this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2026
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Hmm, use it for what, exactly? In the present, nobody is using these maps for navigation, and hopefully not for any serious geography study beyond say the history of cartography... so I guess mostly lower-level education purposes? That's important, the way we teach children to think about the world certainly matters.
The pedantic part of me wants to point out that every projection of a 3D object onto a 2D surface requires distortion, especially in a case like this where the entire surface area of the object is shown on a single unbroken plane. At some level, describing one projection as better than another is akin to saying that one way of drawing a cube on a sheet of paper is better than another. More important than picking a winner is having the discussion about the limitations of all forms of projection and how they affect our perceptions, in all subject areas.
If there is a real benefit to making a change like this, it's in provoking those discussions.
Besides, we all know the Waterman Butterfly is superior:
They literally say that in the article.
Right, so then why are they describing this as "correcting" the distortion, when in fact it is simply choosing a different version of distortion?
They literally say that too.
Did you read the article? I think your questions/complaints are answered there.
Tldr; the new map solves some distortions (to the tune of 14x) but also there’s a human element to this. It seems like an obvious and overdue improvement.
Retaining an inferior map because they won’t be used for navigation is an odd defence.
It's a classic dumb argument: "if it wont solve it 100%, lets just leave it completely broken"
These are the people most easily manipulated.
I think for some the issue is also that Africa gets fairer representation this way.
Absolutely, its a good change that should have been made a long time ago. Globes should exist in every classroom too, children should be made familiar with the world around them.
14 times more correct? Wow! So it's the correctest? Even though we've agreed that you have to make compromises to project the earth onto a plane and each one has tradeoffs?
Are you actually happy in your life? Have you ever done something that you are proud of outside of inane internet comments?
Thank you for asking! The answer is a hard no. What will you do with this information?
Took a big whiff of the copium, did you?