{"id":123568,"date":"2026-09-09T11:06:44","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T05:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=123568"},"modified":"2026-09-09T11:06:44","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T05:36:44","slug":"equal-earth-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/equal-earth-map\/","title":{"rendered":"Equal Earth Map: Why the UN Is Moving Beyond the Mercator Projection"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Equal Earth Map Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution to <\/span><b>move away from the 16th-century Mercator map<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> towards the <\/span><b>Equal Earth projection<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which shows Africa&#8217;s true size more accurately.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Togo-led resolution was supported by 164 countries, including India. The United States voted against it and six countries abstained. Since UN resolutions are not binding, it remains to be seen whether governments, organisations and classrooms will actually adopt the new map.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India backed the resolution while drawing a firm line on the depiction of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Why No Flat Map Can Be Perfect<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Earth is not a perfect sphere. It <\/span><b>bulges at the equator<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> because of its spin, is <\/span><b>warped<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by the Moon&#8217;s gravity, and is <\/span><b>further shaped<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by continents and oceans.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The most accurate representation is therefore a <\/span><b>spheroid<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a three-dimensional shape formed from a two-dimensional ellipse.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A globe is the best model, but carrying one around is impractical. This is where map projections come in.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A projection is the transformation of the Earth&#8217;s <\/span><b>three-dimensional surface<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> onto a two-dimensional map.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Every flat map must distort at least one of four properties:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Area:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> how large a landmass is relative to others<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Shape:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the true outline of a country<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Distance:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the actual space between two points<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Direction:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the correct compass bearing between locations<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Types of Map Projections<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Projections are classified by the property they preserve:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Conformal projections<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> preserve angles and local shapes (e.g. Mercator).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Equal-area projections<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> preserve relative areas (e.g. Equal Earth).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Equidistant projections<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> preserve distance.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Compromise projections<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> balance distortions in area, shape, distance and direction without preserving any one exactly (e.g. Robinson, Winkel Tripel).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The choice of projection depends entirely on the purpose of the map. Experts caution that one type of map should not be directly compared with another designed for a different purpose.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Origins of the Mercator Projection<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Mercator map was introduced in 1569 by Gerardus Mercator, a Flemish geographer from present-day Belgium.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a <\/span><b>conformal<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>cylindrical projection<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, created as if the Earth&#8217;s surface were unwrapped from a cylinder around the globe.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its greatest <\/span><b>strength lies in navigation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It represents rhumb lines (lines of constant compass bearing) as straight lines. A sailor drawing a straight line from Mumbai to Muscat on a Mercator map could hold the same compass direction throughout the voyage.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By the 18th century, this made it the standard projection for navigation. It was also easy to construct, since <\/span><b>all parallels and meridians are straight lines<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Distortion Problem<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the Mercator grid, <\/span><b>longitudes are evenly spaced<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, but the <\/span><b>gaps between latitudes widen towards the poles<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is deliberate. To preserve shapes, the stretching of parallels is matched exactly with the stretching of meridians. The result is that <\/span><b>landmasses far from the equator appear much larger than they are<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The most famous example is Africa, which appears similar in size to Greenland. In reality, Greenland is <\/span><b>14 times smaller<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and roughly the size of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Antarctica also appears far larger than its true size.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Colonial Lens<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Critics argue that the Mercator projection reflects a Western-centric worldview. It helped Western cartographers map their own towns, cities and roads with ease.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They described the Greenwich-anchored world map as an example of Western cultural hegemony. They argued that the projection served as a political tool during the Scramble for Africa, when European powers partitioned the continent.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Long Search for a Better Map<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Several alternatives have emerged over the centuries:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Gall-Peters projection<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: First presented by Scottish clergyman James Gall in 1855, and popularised by German historian Arno Peters in 1973. It preserves area accurately but makes landmasses look stretched or squashed.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Robinson projection<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (1963): Devised by geographer Arthur H. Robinson to balance size and shape and solve the &#8220;Greenland problem&#8221;. It is a compromise projection with meridians curving gently towards the poles.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Winkel Tripel projection<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (1921): Created by German cartographer Oswald Winkel to reduce distortion across area, distance and direction. In 1998, it replaced the Robinson projection in National Geographic Society maps, followed by schools, textbooks and the World Bank.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>The Equal Earth Map<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Developed in 2018 by an international team of cartographers, Equal Earth is an <\/span><b>equal-area projection<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It preserves the relative areas of landmasses while allowing <\/span><b>some distortion of shape and distance<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Its meridians curve gently towards the poles.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Supporters say it corrects the visual diminishing of the Global South, including South Asia, and helps reverse &#8220;colonial&#8221; perceptions of Africa.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is best suited for <\/span><b>thematic and statistical data<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, such as population density, climate impacts and resource distribution. For classrooms and research, it offers mathematically accurate depiction of area.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Which Projection to Use<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Navigation and direction<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Conformal projections like Mercator.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Thematic and statistical data<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Equal-area projections like Equal Earth.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>General reference and world maps<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Compromise projections like Robinson or Winkel Tripel.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Polar or single-point studies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Azimuthal or planar projections, which project the Earth onto a flat plane from a central point.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Adoption in Practice<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; The World Bank already uses Winkel Tripel or Equal Earth for static maps and is phasing out Mercator on web maps. Google Maps offers a choice between Mercator and a 3D globe view on desktop, but Mercator remains the default on its mobile app.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The UN&#8217;s adoption of the Equal Earth map is a symbolic step towards a fairer representation of the world. Yet no flat map can be perfect, and every projection serves a specific purpose.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The real shift will depend on whether governments, institutions and classrooms embrace the change and challenge long-held perceptions shaped by Mercator.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-sci-tech\/equal-earth-map-un-mercator-projection-10869009\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Equal Earth Map offers a more accurate representation of land areas. Learn why the UN supports it and how it differs from the Mercator projection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":123576,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[10127,60,22,59],"class_list":["post-123568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","tag-equal-earth-map","tag-mains-articles","tag-upsc-current-affairs","tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123568"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123583,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123568\/revisions\/123583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}