Every map is a lie, and a useful one. The surface of a sphere cannot be laid flat without stretching something, so the mapmaker must choose what to distort: area, shape, distance or direction. There is no option that keeps all four.
The projection most people picture when they think of a world map keeps directions correct, which made it valuable for sailors. The price is area, and the price rises sharply towards the poles. On that map Greenland appears roughly the size of Africa. In reality Africa is about fourteen times larger. Generations of students have grown up with a picture of the world in which the tropics are quietly shrunk.
Other projections make the opposite trade. Some show area accurately and bend the shapes of continents uncomfortably. Some compromise everywhere and are exactly correct nowhere. None of them is dishonest. They are answers to different questions.
The practical lesson is not to distrust maps. It is to ask what a particular map was made for. A map designed for navigation will mislead you about size. A map designed for size will mislead you about shape. A transport map, which abandons geography almost entirely, will get you across a city faster than an accurate one.
The error is never in the distortion. It is in forgetting that a choice was made at all.
Vocabulary in this text
- useful /ˈjusfəl/ — helpful for a purpose
- surface /ˈsɝfəs/ — the top or outside part of something
- stretch /stɹˈɛtʃ/ — to make a muscle longer by pulling gently
- distort /dɪˈstɔɹt/ — to change something so it is no longer accurate
- valuable /ˈvæljəbəl/ — worth a lot of money or very useful
- appear /əˈpɪɹ/ — to become possible to see, or to seem
- generation /ˌdʒɛnɚˈeɪʃən/ — all the people born at about the same time
- compromise /ˈkɑmpɹəˌmaɪz/ — an agreement where each side gives something up
- accurate /ˈækjɚət/ — correct and without mistakes
- choice /ˈtʃɔɪs/ — the act of choosing, or the thing chosen