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UN votes to adopt new world map to reflect Africa's true size (www.bbc.com)

submitted 11 hours ago by DamnianWayne@lemmy.world to c/world@quokk.au

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[–] tyler@programming.dev 5 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

The pedantic part of me wants to point out that every projection of a 3D object onto a 2D surface requires distortion

They literally say that in the article.

The distortion of his map is a result of the fact that it is impossible to accurately represent the surface of a globe on a two-dimensional chart. Whenever a map of the world is drawn, compromises need to be made.

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 11 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

Right, so then why are they describing this as "correcting" the distortion, when in fact it is simply choosing a different version of distortion?

[–] tyler@programming.dev 1 points 3 hours ago

They literally say that too.

In February, the AU's 54 member states adopted it, and said it "more accurately represents the sizes of all continents, particularly Africa".

[–] Seimhe@lemmy.world 6 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

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.

[–] warm@kbin.earth 5 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Seimhe@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I think for some the issue is also that Africa gets fairer representation this way.

[–] warm@kbin.earth 2 points 4 hours ago

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.

[–] jdr@lemmy.ml 3 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

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?

[–] Lileath@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Are you actually happy in your life? Have you ever done something that you are proud of outside of inane internet comments?

[–] jdr@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Thank you for asking! The answer is a hard no. What will you do with this information?