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Today, the United Nations voted to adopt a new world map that reflects countries’ true relative sizes (thelemmy.club)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by to c/mildlyinteresting@lemmy.world
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https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/04/world/un-vote-new-world-map-intl-scli

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[–] 9 points 2 days ago (1 child)

"Nooo, don't change the mirror to one that reflects things accurately! I like this one better because it makes me look taller, more muscular, and better-endowed!"

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  • [–] 3 points 1 day ago

    It isn't more accurate than Mercator, it just preserves different features.

    When flattening a map, there are 4 competing aspects of the globe you can try to preserve: shape, direction, area, and distance. You can't preserve all 4 at once. You can try to min-max on 1 or 2 (e.g. Mercator preserves direction and shape since that's what's needed for sailing), or you can accept some distortions of all 4 in a compromise projection.

    It all depends on the purpose of the map.

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