellings, sic as Turkey tae Türkiye.

“I view the Equal Earth maps as livin documents and am gratefu for the mony helpful suggestions that I hae received,” he said.

Patterson developit the new projection in 2018 wi a California-based software engineer, Bojan Savric, the “maths wizard” o the trio, and Bernhard Jenny, an associate professor at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.

Jenny said fowk generally believit maps were accurate representations o the Earth, but that logic breaks doun because we live on a curvit surface. This creates a problem, as a sphere canna easily be transformit intae a flat rectangle.

“It’s like the orange peel analogy,” said Jenny. “Ye hae tae tear it and stretch it, and it’s no possible tae flatten it oot … so ye hae tae mak compromises.”

Ane global map, callit the Goode homolosine projection, looks strikingly like a rippit-up orange peel. Its main problems are that it is no vera pleasin tae the human ee and no vera easy tae use for navigation – somethin the flawit Mercator excels at, because north is aye up.

For Jenny, cartography is aboot aesthetics as weel as science. “We cartographers say cartography is the art and science o makin maps. So it’s kind o the combination o the twa.”

Equal Earth is no the first attempt tae address Mercator’s shortcomings. Several ither projections were developit in the past century, includin the Gall-Peters model, which shaws the true relative sizes o land masses, but which often appears oddly elongated, almost like the continents are droopin. Jenny said: “There was a lot o backlash frae cartographers wha said: ‘Weel, it looks like claes are hung up tae dry.’”

There are aye compromises when makin maps. Spend ony amount o time wi a cartographer and what micht seem like fundamental truths quickly break doun. “Which way is up?” or “Whaur is the centre” are no simple questions for cartographers – ancient Islamic maps had a south-up orientation, which put the holy city o Mecca in the eyeline. A London-centric worldview has lang dominatit how warld maps are presentit, wi Greenwich in the centre.

“Ye hae tae mak compromises,” said Jenny. The Equal Earth map, for example, wad no be usefu for gettin aroond, as countries on the edges are squeezit. In fact, if ony country had a claim tae be upset, it cud be New Zealand, which is stretchit and distortit, and on the edge o the map.

“A map is nivver neutral,” said Jenny. “So ye canna please everyone.”

Savric, wha warkit on the mathematical formula, said he nivver imaginit echt years ago that the trio’s research wad be discussit at the heichest levels.

“What pleases me mair is that this creates a valuable opportunity tae strengthen map literacy and raise awareness that there is nae single map projection capable o providin a completely ‘true’ representation o the warld,” he said. “Every map projection involves trade-offs. I particularly appreciate that the [UN] resolution does no completely ban the Mercator projection or mandate a single replacement for a haill maps.”

Jenny was also thrillit, watchin on frae Australia. “It’s kind o a cartographer’s dream, richt?” he said. “The fact that the UN is debatin map projections for an entire hour is already totally thrillin for cartographers, and then it was our map projection. I mean, what else can ye ask for?”

He does, however, hae a hunch that anither factor helpit the Equal Earth map: the pouer o a guid name. “I think, definitely, that ye ken what it is immediately,” said Jenny. If they had callit it the “Savric-Patterson-Jenny projection”, he jokit, maybe it wad no hae done sae weel.