No. 63 of 108
August 15, 2025
The African Union (composed of 55 member states) is pushing for all international bodies and tech platforms to end usage of the Mercator map. Created in the 16th century primarily for navigation, the popularly used Mercator map distorts sizes of continents, showing Africa and South America as smaller than true sizes relative to other continents such as North America. The 2018 Equal Earth projection shows continents in true sizes but has not been universally adopted. The Mercator map can be found in most schools (including in Africa and South America), government and corporate institutions, and on platforms like the Google mobile app. (Google Maps on desktop has adopted a 3D true size model.)
Yes. True size matters. Representations should be as true as they can be, with the humility of knowing that our understanding of truth evolves over time. Our useful inquiry should be in the direction of truth evolution, rather than truth devolution, or devaluation, or deterioration. Truth be told, we have a lot of catch-up work to do.