Comment on YSK There's a campaign to replace the distorted Mercator world map with the fairer Equal-Earth projection

samc@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

• volvoxvsmarla@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Firstly, I do think that projections which enlarge Europe and north America relative to the global south are a problem and every curriculum should include education about how this happens and what the world really looks like.

  Honestly, at least in school you should use a globe to begin with. It is the best projection there is. I’m also pretty sure there are online “globes” that you can turn any way you want. Using a 2D projection is mostly unnecessary in education.

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  • PixxlMan@lemmy.world ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    A globe isn’t a projection at all, it’s the real deal. Projection occurs when you take that 3D surface and map it to a 2D surface.

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    • volvoxvsmarla@sopuli.xyz ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I mean, if I wanted to knit pick - I guess theoretically the earth isn’t a perfect ball, and the mountains aren’t flat, so you would need a globe with topography for it to really not be a projection but a model

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      • exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        The topography is basically not significant.

        The elevation of the highest point on Mt. Everest is 8,848 meters. Compared to the radius of the Earth itself (averaging 6,371,000 meters and varying about 10,000 meters from that average), that 0.139% difference in radius at that mountain not going to be noticeable.

        If you shrunk the entire earth down to the size of a 2 meter diameter ball (1 meter radius), Mt. Everest would rise about 1.39 millimeters from the surface.

        Simple imperfections in polishing a representative globe would represent larger variations in altitude than exist on the Earth itself.

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• squaresinger@lemmy.world ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  But also, kinda funny how this project is very specifically about fairness for Africa. Why not include south America in there too?

  Have you looked at the projections in question?

  Mercator enlarges everything closer to the poles while making everything closer to the equator smaller. It does not matter which continent it is, since it follows the same formula worldwide. That means, Europe, North America, Greenland, the south end of South America, South Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica are enlarged, and Central America, northern South America, most of Africa, India, South Asia and Ocenania are depicted smaller.

  The Equal Earth projection makes sure that each square kilometer of land takes up the same space on the map, no matter where it is.

  So this enlarges all regions closer to the equator (as listed above) and shrinks all that are closer to the poles.

  So obviously it does benefit most regions of South America and frankly, I’m quite surprised that you’d think it wouldn’t.

  In fact, it would be quite difficult to make a projection that would specifically enlarge Africa while shrinking South America. (Certainly possible, but difficult)

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  • samc@feddit.uk ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I was referring to the text at the bottom of the press release:

    By signing the petition you take a stand against a false narrative that downplays Africa’s vast size and diversity as the second-largest continent, reducing its perceived importance in global politics and economics. You can correct the narrative.

    It seems to single out Africa because this campaign is led by Africa No Filter and Speak Up Africa. I just thought it was amusing that the campaign text mentions Africa repeatedly but only indirectly mentions south america when referring to the global south.

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    • squaresinger@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Well, if it’s a petition fielded by the African Union, you’d expect it to focus on Africa, wouldn’t you?

      Where’s the outrage on political platforms made to benefit specific other regions?

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• mmmm@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Why not include south America in there too?

  Almost nobody here gives a flying fuck about education quality. If we were to talk about education injustices we could argue about how the USA stole the name of the continent for theirs and you people don’t seem to like that talk…

  But in all seriousness I guess we as Latin America/South America don’t have that sense of unity as Africa does. We are absurdly diverse and I think it has taken a toll in our sense of identity

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  • WoodScientist@lemmy.world ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    If we were to talk about education injustices we could argue about how the USA stole the name of the continent for theirs and how most of the world went along with that, and you people don’t seem to like that talk…

    I propose that Brazil go for the option of maximum chaos. Brazil should formally change its official name to Os Estados Unidos da América. Ain’t no rule that says two nations can’t have the same name.

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  • lemmyknow@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    South America/Latin America, unite! Become strong, and don’t let the US make of themselves the continent. Where’s LatAm’s (Sudamerica’s?) version of the EU?

    I for one enjoy this modern “shared” culture in hispanic countries. Or at least what I perceive to be so. LatAm artists getting awards at Music Awards in Spain is poggers, and the collaborations between artists of different countries as well. Also the radio station being available in several countries as well. Afaik, Brazilians seem to not be very familiar with other lusophone countries’ culture as much, though it seems the contrary might be true. I imagine Brazilians also don’t be familiar with other LatAm countries’ music and culture either, but Idk. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.

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