Silence Aloud

It is physically impossible to represent a three dimensional object in exact proportion and shape on a two dimensional surface. This is the reason why cartography is so impressive and extensive. It is an exact science of trying to fit the surface of a three dimensional object onto a two dimensional object without losing the details such as shape and size. The world maps that most of us grew up with are called Mercator projection maps, and were originally made so as to make it easier on sailors, giving them straight lines to follow. The problem is that using this map Greenland looks like it might reasonably be as large as China, which is fairly fallacious, as well as being fallacious in other parts of the world. The Mercator map stretches out the poles as well as the parts near the poles and shrinks things at the equator. It also fails to place things in the proper geological location.

Many have tried to replace this map with the Gall-Peters map, claiming it to the more accurate, which it is to a degree. This map is made so that all distances are the same. One inch on the map of Europe is the same as on inch on the map of South Africa. While this may help out in some respects it fails to address the fact that it is still a distortion of the true shape of the earth and since this map has been introduced, there have been variations and other attempts to correct the map and make it more accurate. Part of the problem however is that it is impossible to turn a globe into a flat square. Given that longitude and latitude are circular, it would stand to reason that in all reality you can not spread out the thin points that longitude come out to and expect the geographical implications to remain the same. Even a map that does not use a strictly square basis but rather a rounded one like the Robinson projection map still suffers from distortion. If you really want to see the way the Earth looks, buy a globe. Walmart as well as many other toy stores usually sell them.

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