Map-Correcting App Shows 'The True Size Of' Places

Typical world maps badly misrepresent the size of countries; a new web app shows their true scale.

1 minute read

June 20, 2016, 5:00 AM PDT

Planisphere made by Rumold Mercator, 1587. | Atlas sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi et Fabricati Figura (publ. 1595). / Wikimedia Commons

The True Size Of is an interactive app that seeks to improve our skewed sense of global geography by correcting the world map.

The web app allows users to drag a country to another part of the map. The country's size and shape will change until it compares accurately to its new location.

For a little background on why "the world's most ubiquitous map" is so distorted, Liz Stinson at Wired explains:

The Mercator projection is an inherently flawed design. It exaggerates the size of countries closest to the poles while depicting size most faithfully at the equator. Though it was once a handy navigational tool for sailors, the map has instilled in the rest of us a gross misunderstanding of geography and relative country size.

FULL STORY: Fascinating App Shows You How Misleading Maps Can Be

Thursday, June 2, 2016 in Wired

Technology World Maps Geography geographic literacy Data map design Online Tools Web Applications View More

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